Tradi-Mods Vs Rockers - Alternative Takes On Congotronics

A few years back Konono No1 made “congotronics” a hipster household word. Basically this was a band from the heart of Africa that played a local if traditional rhythmic dance music, heavy on percussion and kalimba. Thing is they played it amplified at full volume, distorted, which intentionally or not made the stuff border on something Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) would do for fun. The effect was an instant hit to the ears of indie rocker and noise buffs alike. The following is congotronics as remixed by all your Indie Rock and weirdo faves (check the back of the case, e.g. deerhoof, animal collective, micachu, oneida...). Its bad fucking ass!!

CD1:
1) funky slightly disjunct rhythm, with subtle fem vocs
2) tribal, pretty airy guitar
3) pretty with strings, almost avante, with familiar melodies
4) a Talking Heads urgency and driving beat
5) bells and percussion, disjunct beat, gets kinda noisey then the kalimbas come ringing through strong
6) chill yet poppy with fem vocals
7) cinematic dramatic marching flare, brass
8) glitchy blippy mashup of vocals with subtle electronics, total “remix” feel
9) heavy on the congo part, with fem vocs en espanol, rhythmic and cool
10) super cool urgent congo with dubby echoey colorations, vocs, killer!
11) cool melodic, quintessential song, but bent folded and manipulated a bit
12) big dub echo treatments, driving and congo, quiet fade-out at end
13) a bit more chill, rhythmic

CD2:
1) callout vocs, treated, longer track, very tribal and percussive and hypnotic as hell
2) upbeat and poppy, dancey and fun, brief and radio-friendly
3) rhythmic and more experimental, collage-like
4) banjo rhythmic pop
5) pretty melodies, then a heavily layered driving pounding feel
6) complex and trippy and midway sounds like old Stereolab, huh?
7) cool if creepy noise to start, piece has a lo-fi cassette electronics tone about it
8) rhythmic and nice, very congo
9) noisey as hell, taking their broken amplifiers to the next level, at least at first
10) pretty guitars and percussion, nice bouncy
11) longer, good dancey, nice
12) cool distorto treated congo, solid beats, complex
13) bit of an out-tro, mellow piano, brief