I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about Afrobeat, having perhaps unfairly considered it synonymous with stuffed olive chomping North London guilty post-colonialists who've renounced modern rock 'n' roll in favour of something more earthy and wholesome. But as per usual you've got to ignore the fans and concentrate on the music to get to the good stuff and there's some pretty bitchin' records out there if you can be bothered to look - I could never be arsed in the past but this album knocked me off my perch and made me realise I've probably missed out on loads of other corkers. Janka Nabay had apparently been pedalling his brand of 'Bubu' choons in his native Sierra Leone to considerable success prior to his emigration to the States a decade ago, a move that didn't go totally according to plan in that he hit the skids and ended up working in fast food outlets for several years before eventually snagging a record deal that allowed him to release his music to a wider audience. You'd expect someone who's gone from relative stardom to flipping burgers to come across a trifle jaded by the experience but this is surprisingly upbeat listen - the title apparently translates as 'I'm scared' in reference to his difficulties settling in the US but the music reflects a clear-headed celebratory attitude rather than introspective grumping. He's arguably benefited from the long wait before releasing anything too, having had time to lock down with a homegrown backing band and filter his old continent material through modern Brooklynite production and club performance chops. Syrian American vocalist Saadi joins him upfront to fill out the high end whilst honky hipsters the Skeletons deal with guitar, bass and drums giving this a nice crossover sound and probably going some way to ensuring that clueless punks like myself have something to grab onto even if they don't know anything about African music. Each track builds up a nice head of steam with tight rhythms and high end string riffs whilst Nabay half narrates and half chants his vocals in a mixture of English and African dialect and Saadi tops off the mix with some sweet chorus lines - they put the format through the mix on each of the eight tracks on show here and it's surprisingly infectious, kicking off each song with a catchy tagline that they proceed to twist and turn into new shapes as the piece progresses. I don't know if there's a breakthrough hit on here to take this stuff from the World Music sessions and into the mainstream charts but I have a sneaky suspicion that Nabay and co can bust this stuff out live to pretty awesome results so a decent run of festival slots could see them gaining wider coverage and landing a few lucrative exposure spots - they've obviously got an eye for the wider market already, 2010's 'Bubu King' EP featuring a fiendishly catchy unofficial anthem to the London Olympics which could have been their meal ticket for some time had it caught on. There will be more opportunities though and in the meantime 'En Yay Sah' will get asses shaking on every spin and sits surprisingly well next to your whiteboy guitar records so go grab a copy and give yourself a break from punk 'n' shoegaze to throw some tribal shapes back at the flat.
Check out : the promo for 'Eh Mane Ah' which should brighten your day up no end.
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