Riot In Lagos in its essence is a compilation of modern productions and reworks rich in magic from the motherland. Following on from a recent resurgence of Afro inspired Disco thanks to labels like BBE, Strut, Tala A.M and Awesome Tapes From Africa digging heavy, and reissuing some of the best content in many years from the worlds second largest continent a wide and diverse range of. To set the overall feel, the album kicks of with Perdu’s ‘Cece’ an up beat affair with all the attributes of a perfect carnival tune with afro percussion positive vocals and horn section Paul Simon would have been proud of. Bosq follows this up with an afroboogie slice originally released on Ubiquity back in 2012.
Modern musicianship and productions meets original beats on Drop Out Orchestra’s version of Jingo, which samples a rare version of Candido’s classic whist adding their own live guitars and heavy bass for modern club culture. Take a step back in time with Seamus Haji as he re-loves his classic house track 2000 Black which sampled the Afrobeat king Fela and the unstoppable Roy Ayers, reproduced with extra sunshine points.
Keeping it modern is Diesler with Andre Espeut with ‘Afro Funky’ edging on Nu Disco territory with it’s arrangement and synth bass but with enough rootsy edge to it to fluster the genre labellers out there, whilst altogether at the other end of the spectrum of this album is the amazing Dolette McDonald, David Byrne and Sting’s go to backing vocalist with her first solo release in 30 years with production team FSQ’s ‘Shaking My Damn Head’ a track with an apparent CBGB’s feel to it that fuses Afro with the finest 80’s Artpop.
Dig a little further in to this huge compilation and you find South Beach Recycling heading slightly west with a tropical affair influence by the highlife rhythms that drifted down to the cost from near by Ghana. This is without a doubt one of the most diverse and interesting compilation from the Midnight Riot team so far and underlines the special standing of the label. Wonderful!
5 out of 5
Reviewed by MANNIX
