The Spy From Cairo – Arabadub
Reviewed by Sadie O., 6/5/12
Mashup lovers and genre benders rejoice! Perfect fusion of Arabesque and Dub Reggae. The Spy is also known as Zeb, works with Nickodemus, and plays all the traditional Arab instruments. Seriously beautiful stuff. Pretty much all instrumentals – there are some vocals, but in most cases they are wordless and part of the instrumentation, really.
1. 4:16 ***sprightly midtempo bouncy skank. Oud in a profoundly minor key.
2. 6:04 ***beautiful solo stringed instrument intro, midtempo bubble. LONG fade.
3. 4:09 ***bouncy, somewhat uptempo bubble, lots of strings.
4. 4:56 ***rolling, almost cinematic feel, lots of hand drum, deep dub electronics.
5. 4:43 ***nice rocking midtempo skank, vocal wailing chant in second half.
6. 4:49 ***slightly downtempo “belly dance” groove, with dub skank so perfectly fitted in you might not even realize it’s there. Vocal wails.
7. 5:44 ***slow strings intro, then midtempo bubble, pretty oud. Vocals with actual (Arabic) words, but dubbed all to mess.
8. 5:13 ***bit of “dulcimer” intro, then slow, slinky groove, with almost a Dubstep sound to the bass drum. Sweet! Bit of Arabic spoken word.
9. 5:02 ***midtempo, lots of hand drum, very wiggle-able.
10. 5:34 ***hand drum intro, traditional sounding except for occasional squeebly electronics. Pretty Reggae riddim starts about a minute into song. Teeny hints of Dubstep.
11. 5:23 ****traditional “dulcimer” intro, downtempo Dancehall groove – very nice combination of sounds. I think this my favorite track.
12. 5:06 ***hand drum intro, relaxed groove, swingy midtempo bubble, melodic interplay between instruments.
13. 2:00 ***swirling electronic tones and seriously lovely oud.