Antibalas’ Afrobeat sound scatters into so many hyphenated juxtapositions- polyrhythmic-Afro-Cuban- funk-dub-jazz?-that they’ve practically become their own genre. The bandk’s fourth album, recorded with Tortoise’s John McEntire, is surprisingly subdued, considering the current events it attempts to address. “Filibuster X” and “War Hero” channel the fierce individualism of Fela Kuti and Gil Scott-Heron, but this dozen-strong, brass-heavy, keyboard-intensive collective impressively turns down the noise with the atmospheric “Beaten Metal” and the mournful horns that shadow the elegiac album closer, “Age.”
Now Hear This: Antibalas – “Ice” DOWNLOAD MP3
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