Consumer Guide Album

Kasai Allstars: In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic [Crammed Discs, 2008]
Where Konono No. 1 play unpolished though by now self-conscious street music, the second band to get its own Congotronics album is a "cultural" collective in which five ethnic groups from Congo's strife-torn, diamond-producing Kasai region fuse and spread their traditions. It serves up the distorted buzz Congotronics fans jones for, sonics that are generally raunchy even though the thumb pianos also generate balafon beauty, and five lead singers. The long track lengths and ritualistic vocals are more village than metropolis even though Kinshasa is their home--and also more village than the Afro-indie hipster might prefer. Afro-indie folkies won't care. B+