Egyptian Producer Assyouiti Releases Industrial Debut EP - Shakhrama

Merging what the liner notes call, “multicultural rhythmic inspiration with finely tuned percussive pressure and fiercely squashed bass,” Assyouti’s sound pulls from various left-field electronic textures. At times industrial, with moments of deconstructed club music, rapid-firing BPMs, blended with hard techno, and layers of glitch. 

Tilting towards more aggressive and hardcore aesthetics, Assyouti has never been one to follow the mold of more accessible genres prevalent within Egypt’s dance music scene. Instead, he drifts further from his minimal techno beginnings, and leans into moments of maximalism, speed, and frantic beats on the journey towards finding his own sound on the cacophonous end of the electronic spectrum. 

In the opening track, ‘Feedback Ovvrload’, we hear exactly this; a wall of feedback and fractured beats, that make way for the complex sound design heard throughout the EP. Within the first few moments of the track, we’re immediately transported into a collision of style-mashing, and dizzying adrenaline.   

Upon reaching the title track, ‘Shakhrama’, the EP’s rhythmic intensity gives way to shuddering basslines and intense noise build-ups that rarely relent. ‘Maghnateez’ finds more space with hiss-tinged silences, giving the listener a moment to breathe before reaching ‘Symmetrical Agony’, the EPs hard-hitting closer. 

At points, the stuttering drums almost find a groove, but just when you think there’s something there you can hold onto, we go deeper into the lacerating corners of the electronic abyss. Throughout, there’s a building tension that rarely releases, leading to some of the stronger moments on the album. When the moments of resolve finally appear, it’s often through annihilating baselines that slam through the noise, like a wrecking ball smashing against anything in its trajectory. 

Void of any frills, Assyouti creates a complex body of tracks driven by unrelenting momentum, and sound manipulations that make for hammering club tracks. Listen in full below: