Horny Cricket by Architect of Truth

I’ve been doing something music-related since at least the year 2000, when I began playing the drums in two high school bands covering the likes of Nirvana and Green Day but butchering their songs. I lasted in one band more than the other, I was more temperamental back then —a mix of rage, insecurity, and entitlement. Writing about this makes me feel alive, particularly as a nostalgic rest stop, a place of relief, in the journey called life. In any case, I called the band “The Error” and we eventually went from playing covers to recording one of my original songs, “We Are Nothing But Individuals.” I went from being a subpar drummer to being a decent songwriter, and for that, I had to learn how to play the guitar, write lyrics, and sing. Whereas I began as a failed drummer, now I was an acceptable guitarist—and I am forever thankful for my sister’s acoustic guitar, which was lying around the apartment.

Back then, I realized how obsessed I am with music, which clearly is a specific form of aesthetic enjoyment: sonic enjoyment. Music people are abstract because they work with fleeting sounds. Once Hani Adel (of Wust el Balad) introduced me to the DAW known as Cakewalk, I was enchanted by the possibilities of recording sound & I’ve been ever since. I went from using Cakewalk and a cheap microphone to producing in my home studio first with Pro Tools and now with Logic.

In the early days, I’d borrow keyboards from my friends—shout out to Ahmed Khalifa for the Casio keys! During my first year in college, I made an electronic album with eJay & burnt CD copies of it, which I’d play to anyone willing to listen and give me feedback, such as my DJ friend and collaborator Basil Fateen—we recorded a song together called “Mail”.

I had a neighbor & a dear comrade in Nasr City (Mohamed el Batrawi), whom I used to spar with musically and otherwise. We were both composers: sometimes competitors, but oftentimes collaborators. We helped one another grow as composers.

To cut a long story short, I was part of the underground art scene in Cairo between 2000 and 2008. I recorded hundreds of songs and compositions in that timeframe, but mostly for archival purposes. As if I was recording my musical ideas for myself in the future so I can use them then—with the possibility that someone else may also find it worthwhile and not simply self-indulgent. However, it’s not all archives obviously because I have produced soundtracks for plays & films that were presented in public at festivals and whatnot. I have released a number of DIY albums over the years, but I consider this to be my first official release.

I don’t want to get lost in the details here because after all I now present you with my most recent music, which was composed, arranged, performed, and recorded mostly during the COVID-19 era. As a trauma survivor, music has always been a safe space of healing for me. My dream is for my music to not only be sonically enjoyed by others but also for it to be a therapeutic experience for others as it is for me. Again, I can say more, but I’ve said enough already.

Music in a sense sublates this impossibility of saying everything. We can’t say everything so we write songs or produce electronic compositions—or we say some things. I see myself as a composer who produces electronic music mainly due to financial constraints. Necessity is the mother of invention, so while my resources may be limited, as a composer I don't feel that way. I hope I was able to capture that transcendent feeling so that you may experience it while listening to my music. Feeling unlimited means interbeing with everything that is, while working through our real suffering at the interface between body, mind, and world.

Why Horny Cricket? Why not? Crickets make noise when they are horny—humans do, too. In a sense, music (from an evolutionary viewpoint) is the noise that humans produce to communicate something about desiring as a source of enjoyment. I am driven to make music, which means I have no choice but to do it. And, of course, I enjoy doing it. I desire for you to enjoy it, too. Thanks for reading. How does this narrative frame the listening experience?

This album is dedicated to every single person who listened to and enjoyed my music over the years.

Special thanks to all of my supporters, especially my wife (Cony), my dad (Khairy), my mom (Monika), my sister (Lala), my two cats (Freud & Marx) as well as anyone who has ever believed (and/or continues to believe) in my musical vision, such as Mohamed Nofal, Mahmoud El Lozy, Eddie Zidan, Ahmed Safaa, Cherif El Masri, and 13 Pieces.

Tracklist

1.	Opening	4:57

2.	The Horny Cricket	1:21

3.	Simian	2:43

4.	Whitey on the Moon (feat. Sigma Strange)	3:58

5.	F*ck COVID	1:56

6.	Hello Anxiety	3:04

7.	CCCP	2:37

8.	Stop Asking for More	2:37

9.	Hypatia	1:54

10.	Moonlit Sonata	2:52

11.	TOE	1:40

12.	Transference	4:08

13.	Remix	5:49

Credits

released July 1, 2022

all tracks composed, arranged, performed, and produced by Robert Beshara unless otherwise noted.

album mastered by Joshua Stevenson.

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