The
Allstars are based in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, and per the record's title, there's definitely something
supernatural going on there. Like labelmates Konono N°1, who toured
last year with Bjork, the group is a large ensemble that plays ritual
music built around call-and-response vocals and the deeply hypnotic,
interlocking rhythms of likembes (thumb pianos) and other percussion
instruments (including something called a tam tam, which sounds like a
cross between a B-movie death ray and a metal spatula thwapping a
bedspring). But what distinguishes the Allstars is their electric
guitars. Mostly they provide gentle melodic loops familiar to fans of
old-school soukous and indie-rock fusionists like Vampire Weekend. But
sometimes they break ranks. When the distorted riff erupts into
"Kafuulu Balu" around the 2:30 mark, it's like the best jam moment that
never happened at Bonnaroo; you can feel evil spirits fleeing the room.
But since the Allstars are also master dancers, the music is only half
the show. Bring on the U.S. tour.
