Listen: Chopteeth’s Afrofunk Big Band
Remember Chopteeth? BPB reviewed ‘em back in October during the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. They cook. They dance. The Korgans are fat. The horn section is beastly. And the protest (”Struggle”) generally takes a backseat to the party (”Upendo”).
Their LP is called “Afrofunk Big Band.” It’s great. And without giving too much away, I can say that it’s a prime candidate for the 2008 iteration of our Year-in-Review Top 10 List. What’s not surprising about the disc is the quality of the playing—they’re aces, and we’ve know that for a while. But we didn’t know they had the composition to match the chops. (Much of the credit goes to guitarist/singer/principal songwriter/recording engineer Michael Shereikis, though Anna Mwalagho contributes some songwriting alonside her exultant vocals.)
So remember, folks: weigh your blessings. And check out the clips below.
“Struggle”:
“Upendo”:
“Fogo Fogo” (the lone Fela joint and the album’s only cover):
The fifth track, “Dog Days,” is available for free download on the Chopteeth website.
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11:39 am
Isn’t this like voting for a garage-rock revival band? Are they really doing anything new with ’70s afrobeat?
12:56 pm
Aside from the Fela cover, nothing on the album is strictly afrobeat. Chopteeth is modeled after Fela’s band, but their songs are a mix of beats and styles from a handful of African countries, with clear American influences such as rap, jazz and odd meters updating the classic grooves.
Take a listen to the whole CD and you’ll understand what Chopteeth is about.
1:28 pm
Curm,
Mr. Tree4 comes across as a bit of a publicist, but I tend to agree with him. Yes, the Chopteeth thing’s derivative, but richly so. It’s a killer blend—little ska, little funk, lotta pan-Africanism. And what do you call a Head-Roc collaboration that actually works? Rare! That’s what.
The main thing here: I like the Chopteeth disc a lot. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But I keep listening to it. And I think that supercedes questions of “pioneering,” “redefining the genre,” “taking artistic risks,” &c. Though—and let’s be clear on this—it’s not one big Fela rip-off, and you should stream some more tracks if you need to see why.
Does Raphael Saadiq do anything new with 60s soul? Sort of but not really, is the answer, which is sort of the point, and which is why you’ll no doubt be chagrined to hear that he too is in the running for my list.