Sherwood At The Controls (1985-1990)

African Head Charge — A Trip To Bolatanga (On U Sound)

A Trip To Bolgatanga by African Head Charge

The name of African Head Charge’s first album, My Life in a Hole in the Ground, was both a poke at David Byrne and Brian Eno’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and an acknowledgement of their relative circumstances. The two endeavors actually had this much in common; both were investigating combinations of spiritually charged, sampled sounds and newly recorded grooves nourished by the African diaspora. However, 42 years later, only one is a going concern. A Trip to Bolatanga is the first new work in 12 years by chanter and hand drummer Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, producer Adrian Sherwood and a host of newer and older associates.

The album’s title references a town in Ghana, which has been the Jamaican-born Noah’s base country since the mid-1990s, which gotten some attention for another musical phenomenon. In 2016, Sahel Sounds and Makkum Records collaborated on the release of an album called This Is Kologo Power! Kologo is a variant of West African music named after the two-stringed lute that is used to play it, and one of that compilation’s standout artists, King Ayisoba, guests on A Trip To Bolatanga. In fact, his insistently plucked strings and gravely cackle kick the record off with a bit of English-language advice: “A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it.” Near the record’s end, he dispenses more advice. “Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience, worst days give you a lesson, and best days give you memories.” It’s fair to say that African Head Charge has cornered the market on African-informed, polyrhythmic self-help jams.

Sherwood and Noah have always been a bit of a juggling act, tossing ancient and contemporary beats into the air and making them spin in time with each other. Some prior attempts have not aged that well, but if you evaluate music in terms of its moment, A Trip to Bolatanga is on strong ground. The combination of nyabinghi hand drumming, booming kick drum, funky guitar, house-ready piano accents and bobbing clarinet on “Accra Electronica” sounding simultaneously of this time and timeless, and there’s no denying the beats’ substantial bang, which both demands and rewards volume deals.

Bill Meyer

Spoon Vs On-U Sound: Lucifer On The Moon (Matador, 2022)

Illustration: Edel Rodriguez. Design by Undercard.

I photographed Mark Stewart in Toronto in June of 1988, just after an epic set featuring Stewart, Gary Clail, Adrian Sherwood and Tackhead. Three frames out of the four rushed shots I took, unpublished until now. Mark Stewart RIP 1960-2023.

Creation Rebel’s Hostile Environment

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE - A Bad Attitude

Science Fiction Dancehall Classics

Hindu Temple, Houston, USA

Open Now

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Houston is the first traditional Hindu Mandir of its kind in North America. It's a haven for spirituality and a place of paramount peace. It is also a centre vibrant with social, cultural, and spiritual activities.

Horace Andy!

MARK STEWART and THE MAFFIA "Liberty City" Live @ Link Bologna + more

Sherwood At The Controls (1985-1990)

WOMEN ARE MY FAVORITE GUY 💥

> pull her into a hug

Sounds That Have Been Made, EP 96: Gary Clail + On-U Sound System "human Nature"

When I first heard this a few decades ago, I was sure the line “Let the Carnival Begin, Every Pleasure Every Sin” was Boy George, but ends up it was by UK drag queen icon Lana Pellay (an associate of the late fashion designer, performance artist and all around controversy magnet Leigh Bowery), as it’s the house hook in this otherwise crazy-quilt wall of dub-industrial funk that guerilla…

View On WordPress