Pinglewood is one of only two or three blogs I check everyday, and it's quality is such that I unquestioningly download everything they post. Here's a recent tip from them that I'm absolutely loving from South African psychelic rockers BLK JKS (above). "Lakeside" alternates a slowly loping beat with a deftly skanking one, while a lovely little high-life riff motors on through it all.
BLK JKS - Lakeside (Buy)
Its vocal harmonies and hazy riddims reminded me of this track from soulful Brooklyn alt-rock hepcats Yeasayer, whose album I bought a couple of weeks back and is the halfway point between the overdriven funk of Station To Station-era Bowie and Animal Collective's communal space-hippie schtick that I've always longed for:
Yeasayer - 2080 (Buy)
And it also made me think of the West African high-life vibes rolling through these recent cute-as-buttons white indie-pop triumphs:
Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (self-titled album out 28/1/08 on XL)
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face (Buy their fantastic record for £5 here!)
And talking of Westerners influenced by Africa, Salif Keita's 1987 album Soro has been getting a lot of play from me recently. It's an album that proves that Paul Simon et al were not just doing some indulging in cultural tourism with their 80's forays into African music, but were part of a musical dialogue Africa was making with the West. Check out the 10 minute, three-movement title track in which Casio-gamelan plunking meets call-and-response brass and a shitload of bongos, like some coked-out Duran Duran concept album that never was. Or the moody groove of "Sina", which could soundtrack Miami Vice: The Ghana Years. Keita has one of the all time great voices, and he's touring with Tony Allen and Awadi next month - details here.
Salif Keita - Soro (Afriki)
Salif Keita - Sina (Soumbouya) (Buy)
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