ANTIBALAS - Antibalas LP (Splatter Colour Vinyl)

Label: Daptone

In the five years since Brooklyn-based Afrobeat revivalists Antibalas last released an LP, the band’s been plenty busy, with some members guesting on friends’ albums, and others working on the arrangements and performance of the musical Fela!, about the life and career of Nigerian musician/activist Fela Kuti. Taking to the stage doesn’t seem to have had any effect on Antibalas, except that the band’s new self-titled album sounds even more like Kuti than ever.

Reunited with former member Gabriel Roth—best-known as the head honcho at Daptone Records and the leader of The Dap-Kings—Antibalas retreat from the experimental bent of 2007’s John McEntire-produced Security and get back to the sound of a big group of musicians in a single room, trading licks. But what initially sounds like simple jamming reveals itself on repeated listens to be incredibly complex, as Antibalas shifts gears within songs, building up to eruptive, jazzy horn-blasts. The music is retro, but in no way outdated. This is “world” music for our increasingly globalized times.