Lately, I have been on a psychedelic afro-beat kick. You will probably be into Monomono′s Dawn of Awareness if you dug the Chrissy Zebby Tembo from last week . However, their sound is more reminiscent of Fela Kuti’s syncopated afro-beat funk than Tembo′s afro-psych fuzz guitar sound.
“Dawn of Awareness” was released on Capitol Records in 1974 to little critical acclaim. Friday Jumbo, the leader of Monomono was a member of Fela’s group before he joined forces with vocalist Joni Hasstrup and bassist Kenneth Okulolo to form Monomono. The opening track entitled “Awareness Is What You Need” really nails the Fela afro-beat sound while still creating it’s own sound. “Ipade Aladun” is the longest track on here at just over eight minutes and it really cooks with soulful vocals laid over a bed of funky organs and keyboards. Lots of breaks and weird sound effects for the beat junkies on this track alone. At just under five minutes, “Tire Loma Da Nigbehin” is the epitome of Clift-notes for afro-beat with complex syncopated basslines, repetitive vocal refrains and incendiary organs. This one says it’s “Out of Stock” on Dusty Groove’s website, so I’m pretty sure it’s out-of-print. Enjoy!
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