‘It’s ok for my desires to follow my bloodstream,” says King Britt on Adventures in Lo-fi (BBE). By way of introduction, this heralds the album he’s always wanted to make, an “all hip-hop LP” inspired by a 1984 science-fiction cult movie by John Sayles called The Brother from Another Planet. According to Internet critic David Loftus of Allscifi.com, “An alien crashes in New York harbour and tries to survive on the streets of Harlem. Fortunately, he’s black!”
It’s a combination of B-grade blaxploitation from an age gone by and, as the plot suggests, an odyssey through the lives of young New Yorkers. It’s a bird’s-eye view from the artist himself, “collabing” with his select group, names one doesn’t know: Rich Medina, Bahamadia, Capitol A, Butterfly (now called Cherrywine), Dice Raw, Ivana Santilli, Grand, Rob Life, Miss Saigon, Lady Alma and others.
Even connoisseurs of this form can’t keep up with the proliferation of poets, so many thousands of kilometres away. But like the unfortunate alien in Sayles’s movie, it’s an essential journey of discovery.
For anyone who loves King Britt for his soulful pop album Sylk 130 When the Funk Hits the Fan, this one may be a little yacky. But he has deigned to pop in the odd “vocal jam”. There is one called Superstar with singer Santilli from “T dot” (Toronto) and a Brides of Funkenstein-type number called Love’s Theme with Lady Alma of Philadelphia.
There’s predictable protest about “freedom shrinking in a police state called Babylon, also known as planet earth”. But this grandiose language lends Adventures in Lo-Fi an apocalyptic edge.
Boomkat: Boomkatalog.One (Universal)
A gritty mix of R&B, pop, funk, rap and dance by siblings Kellin and Taryn Manning, who wrote the songs, too. When the funk is turned up with a jazzy swing, Taryn’s vocals are reminiscent of Macy Gray, but when the mood is slower the tunes become undistinguished. A playful and easy-going debut. — Riaan Wolmarans
The Buckfever Underground: Teaching Afrikaans as a Foreign Language (Independent)
The Buckfever Underground are a somewhat enigmatic collective, making rare gig appearances and even more rarely releasing albums. Having been around since 1998, this creative quartet comprises Toast Coetzer, Gilad Hockman, Jon Savage and Stephen Timm. This, their second album, is a seamless combination of bilingual poetry, some of the funny, tongue-in-cheek kind, others of a more beautiful kind, resulting in a seven-track album of Afrikaans and English spoken word over percussive melodies. From the opening track, a parody of the Nedbank who-are-those-people advert, to the intimate longing on Love in a Time of Visas, this album is a stream-of-consciousness glimpse into being young in South Africa, where the trend of going to a Far East country to teach English is fast becoming popular. The Buckfever Undergound’s independent release is now available in stores, which means that Afrikaans may not have to become a foreign language after all. — Nadia Neophytou
Various: Absolute High-Energy Volume 2 (Gallo)
Proof of why so many high-energy acts quickly faded into oblivion. Save it for a cheesy Eighties party. — RW