RSSPhelimuncasi & Metal Preyers [extended]
- 2013-2019 [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2020] ***
- Ama Gogela [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2022] A-
- Izigqinamba [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2024] A
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Phelimuncasi: 2013-2019 [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2020]
Bassy and a touch dark, budding gqom politicos figure out how to extend and on occasion elaborate their conscious, unyielding groove ("Ngavele Ngagaxela," "Umahlalela," "Umgido") ***
Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2022]
Having named their first true album after a South African killer bee they report can possess you if it gets under your skin, this seasoned mixed-gender trio of gqom activists enlisted a small phalanx of Durban producers to spruce up its get-down. Few non-Zulu speakers will find anything here that obliterates the memory of a lead track where all three leads chant "I don't feel my legs/I don't feel my hands" as if that's liberation enough while the music lasts. But just about every one of these 11 five-minuteish tracks is hooked in addition to a vocal outburst if not catchphrase. Sure the beats vary too. But not like the hooks, which serve the essential function of piling extra flavors onto a groove that never quits. A-
Izigqinamba [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2024]
Phelimuncasi are the most prestigious and also it would seem avant practitioners of the Durban-centered South African electronic dance genre gqom. Gqom is oft said to eschew "four-on-the-floor," which among other things means many oldtimers feel it doesn't have much of what they would call a beat. The London-Chicago Metal Preyers are artier and more avant. Put the two together and they create pulsating, atmospheric music suffused with sounds, grooves, and occasionally tunelets sung, chanted, or just voiced in tongues unknown to aural tourists like me and you. Always this changeable music generates at the very least an unprecedented groove and/or gestalt that has a way of breaking into tunes, sound effects, or both. Fascinating and atmospheric, this nine-track album lasts barely half an hour. But it feels not just daring but substantial. A