Bongo Joe Records
Track/Video: Algerian psych-rock legends Les Abranis release ‘Id Ed Was’ to trail their ‘Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973 – 1983’ compilation.
Sometimes retrospective albums seem destined to just come and go but not this one. ‘Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973 – 1983’ by Les Abranis, available via Bongo Joe from 28th April, promises to be a compilation that makes a mark, setting the crate diggers out there scrabbling and looking for more. This is an album that …
Album Review: Alice – L’Oiseau Magnifique : A lo- fi mini choir that conjure everyday magic.
You’ve got to be curious about Alice, the off-kilter Genevan trio formed by mother/ daughter/visual artist pairing Yvonne and Lisa Harder with their friend, graphic novelist Sarah Andre. Self-styled as a DIY micro chorale, their three voices and second hand keyboards conjure up songs that sneak way beyond any Occitan/French folky starting point. For sure …
News/Tracks: Yalla Miku preview debut album, a cranked up connection of gnawa rhythms, East African spirit and post punk dynamism.
Now here’s something to shout about, a new gutsy global beats collective Yalla Miku coming out of the house of Bongo Joe Records with a debut self-titled album hitting the shelves from 31st March. Formed by Bongo Joe founder, musician Cyril Yeterian and his band mate from the requisitely named Cyril Cyril, percussionist Cyril Bondi, …
Track/Video: Geneva’s own lo-fi mini choir Alice preview new album ‘L’Oiseau Magnifique’- avant-folk with art-punk edge.
As sixties singer-poet Pete Brown maintained ‘Things may come and things may go but the art-school dance goes on forever’. Well Genevan trio Alice would definitely go down well at that kind of hop. Formed in 2018 to perform at the Swiss city’s Deviant Art Festival by mother and daughter Yvonne and Lisa Harder plus …
Album Review: Mauskovic Dance Band – ‘Bukaroo Bank’: an urgent post punk dub directive from Amsterdam.
Those Mauskovic Dance Band boys are back, back with Bongo Joe Records and back with another fine slice of snappy syncopation. The mischievous Amsterdam four piece, Nico, Donnie, Marnix and Mano Mauskovic, may quirkily take the same surname to maintain their mystique but this time around their collective purpose seems intensely serious. New album ‘Bukaroo …
New Track/Video: Global beatniks Mauskovic Dance Band present pumping single ‘Face’ from soon-come album ‘Bukaroo Bank’
Amsterdam’s leftfield space disco troubadours Mauskovic Dance Band are getting busy. With their new album ‘Bukaroo Bank’ due 28th October via Bongo Joe, it’s time for a second snapshot to cue us up for the main event in the shape of new single ‘Face’ . Streaming now through all the usual operatives, the track pumps …
Album Review: Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters -‘Lulanga Tales’: electro- African fusion that reaches higher.
Some people are extraordinary singers and some people have extraordinary voices. As a vocalist Nyati Mayi probably falls into the latter bag, able to project a stunning range of notes, tones, textures and feelings often within the same song. The thing with an extraordinary voice is that sometimes it needs grounding, a foundation that prevents …
New Track/Video: Dutch space-funksters Mauskovic Dance Band preview new album ‘Bukaroo Bank’ with its spikey title track.
It’s hard to pin down Mauskovic Dance Band. The mischievous Amsterdam four piece, Nicola, Donnie, Marnix and Mano Mauskovic, may playfully take the same surname to preserve some mystique but their collective purpose is deadly serious. For several years now they’ve been honing a very individual, skeletal electro- funk soundtrack from their Garage Noord workspace, …
Track/video: Electronic Afro-futurist partnership Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters preview the rootsy ‘Try Sunshine’ ahead of debut album ‘Lulanga Tales’.
When curious minds eventually meet, things usually happen. Multi-instrumentalist/singer Nyati Mayi and DJ/producer soFa elsewhere (aka The Astral Synth Transmitters) may circulate within the wild oscillations of the Brussel’s experimental electronica scene but it took the relative isolation of the 2020 lockdown to bring the pair together. One of the many musical snapshots Nyati posted …
Album Review: BKO – Djine Bora : explosive rock with Malian roots – magic direct from Bamako
BKO are a band with stamina and staying power who have been needling for attention on the global beat circuit for getting on ten years. Formed in Bamako in 2012 by master percussionist Ibrahima Sarr and his then drum pupil, Frenchman Aymeric Krol, the band soon expanded to a five piece with the introduction of …