It would have been killer to see Femi Kuti & Positive Force on Saturday, but the Afrobeat star’s US tour has been postponed until he recovers from illness.
The cancellation, at least, gives us a chance to catch two other strong options: the heavy, beat-driven jazz-rock of Doppler Shift and the keyboard-fueled Led Zeppelin covers of Bustle in Your Hedgerow. (more…)
Jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs is an extremely diverse musician, and this musical diversification is exemplified by his new project, Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity.
Hailed by some as the “best bassist in the world,” Gibbs expands his palette further on his forthcoming record, Ancients Speak, including tastes of Brazilian hip hop and African Yoruba culture. (more…)
Femi Kuti - Day By Day
As the eldest son of Nigerian activist, Afrobeat originator and certified legend Fela Kuti, who passed away in 1997, Femi Kuti has certainly had some enormous figurative shoes to fill. Fortunately for us, he’s thus far done a bang- up job, and his latest, Day By Day from Mercer Street Records, is not only a worthy addition to the catalog, but is perhaps his finest and most focused to date. (more…)
NOMO, the alternative Afrobeat collective from Ann Arbor, Michigan, march es to its own beat, or more accurately, to the beat of four different percussionists.
Led by the lanky, baby-faced founder and composer Elliot Bergman, the nine-piece multi-ethnic/gender brigade is a mash-up of cultural and musical influences.
Defying classification to create an Afrobeat/funk/electronic hybrid (think Remain in Light-era Talking Heads with the sensibilities of Fela Kuti), the band has old-school jazz purists, hipsters, and indie rockers cocking an ear and taking notice. (more…)
