“Al Kemet” is the Western interpretation of Egyptian magic... the phrase form which we draw the word “alchemy”. This is such an apt title for this release... because Ketsa has created something magical... he has created gold in his experimentations and I, for one, love it.
One of my favourite independent electronic musicians… Dominic Giam aka Ketsa has a new album coming out soon and I was privileged to get a preview copy from my friend Warren over at Invisible Agent… in short: it is an utterly delightful expression of the cosmopolitan plurality of now… and I love it.
I am and have been a fan of quality expressions of electronic music for twenty years… my dancing days are well gone and my limited DJ’ing skills are no longer called upon… but I still have a deep love and respect for rhythm culture and dance music. For me, music is all about moods… and well crafted dance music brings me up… enhancing my mood, giving me a skip in my step.
“Al Kemet” by Ketsa is just such a release… it brings me up, makes me smile and gives me that all important skip in my step… something I desperately need whilst enduring a terribly wet summer in Scotland… a summer so wet I am genuinely worried I’ll get trenchfoot.
Ketsa has brought together some seriously infectious beats with subtle vocal samples and some wonderfully cosmopolitan sounds to create a release that really captures the spirit of now for me… someone still caught in a post-Olympics haze of participation and cooperation.
Ketsa balances rhythm with melody… feeling and ambience with effective song structure… to create a release that can easily go on repeat for extended periods without sounding repetitive or tired. This is due to the varied sub-genres that Ketsa paints his sound-pictures from within: glitchy downtempo… jazzy breaks… skittering dubstep… imaginative IDM… and even dub-reggae… he has a talent for making all these expressions his own.
The use of piano on some of the tracks really uplifts me and deserves to be singled out… Ketsa is a talented pianist and the way he weaves these piano-orientated melodies into his tracks is simply fab.
His synth work and obsession with quality percussive backing is exemplary too. He can really create a moment in sound… especially when he utilises more traditional Arabesque / Asian music and fuses it with more current rhythms and percussive expressions… to capture a sense of plurality… the cosmopolitan idea of multiple ideas coming together to create something fresh, decidedly vibrant and new.
According to the notes that came with this release… “Al Kemet” is the Western interpretation of Egyptian magic… the phrase form which we draw the word “alchemy”. This is such an apt title for this release… because Ketsa has created something magical… he has created gold in his experimentations and I, for one, love it.
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