Ally Carnwath 

Antibalas: Antibalas – review

Afrobeat ensemble Antibalas create an irresistible groove on their fifth album, says Ally Carnwath
  
  


Afrobeat may not have achieved the global ubiquity of, say, reggae, but 15 years after the death of Fela Kuti, its influence continues to grow. That's thanks, in part, to groups such as Antibalas, a multicultural Brooklyn-based ensemble co-founded by Dap-King Gabriel Roth, who have been a powerful internationalising force for the sound. Their fifth album is rich and intoxicating: billows of brass, sinuous guitar hooks and squiggles of hammond organ bubble up pungently from the stew. But they regard Afrobeat primarily as a team game, and though there are thrilling moments of individual virtuosity, every rhythmic element locks tight to create an irresistible groove.

 

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