…so sometime early last year Gorilla vs Bear started pushing this new discovery of an album in the works – an London based artist from Malawi collaborating with English producers on a true world influenced album – that is to say, drawing on influences not just outside of the English speaking world, but inside of it too(funny how “World music” translates to “not our world music” to most Americans/English).  Anyway, he highlighted various teaser clips and remixes from Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit and updates on the new album.  Well it was finally released late last year and is truly one of the few things in the over saturated blogo-sphere that has actually lived up to the hype.  Best of all, the great music comes at no cost – you can download it for free here. I have noticed he has really started to catch on with people familiar with the original songs that he reworks on his album (tackling MIA’s mega hit Paper Planes and giving Vampire Weekend’s Cape Cod KwassaKwassa a song suitable for it’s namesake).  Regardless, for free it’s worth checking out.

Kamphopo by the Very Best – catchy as fuck.  This reminds me of a story.  Back in college I once drove 3 days to the Yucatan in Mexico.  On our way back on the last day of travel our car broke down a few hours south of the Texas border – essentially in a sparse stretch of dessert in between a couple of towns.  After sitting on the side of the road for a few hours, a helpful family stopped and offered to drive to the nearby repair shop to get us a radiator hose(our’s had split which was causing the car to overheat).  In exchange they asked if we could help them drive a little more comfortably to the border town we were also going to be traveling through.  An hour later with a new radiator hose, we were on our way to Matamoros with two of their kids quitely riding in the back seat.  On the way, we decided to put on some music to avoid the awkward situation.  We decided to let the kids in the back pick the music and their choice was the Doors greatest hits.  One of the boys(who knew no English) gleefully sang the entire album perfectly all the way through – not really knowing what he was singing.  I would like to think of myself as much like that boy as I sing along to this song sung in Chichewa.  By the way, the backdrop for this song is an Architecture in Helsinki song.

Heart it Races by Architecture in Helsinki -I think maybe now your starting to understand why it’s a free album.  I’m sure these bands dig the reinterpretations of their work, but I bet the record labels have a different opinion.

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by The Very Best – hey, that’s a Vampire Weekend song…right?