Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely unexpected genius, October 21, 2005
I always enjoy searching new and unique music, but my eye naturally goes to mysterious album covers. When i saw "congotronics: Konono N1" at the music store, and it's likembe's plugged into an amplifier, i was truly intrigued. Digging into my deep memory, i remembered playing with these little likembe's in elementary school, as part of learning about other cultures.
Well, this is another example of cultural diffusion, from an area of the world that doesn't get much musical credit. From the depths of poverty in Kinshasa, Congo comes an album that manages to rival even the most avant-garde modern experimental music- using ELECTRIC likembes and spare car parts.
If the sheer resourcefulness of this group doesn't impress you, the infectious rhythm and raw sound certainly will. It has a very tribal african feel, but incorporates a very modern, electrified sound with their use of instruments. And there is layer upon layer of sound... though the entire album may seem continuous and identical, you can hear very complex structure throughout the album. It's similarity also lends itself to a danceable trance-feel.
For the brave and perserverant, this will prove to be a very rewarding addition to your dance, electronic, or world music collection.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing music that is truly left field, March 18, 2006
I will be the first to admit that I'm not always abreast of the latest, hottest music. Part of the reason I started accepting and posting reader's lists on my site was because I figured that I'd be able to add even more titles to my list of things that I should hear. After looking through lists for 2005, Congotronics is one of those albums that showed up several times and a couple weeks ago it finally filtered up to the top of my purchases pile.
Damn, I should have done this sooner. Konono N°1 is a group of musicians founded almost 25 years ago and now situated in the Peoples Republic of Congo. The primary instrument of the group is a somewhat rudimentary thumb piano called the likembe, but they also play percussive instruments made out of old car parts through hand-made microphones and megaphones. Their music is raw and pounding and hypnotic as heck. Basically, it landed in my CD player and has been spun many, many times since first hitting the deck.
The disc wastes no time in getting going, as "Lufuala Ndonga" rumbles out of the gate with a three-pronged (octaved) likembe attack leading the way over ramshackle percussion, overlapping, almost chanted vocals, shouts, and whistles. The track doesn't have a huge amount of variety or any major shifts, but it works in a trancelike way, as elements come in and out of the mix and tumble over one another, always pushing the track onward and upward. "Masikulu" changes things up slightly by keeping everything in the higher registers for portions of the track then dropping the bottom out with rumbling fills from a bass likembe.
The two-part "Kule Kule" feels a bit more traditional as it peels back the heavier layers a bit to reveal a slightly more melodic side of the instrument as the players lock in with one another and deliver both subdued moments and bursts of intricate melody. The most musically-developed piece on the album is easily "Paradiso," which the group recorded while playing a show in Europe. As the likembe melodies bounce all over the place a steady beat and rhythm keeps a thumping time as wicked snare bursts rip through the track in several places. It runs seven minutes long, but wiggles into your head and once it stops playing you wish it had gone on for twenty. Just to leave you gasping, the group blows out the end of the album with the relentless, almost twelve-minute "Mama Liza," I've listened to a lot of what would probably be considered traditional African music, and I've never heard anything like this before. It's something that could appeal to everyone from fans of Can to Fela to Kompakt. This is inspiring stuff.
(from almost cool music reviews)
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very unique and remarkable, September 18, 2005
It is rare to find African, or any indigenous, music that has not been corrupted into "world music" by greedy producers/corporations. This album, and the group, Konono No.1 have been left alone to do what they do best--combine traditional instruments and rhytyms with low-tech modern technology pieced together from mechanical leftovers. The result is an incredible groove that lovers of trance music, dance music and ( like myself ) Congolese rumba will find irresistible.
I collect African music from the 50's to 70's. The sound quality reminds me of very early Zaiko Langa Langa, where distortions are incorporated into the music as the band has no other alternative.
This may be the best dance music from the Congo since Franco and TP OK Jazz. You will note that in hommage to Franco, the band is known at home as TP Konono No.1. "TP" is French for Tout Pouissant or All Powerful. If you start with cut 5, Paradiso, you will agree.
I recommend that you google the web sit for Crammed Records and sample a few selections. The find of the year for me.
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