Toubab Krewe – TK2
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/12/10
Malian/Southern US fusion instrumentals by a band from Asheville NC. They’ve done their research, travelling to Mali a few times to study with musicians there. “Toubab” means “foreigner” in several west African languages, and “Krewe” is a reference to New Orleans Mardi Gras groups. I’d say the American part (garage, blues-rock, etc) outweighs the African, so it’s General rather than World. Excellent stuff.
Single FCC at very end of last track. I like 2 and 9 best – all tracks good.
1. 5:16 ***piano thumps and plinks, slow stomp with a hint of ragtime. Beautiful kora overlay.
2. 6:47 ****garage rock, uptempo with searing guitar, but a bit of camel walk in the drums. Slows down and goes psychedelic halfway through, with fine hand percussion.
3. 5:31 ***soft, organ-based blues (of the 60’s rock variety) with strongly Africanized guitar solo and electronic squoobles.
4. 5:58 ***fuzzy electric guitar blues, slow, with a bit of camel walk. Speeds up like crazy a couple of times to a total rave-up with slides.
5. 3:10 **sweet, pretty midtempo hip-wiggler with desert blues feel, but a bit of whammy bar as well.
6. 6:23 **very soft and low chords intro, then a couple of guitars, finally a sort of loping, downbeat but midtempo stroll. Gets quite psychedelic.
7. 6:50 ***lowkey guitar blues, much in the Malian tradition, with very slow drums. Goes uptempo with handdrums for last third of track.
8. 6:44 ***big 60’s garage rock sound with a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar sound – fun stuff. Gets quiet and psychedelic midway through, then morphs into something bouncy with hand percussion, flies into hyperspeed, then back to Freebird.
9. 5:47 ****pretty Malian swing with lots of percussion. The “worldiest” track yet.
10. 5:39 ***very low-key (but cool) bass intro. Turns into relaxed slightly downtempo loping sway, very Desert-Bluesy. Lots of tinkly kora, little guitar. ENDS just over a minute shy.
11. 10:32 FCC: “shit” in bit of talking after song ends, about 20 seconds from end of track. ***swingy, slightly uptempo sway with jangly guitar and a bit of African instrumentation. Fades to almost nothing after 4 minutes, turns into mellow, slow blues jam. Ends with fuzz – cut it off when you hear a loud fuzzy thump and bit of laughter.