‘Turbocharged highlife from 1980s Ghana… It opens in fine style with Nka Bom, horns sharply descending over a disco bassline, with a triumphant electric piano solo and a lengthy percussion interlude. Other highlights include the growling Gbenta, with a bluesy bassline and machine-gun drumming, and the trumpet voluntary and dubby choral singing on Moonlight Africa’ (Financial Times).
Produced by Eno, who discarded his own contributions as ‘clumsy and unnecessary compared to Edikanfo’s witty, light funkiness… What they’d given me was finished — there was nothing else I could add.’
A rockers update of Bob Andy’s almighty scorcher, mimicking Marley’s yodeling vocalese for extra authority.
From the Black Ark; a local hit in 1975. Clarke’s tale has the hapless, resilient innocence of Buster Keaton. Nice, basic melodica. The production is credited to Mike Johnson — who also stumped up for I-Roy sessions at the Ark around this time — but the rhythm and dub are Upsetters through and through.
His own compositions for solo piano by this collaborator of Louis Sclavis.
‘Thoughtful, reflective and profoundly lyrical.’
Duets by Anouar Brahem’s accordionist and the classically-trained guitarist Seddiki, ranging from Greensleeves through Faure to their own improvisations and compositions.
Four experiments in Pisan beat science — fleet and swirling at the limits of its dancefloor idioms, but faultlessly grooving with the hypnotic charge of classic techno, and flashing a precious combination of exquisite, confident melodicism and ruthless intensity.
Beautifully presented in stickered yellow sleeves with PVC covers, inserts and stamped inners.
Luigi Pirandello provides the conceit for the tenth Baroque Sunburst: his thinking about masks, duplicity, and ensnarement; the idea that ‘self’ and ‘identity’ are unattainable plenitudes; that we are all trapped behind masks and other concealments.
Hence each of the four tracks is designed for playback at either 33 or 45 rpm. Maschera itself is a half-time stomper with the slithering grace of a snake, intricate IDM refrains, and riddling drum patterns. Trappola is melodic hide-and-seek, with a stately, captivating tribal rhythm which slowly gathers intensity. The snake returns in Specchio, biting its own tail in an endless birth-death infinity mirror… before KRSLD brings the curtain down with a dubwise, dancehall rework of the opener, teasing the snake into the open. Or does it?
An early seventies South African expression of the London Beat scene, mixing in R&B, funk and moon-stomping, organ-led reggae. The 45s Reggae Shh! and Reggae Meadowlands were big underground hits on the Mod scene.
Featuring top-notch South Africa session musicians like guitarist Johnny Fourie and keyboardist Zane Cronje.