premiere: desert punk/blues band songhoy blues drop video for news single “yersi yada” + q&a

Songhoy Blues were born in an act of resistance, so it’s fitting their new record would take the name Résistance. After being forced from their homes in Timbuktu when Sharia law was imposed and secular music was banned in northern Mali, the quartet formed in Mali’s capital Bamako.

Their latest record builds on the sounds they explored in Music In Exile; a mixture of Songhai rhythms and blues and rock sounds. It mixes it up with contributions from Iggy Pop, grime MC Elf Boy, and violinist William Harvey. Lyrically, the album takes a more directly political edge, poignantly with new single “Yersi Yada” (which means “We Do Not Agree”). The song rides a buoyant beat and raucous horn section to take on those who use religion as a tool of oppression. The song’s energy masks a radical defiance; it’s a powerful message that in the face of cruelty and oppression, simply being joyful is a form of rebellion. The video opens with a reminder that 65.6 million people have been displaced by conflict and persecution before showcasing the faces of refugees from all over the world. “Yersi Yada” is exactly what the world needs right now.

We recently got a chance to speak with band leader Aliou Touré.

Did you know each other before coming to Bamako?

We actually met while at university in Bamako a few years before the band started. After we finished studying we all went back to our homes in the North of Mali; myself and Oumar to Gao and Garba to Timbuktu. Then when the trouble started in the North and we had to come back to Bamako for safety we re-connected and knew we had to play together straight away. We arrived back in Bamako and a few days later we were playing at a wedding together. Our drummer Nat is from Bamako and joined a little later.

Growing up, what music were you listening to?

We listened to a lot of different music, I guess because we were really the first generation to have the luxury of the internet to discover music from beyond Mali. Our first love was always Malian traditional music, the music of our culture. But apart from that it was a complete variety. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin. Bob Marley is a big hero for me. And our drummer Nat loves Red Hot Chilli Peppers. But we listened to everything: hip-hop, reggae, R&B, blues, rock.

Were you already fans of Iggy Pop before the collaboration? How did that come about?

In all honesty we didn’t really know Iggy Pop until we were looking at who could collaborate on the album. But he’d played us a few times on his radio show in the UK, so we knew he liked our music. Then when we were actually introduced to his music and watched the way he performs, we knew he was someone we wanted to work with. Luckily for us he felt the same way.

What are the Songhai music traditions you try to bring out in your music?

Songhai traditions will always be at the centre of our music because it’s what we grew up listening to most. I think the main things are the rhythms and structure. With the way music was played traditionally for us, songs would last for hours with these cyclical melodies that just looped and looped. Hopefully that comes through in the way we play now; we just wanted to find a way to be more direct.

How did exile change your perspective on music?

I think it made us appreciate how important music was for us. As soon as the music ban started in the North of Mali we knew we had to get out, we just couldn’t live without it. Then once we were safe in Bamako it became our way of protesting. It was just the only way we knew to get across a message of hope and reconciliation to as many people as possible.

Were there, or are there, things you worried about saying in songs? Or were there things you could say in songs that you felt like you couldn’t say in conversation?

I think on Music in Exile, the lyrics were mainly positive, they were messages of encouragement to our peers who were despondent and felt hopeless. It might seem like we were born out of a controversial situation, but the reality was, there was so much negativity at the time, we just wanted to be the ones to say something positive and bring a message of hope. With our new album, Résistance, I think that’s changed a bit. We never thought we would have the global audience that we’ve developed and with that it feels like there’s more of a responsibility to speak out against the things that we see that are wrong.

What responsibilities to artists have to use their art to resist and speak out about injustice?

In Mali in particular I think there’s a responsibility as a musician to talk about the things that are happening around you. So much is misconstrued or simply ignored by the news and literacy levels aren’t absolute so not everyone reads the newspaper. Music is a universal language, though, so even if you don’t watch or read the news you can find out about what’s going on through song. Music in a broader sense has always been about Resistance though. Most of the great social shifts in society over the last century have been soundtracked by the music of the time, whether that’s jazz, rock, hip-hop or house music. Great artists like Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and even today with Kendrick Lemar – they all had a sense of social responsibility. They all knew they had a platform to inspire change, and they did in many cases.

What kind of response has your music gotten in Mali? Is it different in the North than in Bamako?

Outside of Bamako we haven’t really played in Mali. While things are quieter and safer now, it still wouldn’t be safe to play a full concert in the North. So we don’t really know how our music will be received when we do. In Bamako, though, the best thing about playing our music is in seeing people from different backgrounds all enjoying it. Concerts are where you see people from the North and South coming together to share an appreciation for music.

What role do you think art has in healing Mali?

Art in general definitely has a big role to play in healing Mali. Music for one has the power to bring people together from different backgrounds – it’s why we started this band in the first place. We wanted to spread a positive message to people from the North and South and hopefully if people can come together over something as primal as music, they can begin to strengthen ties between those different communities.

What do you hope your music will accomplish outside of Mali?

To promote a positive picture of Mali and West Africa in general. That’s partly why we were so happy with the lyrics Iggy wrote for Sahara – they’re really simple but as one of the only english lines on the album we really hoped he’d be able to convey the simple message that we want to spread. The images that people see of West Africa in the news are seldom positive, war, famine, violence, that’s all people see. We wanted to show that that’s only a very small part of the picture and that there’s so much more to Mali than that. That’s why in the Bamako video we really wanted to transport people to Bamako – despite the fact that three different directors said no when we came to them with the idea – we wanted to show that it’s the same as any other place in a lot of ways, even down to a Saturday night out with friends…

What else do you have coming up that you want people to know about?

The rest of the year is just touring and more touring. We’ll be in North America again from 28th September for a big tour and then it’s back to Europe for more touring there! So we’ll see you on the road I guess!

Upcoming Tour Dates:
September 28 Washington, DC U Street Music Hall
September 29 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
September 30 Boston, MA City Winery
October 1 Montreal, QC L’Astral
October 3 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
October 5 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
October 6 Madison, WI University of Wisconsin-Madison: The Sett
October 7 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
October 10 Nashville, TN The Basement East
October 11 Atlanta, GA City Winery Atlanta
October 12 Oxford, MS Proud Larry’s
October 13 New Orleans, LA Tipitina’s Uptown
October 13-15 Austin, TX Austin City Limits
October 18 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
October 19 Los Angeles, CA Teragram Ballroom
October 20 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
October 24 Eugene, OR WOW Hall
October 25 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
October 26 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
October 27 Vancouver, BC The Biltmore

garage-blues duo the london souls funk it up with con brio for ‘split 7″‘

One of my favorite things in all of music is when bands from totally different ends of the musical spectrum team up to show some mutual appreciation. Sometimes this can have disastrous results (sigh, Lulu), but when it works, it’s just fucking fantastic. That’s how you end up with a split 7” featuring the vintage garage blues of The London Souls and the funk and R&B of Con Brio.

Their two contributions don’t carry a common theme, and the 7” mostly stems from London Souls’ Chris St. Hilaire and Con Brio’s bassist Jonathan Kirchner having grown up together. But the two tracks both kill in their own ways. And both owe an uncertain debt to the music coming out of Memphis in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The London Soul’s “Certain Appeal” is a stripped down shuffle with a boogie-woogie piano taking on a world oversaturated with constant advertising and reality TV. Con Brio’s “All Over Me” is a little more next-wave but those horn licks sound straight out of that Stax records dirty R&B. Either side of the 7” is going to get your blood pumping. And look, I make it a policy not to trust anyone who only likes one kind of music. So the only question is: which side do you spin first?

rap/rock supergroup prophets of rage flip the script on oppressive biases in damning new track “radical eyes”

“They say we’re radicalized/ See our radical eyes!” Proclaim the rappers of Prophets of Rage, the revolution-centered rap/rock supergroup featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, over the roaring guitar, drum and bass of their rock members in “Radical Eyes”. The new track is a searing indictment of the white gaze and normative gazes in general, which position any viewpoints that resist the “normal” violence marginalized communities face as too “radicalized” and therefore wrong.

In the song, the collective–Chuck D, DJ Lord, Tim Commerford, B-Real, Tom Morello and Brad Wilk–reverse the narrative: It’s radical visions that are necessary to change our current reality, and it’s our regressive perspective on change that is the problem.

“Opposing viewpoints and movements are seen as radical rather than diversity,” Chuck D said in a statement.  “‘Radical Eyes’ is the lens everything is viewed through, any life movement in opposition is considered radicalized.”

Check out the powerful track below!

brazilian rapper moah tears it up in video for latest free-verse track “punk trap”

São Paulo-based musical creative Moah is as innovative as he is explosive in the video for his latest headbanger “Punk Trap”.

The track lives up to its name–creating a genre all of its own with a tight mixture of rock and rap that is recognizable yet refreshing in this new age of trap. Starting off with a bang, the layered free verse–sampling Xxxtentacion’s “Gnarly Bastard“–has all the pieces of mainstream hip hop, but with a twist: as the trap beat winds up, listeners are blasted with a tight fusion of punk vocal meets heavy metal volume. Alternating from lyrics to screams, your senses are left exhausted but buzzing for more.

Ever since Moah was a kid, the aesthetics and lifestyle of punk has stolen his focus–and what better way to satisfy a craving than to make it your own? Adding to the ever-shifting origin genre of Hip Hop, this Brazilian artist did just that.

An exciting listening experience with a hyped up, carefree video to match,”Punk Trap” is the new wave.

Check out Moah’s latest track and video above!

legendary rock band living colour takes on media propaganda in searing new track “program”

After taking an eight-year hiatus following the release their fifth studio album, Vivid, in 2009, Living Colour are back with a bang, and not a moment too soon. The latest single from their new album, Shade (out Sept. 8) reminds us what we’ve been missing all this time. “Program” begins with an interview by the rapper Scarface in which he heralds the band as one of the few featuring Black rockers and changing the game, recalling the tune of their hit-song “Cult of Personality.”

As singer Corey Glover told Loudwire, “Somebody told us, ‘You know, he mentioned you guys.’ And it was like, ‘Really, what did he use?’ Just that inasmuch he said that there are really just this string of rock bands, in his estimation. He’s like, ‘Whatever happened to those guys?’ That’s the question we get all the time. Whatever happened? Like we fell off the face of the Earth and now we’re working at the post office. We’re not. We’re still doing what we do.”

And they are doing it to tremendous effect on “Program”, a seething indictment of media propaganda and social conditioning.

“ghettometal” rock band throwdown syndicate tackle the criminal justice system in “king of k.i.n.g.s.” 

Protest music comes in many forms, and in the case of D.C.-based metal group Throwdown Syndicate and their latest single “King of K.I.N.G.S”, their igniting lyricism blends with a traditional-yet-original formula allowing them to utilize a known genre in wildly progressive ways.

The quartet–prideful of its satisfying blend of Rock, metal, and hip hop–uses their conscious lyricism to bring “complexity and depth” to the heavy metal scene. With the track itself being a musical purge reflecting the pressures of modern-day society, this 3-minute project is more than entertainment, it’s a call to action.

In their own words: “It’s about normal, hard-working everyday people who are caught between the criminals that prey on them and the system that’s almost worse than the crime.”

This type of music always gets you hype, but with “King of K.I.N.G.S”‘s tantalizing riffs and activating message, your ears will be left ringing, but so will your spirit.

Check out Throwdown Syndicate‘s powerful new track below!

providence rock band downtown boys are back with head-banging new anthem “lips that bite”

Rock is revolution in the eyes of Providence-based group Downtown Boys, and with the release of their latest single “Lips that Bite”, they succeed in further reshaping the genre.

The track itself is an exciting, emotion-filled anthem that gets the listener jumping and sweating from the first notes. It’s explosive, mosh-worthy rhythm, accompanied by a head-bangingly melodic talk-sing reminiscent of a young Joan Jett stands as the antidote to monotony and tradition.

The AFROPUNK alums produce more than music; their presence alone is activism. Each track is a protest, as they’re recognized for their powerhouse performances and active dedication to dispelling cultural “phobias” and “isms.”

Thanks to Downtown Boys and their latest song “Lips that Bite”, the Chicana, queer, and Latinx voice is getting its play in a white-washed medium, and the results couldn’t be better.

Look out for the release of their upcoming EP “Cost of Living“out August 11th- along with their October UK-wide tour- and check out “Lips that Bite” below.

new music: south african soul/punk-rock singer tuelo gives an powerful tribute to mothers in “saint margaret”

New York-based, South Africa-born Tuelo fuses soul and punk-rock to create what has been dubbed “revival music,” an inspiring and spiritual experience carried by the singer’s powerhouse vocals that have filled some venues like Carnegie Hall and Late Night with David Letterman. Although Tuelo has been noticeably influenced by the likes of Nina Simone, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, Blondie, and Miriam Makeba, her biggest influence is the subject of her latest single, “Saint Margaret”.

The track is an homage to Tuelo’s mother, Seabi, whose “English” name is Margaret. Though Tuelo’s mother has yet to hear her sing or perform since the artist left South Africa, Tuelo credits her mother for the love of people, environment, tradition, culture, words and learning and spirituality that is present throughout all of her music. The song touches upon the larger than life position her mother occupied for Tuelo, who says that if someone had told her as a child that her mother was God, she would have “been a believer a long time ago.”

Check out the moving track below!:

Follow Tuelo: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Banner Photo via Tuelomusic.com

new music: new york-based rocker militia vox gives an ode to insomnia in dark and passionate new single “nyctophilia”

NYCTOPHILIA: nyc-to-phil-i-a noun. A love or preference for the night or darkness.

After making waves as the front-woman for the bands Judas Priestess and Swear On Your Life, Maryland-born, New York-based rock singer Militia Vox debuted as a solo act in 2013, and quickly became known as the “Rock Goddess” of the Afropunk movement. The singer has since performed with legends like Twisted Sister, Living Colour, Taylor Dayne, Sandra Bernhard, Nancy Sinatra, Cyndi Lauper and Paul Shaffer. Vox describes her latest single, “Nyctophilia,” as “sinfully heavy with a breath of trip hop,” a dark and brooding track that electrifies the night.

“Nyctophilia was spawned by being an insomniac,” Vox explains. “I go on a lot of late night walks alone to burn off energy. I have a steamy love affair with the night. I come alive.”

Check out the track below!:

 

Follow Militia Vox: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter |Website | Youtube

new music: echelon the seeker creates an indie afrofuturist fantasia for the 21st century on his self-titled debut #soundcheck

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK contributor

Here’s a theory: there’s literally nothing better than sweeping epic sci-fi concept albums. From the stunningly imagined future of Janelle Monae to the glorious absurdity of George Clinton’s universe to the queer optimism of David Bowie, and what the hell I’m feeling generous, the compelling gibberish of Coheed And Cambria. There’s something absolutely irresistible when an artist creates a rich world beyond the notes. On his self-titled debut, Echelon The Seeker weaves epic tales of hope and resilience over an infectious synth pop painted backdrop.

The album would be impressive on its own without Echelon’s mythology. A series of post-Prince synth squiggles married to soaring hooks and joyous guitars, the album is tied together with abstract interludes. If the hook to “Vesuvius” doesn’t make your damn day, there is no hope for you. Meanwhile tracks like “The Chosen Ones” and “Tyranny” explode out the speakers with anthems of self-love. This is the music we all need right now.

In an illuminating interview with Bandcamp, Echelon The Seeker describes his approach to actionable art:

“It’s a muscle that I don’t think we’re used to exercising yet. Actionable art means you have to go out and do something other than just move. It looks like going out and saying something. It looks like going out to your neighbor and making them aware. It means expanding your horizons, putting yourself in places you haven’t been before. Listening to music maybe you haven’t listened to before. It can be very uncomfortable, scary even. A lot of us view civil rights and history as something that’s happened in the past and not something that’s happening now. Actionable art means you’re constantly aware and constantly looking, and that can be burdensome sometimes. That can be very tiring, but it’s necessary.”

Follow Echelon The Seeker: Facebook|Bandcamp|Soundcloud