Malong's Round-Up - Round 4
For the full mixtape scroll to bottom, or check our Soundcloud / Mixcloud Pages
Darker times, darker selection! This month, we try to connect the dots between deconstructed Dancehall, Futuristic Raï, Bulgarian Bass, Japanese Cumbia, Guadeloupean Zouk, and much more...
Featured tracks are:
Timecow & Exile di Brave - Can't Be Found
I have nothing but fascination and love for Timecow and his Equiknoxx team, a group of Jamaican geniuses reinventing dancehall with experiments from Outer Space, operating between Kingston, London, and Warsaw… I’ll save that story for a future Asymetrics article!
Out of many of their unstoppable flow of productions, this particular song got me totally hooked. It features the phenomenal Exile di Brave, who can also be heard over the oddity “Run” by Gavsborg (another Equiknoxx founder).
And, speaking of Gavsborg, here is the strange video assembled to illustrate the beautifully deep and spacey “Elephant Man” tune, featuring the same Timecow on the vocals this time, alongside up & coming London MC Rtkal:
Georgia Anne Muldrow– Mary Lou’s Motherboard
Insane wobbly, post-apocalypse vibe by the one and only @jahjahmuldrow!
The unclassifiable producer known for her completely free approach to anything hip-hop and affiliation thereof captured my mind with her VWETOII album – oscillating between J-Dilla-esque beats, soulful shizzle, and ‘ardcore continuum madness!
If you’re not yet familiar with Georgia, check her having fun making out-of-this-World beats for Berkeley Music College Students’ education:
Goro & Sattva Ft Tarikata – Daj Mi Parite
A new staple of Berlin’s percussive Bass scene, Goro originally hails from Sofia, Bulgaria, and is a super daring producer! Blurring the lines with very different tracks (and multiple identities), sometimes leaning towards syncopated techno, and others just cheekily playing with his own voice, auto-tuned beyond recognition (check his ethereal first album Unbound Forever), he can also sometimes throw the odd Bulgarian Talava or Chalga in his sets – my kinda DJ !
Daj Mi Parite (meaning “Give me my money”) features the weird Tarikata, who seems to be another one of Goro’s personalities involved with fun extravagant Trap oddities !
Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda Ft Ammar 808 - El Ndjoum
Cosmic Raï from French Algerian music veteran Sofiane Saidi, who teamed up with the band Mazalda in 2018 to come up with the colourful album El Ndjoum.
The titular song was co-produced with the unique Sofyann Ben Youssef, aka Ammar 808, a Brussels-based Tunisian, transcending Maghreb’s rich music with synth and bass heavy rhythms. If you dig the vibe, don’t miss Ben Youssef’s latest inprint, titled Global Control/ Invisible Invasion, for which he traveled to Tamil Nadu to further push his music’s envelope with intense Southern Indian sounds – see for yourself with the below clip – this stuff runs real deep!
Lorenzo BITW & Swordman Kitala - Anda
Already featured on my 2nd Round-Up, the Roman producer and Kampalan MC are back in full force with a proto-Dancehall Bass hitter. The flip side to this release is also a killer, pushing an old-school 2-step swing with maaaadd lyricism from the rising star of Uganda.
The EP is out on November 6, 2020 – a Bandcamp Friday. If you’re not familiar with the platform, just know that once a month since the beginning of the Covid crisis, it waves its (already reasonable) percentage on sales, heavily promoting the event, allowing struggling artists to get a humble extra income in these troubled times. Lorenzo also told me that Kitala recently suffered health issues, and that all sales would go directly in his support.
Mumbia y Sus Candelosos - Hokkori Time
Wicked 45 release!
I already mentioned Mumbia y Sus Candelosos in a previous article about Minyo Crusaders: Baddass percussionist Mutsumi Kobayashi leads this Tokyo-based Cumbia mayhem. The record artwork is also worth mentioning, coming in hot from Bogota-based Mateao Rivano: read more on Gladys Palmera’s essential website, where dj Pinche had the brilliant idea to prepare a playlist based on Rivera’s shenanigans.
Milton Gulli & iZem feat. London Afrobeat Collective - A Muhive
French producer and Lisbon-based Izem worked with veteran Milton Gulli over samples from the mighty London Afrobeat Collective to cook this bombastic dancefloor tune. Recorded in Maputo, Mozambique, the track expertly blends OG Nigerian Afrobeat sounds with Luso Rap delivered by Gulli, with heavy Trap basslines to ensure ya waist is shakin’!
Chico Mann – El Paragua (2010 Edit)
Courtesy of psychedelic guitarist Chico Mann involved with the fantastic NYC Afrobeat outlet Antibalas.
Selvaxnegra – Muerte del Ego
A deep & dark Cumbia tune produced by newcomer Jose Gonzalez aka Selvaxnegra, from Orange County CA., whom I originally came across via his amazing photography work – deep, dark and stormy art, sonically and visually, watch this space!
Chouk Bwa & The Ångstromers – Sali Lento
Extracted from the brilliant Vodou Alé album, where Haitian band Chouk Bwa meets Brussels’ infamous Ångstromers for a blazing mix of mizik rasin (roots music) & Vodou, enhanced by experimental synth-heavy dub – the Belgian duo’s signature sound, which can often be heard in the EU capital’s unforgettable, super edgy, “Café Central”.
The next 3 tunes are all part of re-edited EPs by the groundbreaking label Secousse – brainchild of French DJ Etienne Tron and his wonderful Secousse Radio.
Neba Solo – CAN 2002
Composed in 1999 by Malian Balafon virtuoso Neba Solo (Souleymane Traoré) to celebrate the selection of Mali as host country for the African Cup of Nations (CAN) 2002, this tune has become somewhat of a major hit since, with a killer vibe still resonating over 20 years later.
Secousse also edited a cool video for the release:
Max Rambhojan – Tou’t Jou Pa Min’m
Guadeloupe veteran of Gwo-Ka, Rambhojan dabbled in Zouk with heavy electronic production in the 1980’s. This track is pure dancefloor joy!
If you want more of this, don’t miss Secousse Radio’s Retro Zouk Mixtapes, a potential palliative to whatever restrictive measures are keeping you home right now!
Jules-Henri Malaki – Makiyaj
Monster bombtrack from the mid-90’s Guadeloupe, Makiyaj is one of my favourite Zouk tunes (along with Erick Cosaque’s Embawgo, which I already mentioned in my very first Round-Up). Just shut your eyes and let that insane, blissful, bass swing take you away!