Guerrilla

アフリカン・ダンスの最深部クドゥロの鬼才Nazar超待望のデビュー・アルバム!

BurialとKode9による『Fabriclive 100』でフックアップされ、ダンス・ミュージックの新たな骨格として日々進化、注目をあつめるクドゥロの最深部を司るアンゴラの鬼才Nazarが満を持してデビュー・アルバムをリリース。
家族との思い出や、抑圧的な状態によって引き起こされる極端な暴力、不正、および遍在など27年にも渡った母国アンゴラの内戦における個人的な体験のドキュメントとして、本来明るかったクドゥロを武装化し、冷たいシンセとアフリカン・パーカッション、リリックは虐殺と暴力、スローガン、独裁に対する愚弄に焦点を当て、ディストピア化させたシグネチャー・サウンドを展開。得体のしれないベース・サウンドが蠢き、不穏なテクスチャーとKleinのボーカル・サンプルのコントラストが美しい先行シングル「UN Sanctions」をはじめ、衝撃の暗黒クドゥロ全11曲を収録。

Calling his music rough kuduro, Nazars sound runs counter to the upbeat Angolan dance style, reflecting the tragic reality of his familys experience in the war-torn country. His father was a general in rebel group UNITA, which his mother also joined as a teenager. Nazar was born and raised in Belgium after his family fled Angola during its 27-year civil war, and they reunited in Luanda several years after the war ended. Nazars debut full-length is inspired by his fathers war memoir as well as his own experiences in Angola, driving around the country with his father and discussing the effects of the war. His rhythms are sluggish and diseased, seemingly having more in common with grime or industrial than house, and his productions are filled with the sounds of guns cocking, explosions, chopping helicopter blades, and sinister voices creeping from every corner. Shannen SP, who guested on Nazars 2018 track Airstrike, returns on Bunker, an ominous crawl with steadily paced lyrics about taking shelter in order to hide from armed hunters sent by the government. Nazars parents both pop up throughout the album; his mother, speaking in regional language Umbundu, recalls joining the independence movement during Mother, and his father, whose face appears on the albums cover, can be heard during the first half of End of Guerrilla. The album can seem almost unbearably tense, but the kuduro rhythms, as contaminated as they are, still inject a sense of excitement, and the music seems uplifting and triumphant rather than oppressive. The distorted thumps and dislocated bass of tracks like UN Sanctions are intense and mesmerizing, and additional touches like the whooping vocals of Immortal or the trancey synths of Why elevate the energy level even further. ~ Paul Simpson

ブリアルとコード9によるミックス『Fabriclive. 100』で楽曲が取り上げられていたクドゥロの使い手がハイパーダブよりアルバム・デビュー。クドゥロといえば陽気でエネルギッシュだが、そんなイメージが遥か彼方へ吹き飛ぶ、キンキンに冷えたシンセと不気味なパーカッションやノイズが響き、アンゴラの内戦や政治的な問題が影を落としたリリックも相まってダークサイドへと突き落とされる。漆黒のクドゥロここに極まれり。
bounce (C)青木正之