Ammar 808 - Maghreb United [Glitterbeat Records Promo]

To be released on June 15th, 2k18 via Glitterbeat Records is "Maghreb United", the new project by Sofyann Ben Youssef employing his Ammar 808 moniker for this album, aiming to put the well-diverted Maghreb region and all its recent problems on the map musically. Gathering a triplet of singers from various countries - Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to be more specific - around his 808-based programming to perform a variety of ten traditional songs, all of them part of the overall ancient North African heritage, on this debut album we see Sofyann Ben Youssef merge age old traditions embedded into generations of people from this region with a radical dancefloor approach, fusing the obviously busy, highy complex western boom of the 808 for open minded, multicultural dancefloors, weighing in thrilling flutes and electronic distortions in high octane anthems like the captivating "Ain Essouda", the hard hitting 4/4 foundation coming into play in "Layli", with the latter causing massive dancefloor excess for a reason, or even the kinda crossing over to the Carribbean with the slightly Dancehall / Reggaeton-reminiscing uptempo closer that is "Zine Ezzine". Defo an interesting and worthwhile addition to the bass music spectrum, this.