The spectacular Congolese thumb-piano wizards and their overpowering, distorsion-fuelled traditional trance music. The bands home-made sound system, built from old car parts, megaphones and discarded amps creates an absolutely hypnotic sound, an uneasy marriage of tradition and technology, African rhythms with the texture of punk rock and relentless drive of electronic dance music.
1. Wumbanzanga
2. Thin Legs
3. Mama Na Bana
4. Makembe
5. Fula Fula
6. Guiyome
7. Konono Wa Wa Wa
8. Nakobala Lisusu Te
Assume Crash Position wiles out the sound of Konono's first, their long-spanning rhythms honed into eight tracks of hip-shaking whistle-making fanfare, relentless riffs and the kind of African rhythms now once again appropriated by contemporary avant-rock music. The music dips and dives like bodies through a crowd, clearing to lulls in which field recordings of children's chatter and community carnival populate what-would-be quiet, before giving way to another round of clattering drums and folk verse. -
The Quietus
