Antibalas

When Fela Kuti merged the rhythmic groove of James Brown to his native country's Highlife sound, this was only part of the equation to a sound that still churns dance floors in hour long sweaty exhaustive delight. His legendary status revolved around uniting this intoxicating music with a political backbone explicitly concerning worldwide oppression. Taking this cue, Brooklyn-natives Antibalas are four records deep into inversing the infamous Funkadelic mantra: free your ass and your mind will follow. Their latest album Security keeps strong with their thick groove-laden mixture of blaring horns, propulsive polyrhythmic percussions, and guitar and keyboards punctuating like drums. What's new here is the arrival of the delicate ear of producer/mixer/multi-instrumentalist John McEntire (Tortoise, Stereolab). The addition of McEntire’s post-rock/jazz-fusion pedigree is utilized in tightening the complex orchestra arrangements, but now shined with swimmy electronic flutter and crisper production, adding the sparkling exotic twine to what is already a rich tapestry.