UNSTRAIGHT AHEAD by KARL HECTOR & THE MALCOUNS

SKU77452
ArtistKARL HECTOR & THE MALCOUNS
TitleUNSTRAIGHT AHEAD
LabelNOW AGAIN
Catalog #NA 5114LP
Tag
ReleaseW 37 - 2014
FormatVinyl - US2LP
EAN Barcode659457511418
Import
 € 26,50 incl. VAT, excl. shipping

Tracks

  1. Introduction
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/1_introduction.mp3
  2. Push Na Ya
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/2_push_na_ya.mp3
  3. El Gusto
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/3_el_gusto.mp3
  4. Transition S
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/4_transition_s.mp3
  5. Karadeniz
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/5_karadeniz.mp3
  6. The Spirit Of Gine
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/6_the_spirit_of_gine.mp3
  7. Transition T
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/7_transition_t.mp3
  8. Girma's Lament
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/8_girmas_lament.mp3
  9. Sharpville Massacre
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/9_sharpville_massacre.mp3
  10. Samai Thaqil
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/10_samai_thaqil.mp3
  11. Jo Nibunga
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/11_jo_nibunga.mp3
  12. Ombele (Makossa)
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/12_ombele_makossa.mp3
  13. M'Hammad (Slow)
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/13_mhammad_slow.mp3
  14. Transition A
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/14_transition_a.mp3
  15. Who's Foolin' Who?
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/15_whos_foolin_who.mp3
  16. Transition C
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/16_transition_c.mp3
  17. Hymnin 5
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/17_hymnin_5.mp3
  18. Bring It On Down
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/18_bring_it_on_down.mp3
  19. Mission Control
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/19_mission_control.mp3
  20. Kaifa Pt. 1 & 2
    https://objectstore.true.nl/rushhourrecords:files/tracks/u/77452_unstraight_ahead/20_kaifa_pt._1_amp_2.mp3

Description

Unstraight Ahead finds the band exploring territories even outside of the expansive scope of Sahara Swing. On this album, the West African sounds of Ghana and Mali meet the East African sounds of Mulatu Astatke's Ethiopian jazz and are tied together with the groove heavy experimentalism of The Malcouns' 70s Krautrock godfathers: Can, of course, but also more obscure and equally adventurous groups like Agitation Free, Ibliss and Tomorrow's Gift.It's been some years since the first Karl Hector release, and it's known now that Mr. Hector is indeed the German producer and guitarist JJ Whitefield, ne Jan Weissenfeldt. Whitefield is the visionary behind the Poets of Rhythm and the Whitefield Brothers, the ensembles whose rough analog sound and return to the funk archetypes of the late 60s to early 70s paved the way for labels like Daptone, Truth & Soul, Timmion. Whitefield, along with Thomas Myland and Zdenko Curlija, founded Karl Hector and The Malcouns in the early 2000s. Their debut, Sahara Swing, saw release on Now-Again in 2008. The album swung with influences from across the African diaspora and set the stage for a cult, but influential following. Hermes designer Christophe Lemaire picked tracks from Karl Hector and The Malcouns as amongst his favorites in the Now-Again catalog, and included them on his Where Are You From anthology. Festival promoters intrigued by the possibility of resurrecting the careers of once forgotten African mavericks - from Ghana's Ebo Taylor to the progenitors of Zambia's Zamrock scene - brought Hector and crew across Europe playing festivals for ecstatic fans. "We look to Middle Eastern funk and psychedelic fusions, and to various ethnic records for sound and phrasing," Whitefield states. "We're trying to combine the global experimentalism of Krautrock with the backbeat of funk." This explains how songs in uneven meters - 5/4, 7/8 - always sound so accessible and natural on Unstraight Ahead. It's mainly an instrumental affair, but guest artists appear throughout, from across the African diaspora to those from the worldly Krautrock forebears of their German fatherland: it's Marja, daughter of Embryo founder Christian Burchard, whose vocals open the album. It's an album out of time, one that couldn't have been made in the era its aural aesthetics reference, as its scope is so broad. But it's an album focused by funk - and an ambition to expand funk's reaches. The Malcouns - including Poets of Rhythm songwriter and vocalist Bo Baral - created their own instruments to fashion an album that stands alongside the great albums of its progenitors but charges Unstraight Ahead into a curious musical future.

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