Customer Reviews

Thank You Very Quickly

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Extra Golden has been playing an electric fusion of classic rock and Kenyan benga music for a few years now. Their first album, Ok-Oyot System, was an intriguing and satisfying album that had the liveliness of Nigerian juju music with a good rock edge. After a tragic death in the band, it took them some time to regroup, but regroup they have, and Thank You Very Quickly is a remarkable album that surpasses their earlier work with its seamless integration of U.S. and African sounds. The balance here is perfect, and the resulting album sounds like it would be equally at home in the collection of an American jam band fan or a world music listener. The sound is no longer even really benga or rock, and the listener can hear threads of several styles from sub-Saharan Africa as well as the desert blues of Tuareg artists like Tinariwen. The guitars here are the star, though, and while they are expressive, they never overwhelm with unnecessary pyrotechnics. The album is a paragon of taste, intelligence and groove, essential for rock fans with open ears and world music fans who detest the new-age leanings of much of the stuff that gets classified as world music fusion. If only all cross-cultural musical experiments were this good...

Further listening: Tinariwen, the Ry Cooder/Ali Farka Toure album, any of Bob Brozman's cross-cultural experiments, King Sunny Ade, Tri Continental...

I love this band and they really come together in sound on this record. Definitely recommend it!