Mbongwana Star - Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1)

I promise it's really worth taking a moment to check out music from the indescribably cool band Mbongwana Star via their new album From Kinshasa which is available today. Do yourself a favor and click on the video below to sample their unique and noteworthy sound. Mbongwana Star - Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1) Mbongwana Star hails from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo—a network of shantytowns and night shelters where founding members Coco Ngambali and Theo Nzonza (of Staff Benda Bilili fame) pulled together members of a new generation of Kinshasa musicians embodying the concept of “mbongwana,” or “change.” Along with maverick Parisian producer Doctor L (Tony Allen, Stomy Bugsy), the band has created a sound that embodies the “smashed-together” nature of the surroundings from which it was born—a sound that fuses traditional Congolese rhythms with European post-punk bass and busted electronics from recycled and reconstructed instruments miked and distorted in unexpected ways. Doctor L (who also mixed, produced and played on the album) said of the sessions, “It’s all recorded in the red. Sometimes I over-boost mikes that are recording nothing, just to pick up the environment. Can you hear it? There are three TVs going full blast. Distortion multiplies the energy.” U.S. tour dates have yet to be announced.