I’ll be honest – a little preachy for my tastes. I’m just kidding, the album is almost entirely sung in African (I was gonna research this further, but all you get is ‘African’). And you can call me an ignorant American for only knowing English (and Spanish cuss words), but ‘African’, they didn’t exactly offer that at my public high school.
Not that this album doesn’t reinforce what a beautiful language it is.
I’m assuming you are aware of their single with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Warm Heart of Africa (its been on the bakery shelves twice now!). I won’t lie to you – there aren’t any other songs on the album that are as good as that song. But to be fair, there are very few songs released in 2009 that are better than that song. Now that you’ve got an amazing tune that has made its way around the music community -what kind of album do you follow it up with?
This album was touted to be a pairing of world music and hip-hop/DJs. I would say that most tracks lean towards the world music side, but it is hard to compete with the booming voice of Esau Mwamwaya.
Besides the amazing tracks that are VERY much African influenced, there are some hidden gems in there that will appeal to the latest electro-loving hipster and hip-hop head alike. One of those songs is Julia, which kinda sounds like something you might hear from M.I.A., yet somehow more throat puncturing. That is a hard analogy to back up, but I can totally see this song as the theme music as I walk into a club full of zombies and start blasting them away.
And there is a track with M.I.A. by the way. Should have put her on Julia, that shit would have killed.
The album is very good. It will take you a few listens to figure this out – but trust me, it is worth it. Because, at the end of the day, let’s be honest, if one of your friends who thinks they are up on more music than you sits in your car and you’re playing African music – you kinda won that argument.
Furthermore. if you are reading this and trying to find some new insight or discovery about The Very Best, here is one for you…their hit song…is an acronym for WHOA. That is the kind of insight you will only find in the bakery – word!
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The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa (Theophilus London Remix)
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You can buy their album WHOA (okay, Warm Heart of Africa) on iTunes or somewhere else.
‘WHOA’ = genius. On a somewhat related point, other bands that I’ve found impossible to google are Discovery, Girls, The Muslims and !!! to name a few…
The language they are singing in is a dialect from Malawi, named Chichewa, which is where Esau is originally from. Thank me later Muffin, thank me later. Or give Train some free shit. Whatever.