global beats
Album Review: Maga Bo – Amor (É Revolução) : turntable-ready Afro-Brazilian energy.
There’s more to Maga Bo than sought after DJ, re-mixer, engineer and album maker. He is a true global beat innovator, a sonic explorer, not just absorbing sounds in the studio but constantly on the move, travelling to and living with the music, people and rhythms that intrigue him. His de-camping from Seattle to now …
New Track: Haitian rhythms/Techno intensity -Chouk Bwa & The Angstromers preview ‘Agwetaroyo’ from new EP
It was around this time a couple of years ago that the pairing of Chouk Bwa’s potent Vodou rhythms and The Angstromers’ electronic beat reductions first rumbled sound systems far and wide. Their album ‘Vodou Ale’ stepped out way beyond any Haitian roots meets Belgian minimalism tag, this was more than fusion it was a …
Album Review: Congotronics International – Where’s The One? : Indispensable document from the Congolese/leftfield indie supergroup, live and locomotive.
Collective, supergroup, ensemble…whatever way you look at it Congotronics International were a big big band. Nineteen musicians, five guitarists, three likembe players, five percussionists, two bass players, three drummers and an overflowing pool of vocal talent, they aimed for scale, scope and scintillation. Formed in 2011 from members of the pioneers of the ‘tradi-modern’ sound, …
New Track: Noori & His Dorpa Band release debut single ‘Al Amal’, scorching ethio-soul vibes from Port Sudan.
So TikTok does have a function! Excavated from the app by those seekers of the undiscovered at Ostinato Records, Noori & His Dorpa Band bring the power and passion of Beja culture direct from their home base on the Sudanese coast. Out front, leader Noori plays a self- built, hybrid tambo-guitar, a welded wonder that …
Album Review: Satellites’ self-titled debut – re-energising Anatolian rock and looking beyond…
When you enter the deified Anatolian Rock arena you’ve got to be sure you bring something new to the show, otherwise you’ll disappear under the weight of comparison with the past greats, from Mogollar to Koray to Karaca. In recent years Babu Zula have pumped the bass bins of dub and reggae into their spiralling …
Track/Video: Istanbul’s dark electro-rock agitators Lalalar deliver ‘Alba Deme Lazim Olur’ ahead of album debut ‘‘Bi Cinnete Bakar’.
The sound of the Istanbul underground is juddering ever nearer to your listening posts in the shape of electro-alt-rock agitators Lalalar. With a name that approximates (semi-ironically) ‘The Wise Guys’, this trio has the in-built swagger, edge and beat power to tear up any template of new wave Anatolian psyche that you might cosy up …
Track: Global beat fusionists The Bongo Hop drop ‘The Red Hill’, prime Latin hip hop vibes to announce soon come mini album.
French musician/producer Etienne Sevet (aka. The Bongo Hop), traveller, sound selector, trumpeter has his finger on so many pulses. Funk, soul, jazz, afro-grooves all pumped up with that racy Latin heartbeat from his one time home Colombia. It’s a blend that makes for a distinct Bongo Hop sound, rhythmically slick, smartly arranged songs for head, …
Album Review: Gonora Sounds – Hard Times Never Kill: Jump, jive, bounce and bite, direct from Harare.
Heard about ‘paying your dues’– well Gonora Sounds leader and inspiration Daniel Gonora’s back-story makes him a bone fide member of the dues-paying club. Twenty years ago the blind guitarist and song writer was a key player in Zimbabwe’s ground-breaking Jairos Jiri Band, a group that tragically imploded as successive members passed away. Forced to …
Track: Happening afro-soul fusionists Jembaa Groove present ‘Mokole’ ahead of debut album ‘Susuma’
A lot of bands get together from chance meetings in a bar, or a gig or knowing friends of friends but not usually after a chat in a Berlin kindergarten playground. Still that’s how Jembaa Groove got started, co-founding musicians Yannick Nolting and Eric Owusu on the school pick up run, bonding over the possibilities …
Album Review: Dowdelin – ‘Lanmou Lanmou’: Creole rhythms and a Soul-Jazz twist make for the sound of now.
It’s been over a couple of years since Lyon located fusionists Dowdelin were last seen bouncing across the WOMAD stage and pulling the horizontal sun soakers up onto their dancing feet. Now comes evidence of renewed activity with their latest album ‘Lanmou Lanmou’, available from 28th January from Underdog Records, and proof that the band …