African Head Charge
collects different elements of world music and combines them with a Western sensibility -- but rather than changing them into pop songs the way
Peter Gabriel
or
Jah Wobble
might, they work with dub, trippy psychedelia, and trance. The result is spectacular, lending a more organic, song-based feel to the sort of peaceful electronica one would expect from
Spring Heel Jack
Mouse on Mars
. The dub and reggae influences make the album even more appealing --
"Animal Law"
is like electronic dub, and the title track, "Somebody Touch I" is a bright and almost cutesy take on dub and reggae. In any genre, dub, trance, electronica, or world music,
In Pursuit of the Shashamane Land
would stand up as a spectacular album. ~ Nitsuh Abebe