by Bokanté + Metropole Orkest
Open your ears and prepare for some genre-defying heat.
Enter Bokanté - a group of super talents assembled by Michael League, of NYC Grammy-winners Snarky Puppy.
For What Heat, they combine forces with Metropole Orkest who freely roam from orchestra to jazz band before you’ve even noticed.
Once again they’re under the attentive ear of arranger/conductor Jules Buckley who has worked with Massive Attack, Peter Tosh and beyond.
The culmination is What Heat - a hectic frolic around all corners of the sonic spectrum. (Maybe the term supergroup should be saved for such musicians that break new ground rather than rearrange riffs).
The layering of instruments, time signatures, rhythms and arrangements burn fresh for the ears, barely pausing for reflection - keeping the heat throughout.
On first listen it can seem like a hastily arranged cacophony, but repeated visits reveal every considered note to be in the right place.
'All the Way Home' sets the pace early on with brooding orchestral/jazz band arrangements that swell from the deep to offer a hint at the breadth of things to come.
The insistent 'Fanm' brings to the fore the strong vocals that ground the complex arrangements throughout.
'Réparasyons' defies easy access with its complex time signatures that heighten the urgency.
You might need a breather between tracks to survive the heat.
'Don’t Do It' provides a familiar Afro-beat urgency. Before 'Chambre à Échos' provides some welcome opportunity for reflection.
'La Maison en Feu' is a fitting finale, worthy of an action film chase finale before the fire finally goes out.
Hectic at times, in other moments harmonious and soothing - but always interesting and brimming with freshness and ideas from all corners of the globe and global soundscape.
An amazing journey for the willing. Buy the ticket - take the sonic ride.
What Heat is available now on CD and LP through Real World Records.
By Richard McLeish
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRACKS
Sampa The Great - 'Energy (feat. Nadeem Din-Gabisi)'
Mt. Mountain - 'Cathedral'
Kllo - 'Candid'
Kerbside Collection - 'Traffic'
Slag Queens - 'Waterfall'
Parsnip - 'Winter'
Alejandro Escovedo - 'Footsteps in the Shadows'
Pinty - 'Tropical Bleu'
Danny Barwick - 'Mikolka'
This week's Top 10:
