• Your earlier work was rooted in electronic and house music, and “Those Days” is a pretty dramatic departure into 60s rock territory. What triggered that shift?

As a composer, I have always believed that music shouldn’t be confined to a single genre or a fixed digital template. My earlier electronic and house tracks were an exploration of rhythm and modern ambient soundscapes. Still, I felt a deep, artistic calling to explore something more organic, raw, and emotionally grounded.

The shift to 1960s rock territory wasn’t planned; it was triggered by a profound nostalgia for the warmth of analog sound. The 60s era was the golden age of sonic storytelling, where every instrument felt alive and breathed with character. I wanted to challenge myself to capture that specific, vintage essence—blending live orchestral arrangements, guitars, and atmospheric elements like the theremin. This shift allowed me to break away from the repetitive nature of commercial electronic beats and create a cinematic journey that speaks directly to the soul, much like the timeless instrumental works of masters who inspired me.

⇒ Check out our album review here.

• The album is entirely instrumental. Was that a deliberate decision from the start, or did it evolve that way during the recording process?

It was a 100% deliberate and non-negotiable decision from the very first spark of the album. For me, instrumental music isn’t just songs missing lyrics; it is a supreme, universal language that speaks directly to the human subconscious without the limitations or boundaries of spoken words.

When you add a vocalist, the listener’s mind is automatically guided by the specific story the lyrics are telling. But with a purely instrumental track, the listener becomes the co-author of the story. The music creates a cinematic canvas, and the listener paints their own emotions, memories, and visuals onto it. During the recording and arranging process, my focus was entirely on making the instruments—the guitars, the strings, and the vintage synths—act as the “voices.” I wanted the arrangements to rise, fall, and emote so powerfully that words became completely unnecessary.

• You’re working out of a home studio in Alexandria. How do you get an analog, vintage sound in that kind of setup – what’s the process actually look like?

Achieving that authentic, warm 1960s analog vibe in a modern home studio setup is a fascinating challenge, but it is entirely about understanding the physics of vintage sound. The process is a careful marriage between hardware textures and meticulous digital emulation.

In my Alexandria studio, the process begins right at the source. Instead of relying purely on clean, sterile digital instruments, I route signals through analog preamps and hardware saturation units to inject harmonic distortion and warmth into the tracks. When recording guitars or layering orchestral elements, I avoid the modern “perfectly polished” sound.

The real magic happens during the arrangement and mixing stages: Tape Emulation & Saturation: The 1960s sound is defined by magnetic tape. I use high-end tape machine emulations (like Studer and Ampex models) on individual tracks and the master bus to introduce subtle tape hiss, wow-and-flutter, and natural compression. Vintage Reverbs & Delays: I heavily utilize spring reverbs and plate reverbs, which were the staples of 60s rock and cinematic scores. This gives the instruments a haunting, physical space rather than a generic digital echo. The Theremin and Vintage Synths: Integrating rare, atmospheric instruments like the Theremin adds that distinct, eerie retro-futuristic texture that pulls the entire mix into the past.Imperfection by Design: Modern digital audio workstations (DAWs) make everything perfectly on-beat and pitch-perfect. To counter this, I leave slight human timing variations and microtonal imperfections in the performances. Ultimately, the setup in Alexandria proves that you don’t need a massive commercial studio from the 1970s to capture that soul; you just need to know how to manipulate harmonics, air, and space to give digital tracks an analog heart.

• Egypt’s mainstream music scene is a long way from 1960s rock. Do you feel like you’re making music in isolation from your immediate surroundings, or does the local context feed into the work somehow?

It is true that the mainstream Egyptian music scene today is heavily dominated by commercial pop and electronic street genres, which are worlds apart from 1960s rock or cinematic instrumental music. On the surface, it might look like I am creating music in total isolation, but the truth is quite the opposite. My immediate surroundings feed into my work in a very deep, subconscious way.

Living and working in Alexandria plays a massive role in shaping my sonic identity. Alexandria is not just a city; it is a mood. It has a unique, melancholic, and deeply nostalgic atmosphere, especially during the winter. The architecture, the old cosmopolitan history, and the vastness of the Mediterranean Sea all naturally evoke a sense of cinematic storytelling.

So, while I may not be influenced by the current mainstream trends of Egypt’s music market, I am deeply fed by the timeless spirit of my surroundings. The isolation is actually a creative choice—it acts as a filter that shields my art from commercial noise, allowing me to translate the deep nostalgia of Alexandrian streets and the cinematic vastness of the sea into a universal 1960s analog rock canvas. I am not escaping my environment; I am simply scoring its hidden, wordless emotions.

• The album has apparently found listeners in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Germany. Did that surprise you, and do you think about audience geography when you’re making music?

It was a beautiful and deeply validating surprise, but at the same time, it felt like the natural destiny of this project. Seeing listeners tune in from places like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Germany is incredibly rewarding because it proves exactly what I set out to demonstrate: instrumental music carries no passport.

When I am in my studio composing, I absolutely never think about audience geography, borders, or specific demographics. If you start composing with a specific geographic market or target audience in mind, the music loses its honesty and becomes a commercial product. I focus entirely on the emotional truth of the melody and the texture of the sound.

Because my music has no lyrics, it doesn’t get stuck behind language barriers. A listener in Los Angeles or Germany doesn’t need to speak Arabic to understand the nostalgia or the cinematic weight of Those Days. They instantly feel it. The global response proves that human emotions—like nostalgia, longing, and wonder—are identical worldwide. My music is made in Alexandria, but it is built to live anywhere in the universe.

• “Those Days” has fifteen tracks, which is a substantial body of work. Were all of these written in the same period, or did some come from earlier sessions?

Delivering a 15-track instrumental album was a conscious effort to offer a complete, uninterrupted cinematic narrative, but the music itself actually bridges different timelines in my creative journey.

About 60% of the album was written and recorded in intense, continuous sessions over the last year. During this recent period, the specific vision for the 1960s analog rock aesthetic became very clear, and I wrote new material to form the core backbone of the album’s concept.

However, the remaining 40% came from my personal creative archives—earlier sessions and raw melodic sketches that I had been keeping in the dark for years. Some of these melodies were originally conceived as ambient or electronic ideas, but they never felt entirely complete. When I decided to dive into the warm, vintage instrumentation of Those Days, I went back to those older archives. Re-imagining those earlier sessions with live guitars, orchestral arrangements, and analog tape saturation felt like finding the missing puzzle pieces. Combining the freshness of the new tracks with the mature depth of the older sessions is exactly what gives the album its rich, multi-layered emotional weight.

• Looking at the tracklist, there’s a lot of tonal variety – “Hey Duck” feels very Zeppelin-adjacent, while something like “Cannaregio” goes into jazz and bossa nova territory. How do you think about sequencing an album that covers that much ground?

Sequencing a 15-track instrumental album with this much tonal variety is like editing a feature-length film; if the pacing is wrong, you lose the audience, but if it is right, the variety becomes an immersive experience.

When dealing with genres ranging from Zeppelin-adjacent rock riffs to the smooth, late-night jazz and bossa nova textures of “Cannaregio,” I don’t look at the tracks as separate genres. Instead, I treat them as different emotional scenes within a single movie. My goal with the sequence was to create a fluid sonic journey with natural highs and lows.

I think of the tracklist in terms of energy and lighting. A heavy, driving rock track builds adrenaline and sets a powerful mood, but the human ear needs a break from that intensity. Transitioning into something like “Cannaregio” acts as a sophisticated cooldown—it shifts the light from a bright, energetic stage to a smoky, nostalgic Mediterranean lounge. The sequencing is designed so that each track prepares the listener for the next one, ensuring that the leaps between rock, jazz, and ambient soundscapes feel like natural, fluid chapters of the exact same story.

• What’s next after “Those Days”? Is this a permanent direction, or do you see yourself moving between the electronic and rock worlds?

For me, “Those Days” is not a permanent destination, but a beautiful door that I have unlocked. I never want to be a composer who finds a successful formula and gets comfortable replicating it. The moment an artist settles into a single permanent direction, the sense of exploration dies.

What comes next will definitely be a continuous movement between worlds. I don’t see the electronic and rock universes as opposites; instead, I see them as two powerful colors on the same palette. My ultimate goal moving forward is to bridge these worlds even closer together—fusing the raw, emotional energy of vintage analog rock instrumentation with the hypnotic, infinite soundscapes of modern electronic music.

I am already sketching new ideas that experiment with these hybrids. Whether my next project leans heavily on guitars or synthesizer waves, it will always remain completely true to my core philosophy: pure, uncompromising instrumental storytelling. The journey is about constant evolution, and I want my listeners to always expect the unexpected.

• Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. “Those Days” is an ambitious record and a genuinely unusual thing to find coming out of Egypt’s independent scene right now. Keep up with SHELNZ on Spotify and YouTube – links below.

“Hey Duck” sounds like an extended musical interlude off Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin – it really evokes that era of analog sounds, while “Cannaregio” is rooted in jazz and bossa nova textures, though it’s more like an ambient loop with some spacey melodies floating on top. It’s like jazz for studying, so the harmonic simplicity on display isn’t what you’d expect when hearing those textures, but that’s where SHELNZ’s identity comes through. He is an EDM artist at heart, so the creative approach of loop then adding melodies is very much present here across the board.

Some tracks that stand out more than the rest are “Reasons Unknown”, “Golden Daze of Summer”, and “Deep As The Ocean”. The first two, because rhythmically they are dynamic, as opposed to some other tracks where the drums were kind of static, which negatively impacts the momentum of a song. While the last one offers some very interesting sound design choices to reflect the oceanic soundscape in audio form.

The tension in “Those Days” is ultimately the tension of a producer working in a new vocabulary while thinking in his native one. The 60s rock references are genuinely felt rather than decorative, but the underlying logic of how the music is constructed still belongs to someone who came up in loops and layers. For some tracks, that creates friction. For others, it produces something genuinely interesting – a hybrid that neither a purist classic rock listener nor a standard EDM listener would arrive at on their own. The album has reportedly found an audience in Chicago and Los Angeles underground scenes, which makes sense. That’s exactly the kind of listener who would appreciate the experiment on its own terms.

Muhammad El-Hassanein originally wrote “Calling You” in 2019 while sitting alone on the grass in Hyde Park, London, feeling homesick and watching crowds of people while longing for his loved one. The line “They’re all around, but you left me all alone” captures that scene. At the time, Elhassanein was growing up listening to Viza, led by K’noup, who had collaborated with Serj Tankian from System Of A Down and Evanescence. Two years later, Elhassanein reached out to K’noup on social media to express his love for K’noup’s art and asked if they could collaborate. K’noup agreed, and “Calling You” was reborn as an Egyptian/Greek collaboration inspired by both cultures. The song was recorded at Spin Studio in New York City and Distortion Studio in Mansoura, Egypt. It’s been played on London Greek Radio, Middle East Radio in Canada, and Mount Carlo radio in France, with reaction videos from people in different countries.

The song fuses elements from both styles to create a unique sound that is simply mesmerizing. The tear-jerking melodies of the accordion and violin express the feeling of being homesick and envelop the vocals in a melodic shawl of nostalgia. The rhythm section grounds the song in modernity with the classic rock ballad drum groove. The song builds to a guitar solo that symbolizes the peak of the angst expressed in the song and crashes down to a final explosive chorus.

For Muhammad El-Hassanein, who grew up listening to K’noup since he was 16, this collaboration was a dream coming true. That was almost 4 years ago now. Mutayam‘s working on a new album called “Bard El Sheta”, there’s a new music video that came out only a few days ago, and the full album is coming out very soon, so stayed tuned!

While this is the first full release under his own name, it is not Hawary’s first venture into solo work. Over the past few years he has shared several standalone singles that were warmly received by fans. “Hekayat Nos El-Leil”, however, is his first complete and cohesive project: four intense tracks clocking in at approximately 14 minutes that present a clear and deeply personal musical and emotional vision.

The EP tracklist:

1. Khayef (Afraid) [Ft. Shams]
2. Da7ketly (She Laughed!)
3. Haya (Life)
4. La Ba’s (Hekayet Shagara) (It’s Okay! – A Tree’s Story)

Musically, the record sits at the intersection of contemporary Arabic pop and the alternative rock roots Hawary is known for with Cairokee, carrying his unmistakable guitar-driven signature throughout.

The title reflects those raw, late-night confessions that refuse to let him sleep. As Hawary himself described the project on his social media: stories and memories that grow louder after midnight and force him to write and record. These restless thoughts are transformed into short, concentrated songs that feel like direct messages, both to himself and to the listener.

“Hekayat Nos El-Leil” is available now on all major streaming platforms worldwide including Spotify, Apple Music, Anghami, YouTube Music, Deezer, and SoundCloud.

Formed in Alexandria in 2005, Massar Egbari has become a pioneering force in the Arabic music scene, blending rock, jazz, and blues with Egyptian rhythms to craft a signature sound that has redefined contemporary Arabic rock. Over the past two decades, their music has resonated deeply across the region, tackling social issues while inspiring a new generation of musicians and fans alike.

In this intimate #ABtalks conversation, the band members reflect candidly on:

• Their journey of nearly 20 years in the music industry

• The role of friendship and collaboration in keeping the band together

• Stories of loss, resilience, and growth

• How their music continues to inspire and evolve with changing times

This episode shines a light not only on Massar Egbari’s extraordinary impact on music and culture in Egypt but also on the personal stories and emotions behind the band’s artistic journey.

Akram Soliman boldly opened The Phoenix with a surprising cover of House of the Rising Sun, giving the original song’s escalating dark sound an upbeat and fun twist. I loved their arrangement and layering, where producer Omar Badawy’s trumpets engage in a smooth conversation with Nader El Gazairly’s groovy guitars as both pushed the song’s dynamics and kept the energy high. Soldier of Fortune comes next bearing the song’s original mood and flow while adding subtle bluesy guitar licks by Nader El Gazairly and extended keyboard melodies by Ibrahem “Devom” Hassan, creating an atmospheric layer that adds a lot to its melancholic sound. Akram’s extra vocal harmonies were totally on point, and produced a deeper emotional layer that helped deliver the needed heartfelt touching sound. With another big twist, Boulevard of Broken Dreams comes next as Akram tuned its dynamics a little bit while steering its sound towards an oriental one with significant oud lines by Hajar Ahmed. Guitarist Ziad Hamoury, bassist Omar Badawy, and drummer Mohammad Elattar kept the song’s rocking sound uncompromised with their distorted riffs, wild solos, groovy basslines, and pounding drums, creating a unique mix that surprisingly worked. Shape of My Heart ends the EP with a warm soothing sound, keeping its original mood and melody while gaining more ambient sound by Akram’s echoing vocal harmonies and deeper layers and textures from Omar Badawy’s production, adding their unique creative character to the song’s mix making it their own. 

The Phoenix is a solid debut by Akram Soliman that shows his diverse influences and willingness to experiment with different sounds and approaches, it made me more excited to see where he’ll go next with his original stuff that I believe would sound even better. Looking forward to more from Akram, keep on rocking man. Cheers!

Shimee, an artist from Cairo, Egypt tried to capture this journey and the emotions that runs throughout its course through his latest album/EP release “Cairo – Alexandria Desert Road”.

The album title is the name of the only road that takes you between two of the biggest cities in Egypt…Cairo, the capitol and the coastal city of Alexandria, the old capitol at one point in history…

Shimee is an established musician in Egypt, he plays as a pianist in the band “Ghyoum” but he’s also a guitarist, utilizing the guitars powers and focusing it into the post-rock world, which is one of his driving passions.

Shimee has a big circle of friends in Alexandria…and that is why he was going to and from Alexandria…and one time, he thought to himself about recording this journey in the form of music…that happened and so the 4 track album/EP “Cairo – Alexandria Desert Road” was born.

The album/EP has a very unusual and creative track naming…the tracks are titled as per the distance at that point in time into this journey…

So, we start with the first track, “126 KM”…

With a synth intro and piano notes intertwining with the synths, the album sets the tone…the sound is of a journey, as the title of the album/EP suggests…

Going into the second track “145 KM”, we’re greeted with an ambient post rock intro…then the drums tag along…and the guitars start to melodize the atmosphere…the driving drum beats are superb while the guitar throws the melody every now and then, giving breathing room for the audience…and the amount of richness in the background sounds and music is absolutely stunning…it sounds full and rich…the lead guitar takes it from there and flys with it.

Jumping from this one and into the third track “180 KM”…we maintain the emotional energy of a great post-rock intro…until the breakdown…with heavy guitars entering the scene, blasting away the ambient doors…further into the track, a lead synth emerges…and takes the track almost to the end…until the lead guitar takes the helm, and takes us home.

We find ourselves at the fourth and final track of the album/EP “200 KM”…

A synth ambient post rock ballad…taking us to the end of the journey…

The unique sound of the theremin is highlighted in this track…

…for the first half, this track maintains this ambient approach…till we get near the end, things start to get a little bit trippy…

Guitars singing, synths singing, drums singing its heart out…and the journey ends on a high note.

It’s an album/EP worth listening to for all ambient and post rock enthusiasts, you should give it a go…now.

Shimee, we wish you all the best in life, can’t wait to hear what you’ll come up with next.

Cheers!

A blast  from the past, I’d call it given its catchy tunes and simple lyrical theme that made it almost relatable to all the listeners at some point. Played by the Alexanderian based rock band Alexers released their second single titled “Lost in My Life” after releasing their first single “Second Chance”.

Alexers are graced by a special talent that is formulated in the mesmerizing lead vocalist “Ibrahim Magdi” with his astonishing abilities and the wide vocal pitches he enjoys. Alongside other talented instrumentalists, such as: “Khaled Muhammed” & “Moatasem Bashouq” – Guitars, “Omar Abdelfatah” – Keys, and Drummer “Abdelrahman Selim”. 

Alexers made it very simple at the beginning of the track and gave it no complications, selecting an easy topic and emotions to address the listeners with what they would easily relate to. Speaking about loneliness and solitude, a generation’s issue.

The music played by Alexers in “Lost In My Life” is simple and organized to align gently with the lyrical theme and the melancholy within, conceived by a beautifully expressive solo to mark the track’s authority to snatch your affection and addiction. 

Alexanderia has been a state to give birth to lots of shining rockstars, and Alexers will be one of the contenders on their Mediterranean stage. 

Rhazz kickstarts The Odyssey with Act I (The Iliad), a soft creeper that smoothly builds up towards the beginning of our melodic journey. It has some emotional melodies with a beautiful organic flow that hits you deep inside, and although it’s a short tune “like the rest of the EP” it has a significant progression that moves towards a more brighter and open sound as it goes. Act II (Achilles) opens with a subtle bass line and a melody that picks up with its predecessor’s flow. It keeps the overlapping layering style that Rhazz crafted, while epically introducing the hero of our adventure in a brief, expressive structure with multi-layered, perfectly harmonised instrumentation. Things started getting more intense reaching Act III (The Trojan), as I felt the guitar tone starting to get slightly sharper with faster-paced melodies, preparing for the grand finale Act IV (Athena).  Act IV (Athena) gives us a glimpse of Rhazz‘s heavy side of music, it shifts the EP’s dynamics into a darker and heavier area while keeping its melodic sound strong, which was pretty interesting tbh, but left me wanting more. 

The Odyssey is a short, straight-to-the-point EP by Rhazz, it’s more of a statement and a sneak peek of what he’s capable of and his uniquely melodic heart-hitting sound. Its solid fluid structure and neat production gave his melodic approach the space to shine, and I think the duration helped a lot keeping the listener’s attention. Looking forward to an epic full-length that dives deeper into the realms of progressive rock, keep on rocking Rhazz, cheers!

There are many points you should focus on before starting your band for example; what goal do you have in general? You can be like “I just want my music to be heard.” Well, it’s a good one for sure, but it’s so random!  Of course, it starts with your passion for the music and instrument you play, but when you decide to be in a band, there should be certain goals that you want to achieve throughout the year, like; I am aiming to finish my three singles, or I will focus on local gigs in my city. Make sure you choose the correct bandmates, not just good instrument players, but also, these guys have a harmony with you while playing. I believe the main key points in any good band are chimstery, hammoney, and tightness. Believe me, these factors will take some time. A good plan will help this band go somewhere. Don’t be random, guys! Make a plan based on a certain phase, for example; these six month you focus on rehearsals, next six month you focus on live local gigs, and so on. At the end, you and your bandmates should deal with the band as a company and any company there’s a leader with vision and the rest of co-partners follow. Good luck!