Making the step from throwing parties with esteemed minimal leaning guests to creating the first underground record label is never an easy one but one that Egyptian crew Sakanat is taking in their stride. What was originally a 4-man operation featuring Aroussi, Mazen, Hammouda, and Sherbini, and now they welcome Parisian based Egyptian Mehdi M to the fold. It will be Mehdi that will be taking the reins for the Sakanat’s maiden label voyage and the newly minted imprint couldn’t have wished for a better opening salvo.
Looking back to where the brand came from, Sakanat has been welcoming bastions of the underground to Egypt for some time and what was born from a group of music lovers noticing a massive gap in the market resulted in this crew bringing high-grade electronic music to their country for the very first time. This resulted in such influential artists such as Dyed Soundorom, The Ghost, Christian AB, Alexandra, Varhat, Cabanne, Lamache, and Francesco Del Garda among those to have rocked their parties and subsequently joining the organically growing Sakanat family.
From this long line of illustrious guests, you have some semblance of where the Egyptian label is musically, but there is much more to Sakanat than that. Not wishing to falsely take the mantel of being the first ‘underground’ label in Egypt (as there is outlets for other types of music) this is most definitely a first for Egypt when it comes to music of a minimal nature as you can tell from their previous parties.
Moving on to their debut release from Mehdi M and Sakanat offers up a perfect snapshot of the influences and sounds that make them move as you might have guessed there is a lot of ground to cover. From the daybreak infused cosmic funk of ‘Panorama 6am’ to the raw electro breaks of EP title track ‘Break The Juno’, the lush intergalactic grooves of ‘Higher Peaks’ and finishing with the sizzling saw waves of ‘Acidozo’ this 4-tracker will firmly place Egypt on the musical map with a series of earth-quaking thuds.
More info on Sakanat
Facebook | Soundcloud
