Esau Mwamwaya is an up-and-coming London-based MC born in Malawia, and Radioclit are a European production team. The mixtape itself, which is available for FREE digital download on the team's myspace site, is a collection of tracks which take the instrumentals, beats, and backgrounds from popular recent songs and overdub them with African chants, rhythms, tribal vocals, and rapping. Sounds cool, right? My favorites are "Kamphopo," which uses the tropical percussion from Architecture In Helsinki's single "Heart It Races," "Tengazako," which uses the motif that M.I.A. borrowed from The Clash for "Paper Planes," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," which spices up the Vampire Weekend afrobeat track by cranking up the speed and energy, and "Boyz," which does the same with my personal favorite of M.I.A.'s. Both she and Santigold also appear on another cool track found toward the end of the album, "Get It Up." "Kada Manja" and "Dinosaur On The Ark" are a couple of other tracks that, though I can't recognize any sample material involved, are still just as awesome, thanks to the genius of Radioclit. Other tracks of note are "Salota," "Funa Funa," and "Chikondi," though the whole album is worthy of your time. To cap it off, the mixtape closes with "Will You Be There," which throws some Michael Jackson into the mix and is so well-produced that it sounds like the Lion King-esque additions have always been a part of the song. Once Esau is done singing, he takes the opportunity to tell the listeners how much he loves them and makes a plug for a debut album, which already sounds incredibly promising.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Very Best Mixtape
Released at the very end of last year, The Very Best Mixtape by The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit) went unnoticed by many, including myself. I just gave it a listen today, and the only phrase I can use to describe it is "really cool."Esau Mwamwaya is an up-and-coming London-based MC born in Malawia, and Radioclit are a European production team. The mixtape itself, which is available for FREE digital download on the team's myspace site, is a collection of tracks which take the instrumentals, beats, and backgrounds from popular recent songs and overdub them with African chants, rhythms, tribal vocals, and rapping. Sounds cool, right? My favorites are "Kamphopo," which uses the tropical percussion from Architecture In Helsinki's single "Heart It Races," "Tengazako," which uses the motif that M.I.A. borrowed from The Clash for "Paper Planes," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," which spices up the Vampire Weekend afrobeat track by cranking up the speed and energy, and "Boyz," which does the same with my personal favorite of M.I.A.'s. Both she and Santigold also appear on another cool track found toward the end of the album, "Get It Up." "Kada Manja" and "Dinosaur On The Ark" are a couple of other tracks that, though I can't recognize any sample material involved, are still just as awesome, thanks to the genius of Radioclit. Other tracks of note are "Salota," "Funa Funa," and "Chikondi," though the whole album is worthy of your time. To cap it off, the mixtape closes with "Will You Be There," which throws some Michael Jackson into the mix and is so well-produced that it sounds like the Lion King-esque additions have always been a part of the song. Once Esau is done singing, he takes the opportunity to tell the listeners how much he loves them and makes a plug for a debut album, which already sounds incredibly promising.
Esau Mwamwaya is an up-and-coming London-based MC born in Malawia, and Radioclit are a European production team. The mixtape itself, which is available for FREE digital download on the team's myspace site, is a collection of tracks which take the instrumentals, beats, and backgrounds from popular recent songs and overdub them with African chants, rhythms, tribal vocals, and rapping. Sounds cool, right? My favorites are "Kamphopo," which uses the tropical percussion from Architecture In Helsinki's single "Heart It Races," "Tengazako," which uses the motif that M.I.A. borrowed from The Clash for "Paper Planes," "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," which spices up the Vampire Weekend afrobeat track by cranking up the speed and energy, and "Boyz," which does the same with my personal favorite of M.I.A.'s. Both she and Santigold also appear on another cool track found toward the end of the album, "Get It Up." "Kada Manja" and "Dinosaur On The Ark" are a couple of other tracks that, though I can't recognize any sample material involved, are still just as awesome, thanks to the genius of Radioclit. Other tracks of note are "Salota," "Funa Funa," and "Chikondi," though the whole album is worthy of your time. To cap it off, the mixtape closes with "Will You Be There," which throws some Michael Jackson into the mix and is so well-produced that it sounds like the Lion King-esque additions have always been a part of the song. Once Esau is done singing, he takes the opportunity to tell the listeners how much he loves them and makes a plug for a debut album, which already sounds incredibly promising.
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