Dandin’s Top Ten Albums of 2015

Following on from the artists of the year list, it’s time for the top ten albums of the year, as decided by our users.  One important caveat before proceeding though; the albums need not have been released in 2015. This is a list of  – through a combination of actions on the Dandin website  – the most popular…

Good to be Blu

It’s been a bit of a breakout year for our chum Blufrank, the man behind the music we turn to whenever we want to know what it would be like to party in outer space.  Futuristic retro is what best describes our friend – taking from the old and new alike with equal relish – and…

الإسكندرية، وجه آخر من الموسيقى البديلة

يوجد لدى الإسكندريّة ما يمكن أن أصفه بسلاح ذو حدّين، و هو نوع من الإنقطاع الزمني عن العاصمة، ففي حين أجد -و في رأيي الشخصي- أن الإسكندرية تعاني من شكل من التأخر في الحقبة الزمنيّة، مما يعطي لها ملمساً في المزج بين عناصر تتواجد في زمنين مختلفين، و ليس كأن الفنّان يعيد إحياء تراث مثلاً،…

Pie Are Squared – 74 ways to make the album Lucciole

Lucciole is the new album by producer and multi-instrumentalist Mohamed Ashraf, known as Pie Are Squared, an artist whose past forays in the world of ambient sound are some of the best examples of this genre by musicians from the Middle East. Lucciole though is a different beast all together, a departure from his previous work, and that…

Up-and-Comers Series: Alternative/Electronic musicians

This is the first part of a series of articles that will take a look at up and coming musicians from the Middle East in various genres. As such if you’re familiar with the more established artists of the region’s independent music scene you most likely will not find them here. Rather, the featured artists…

BLUFRANK Double A-Side MID(s) / Feelings Installed

Just in time for summer, uber-producer Blufrank is back with his heady mix of warped house, funk and disco. The new double A-side release MID(s) / Feelings Installed is all this and more and is apparently inspired by endless runs on Cairo’s Ring Road. Sonically, Blufrank tells Dandinblog, the music is comprised of “augmented sound collages utilizing…

Playlist Frenzy

We’ve been going a little crazy running through the new site and a byproduct of this has been a set of new and updated playlists by genre (though of course we use the term quite loosely). So whatever your poison may be, may you find it on this list. Tarab Playlist: Sonorous voices, searing violins. Hip…

The Chikatura

Every so often you chance upon an artist full of talent and promise you can’t wait to hear what’s next to come from them. One becomes more appreciative when recognising the myriad difficulties musicians face in the region. One such musician is Alexandrian native Abdelrahman Abou Shelou, known as The Chikatura. We first came across Shelou…

Mood Music

A lot of music we listen to because it induces a certain relatable mood, one of a myriad of reasons why people like the music they do. Seeing as at Dandin we do what we want when we want (until our mother says otherwise), we’ve come up with a playlist of what we find to be mood…

Playlist within a playlist

Last week Dandin was invited by the good folk at Mada Masr to regale attendees of Vent with four hours of music spanning the globe and decades of output. Nestled within this long list were some representatives of the Middle East’s contemporary music scene, and it seemed fitting that a Dandin playlist be created specifically for them. Admittedly the…

Student DJ Program Vol. 3

The Student DJ Program set up by Electrum Records is currently in full swing for the third year running.  A battle royale of up and coming DJs, with two squaring off against each other every week, the competition has developed into a fully fledged series of events, starting with a bootcamp for the contestants and…

Whole Lotta New Releases

Hear the New Releases playlist here. Loads of new stuff on Dandin in this latest iteration of the New Releases playlist. First up is Dandin’s first Tunisian artist, Fusam, and his track The Dance of the Flickering Flame.  Next up is the track Chaos in Japan off of BluFrank’s latest album. That’s followed by Karset Nevin…