Paul Simon + Roots + Antibalas Horns on Fallon
Jimmy Fallon may be going through some growing pains as a late night talk show host (some of the interviews I’ve seen have their cringe-worthy moments), but with the Roots as the house band, every musical moment has the potential for greatness. Last week, the Beasties dropped in. Last night, it was Paul Simon’s turn, as he joined the Roots crew for “Late in the Evening”, with the Antibalas horns in tow.
The verses and choruses are fine, but the real magic happens in between, when the percussion and horns take over. Awesome!
New Music: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
This is a pretty easy segue from my last post about Tony Allen. I was reading the latest Rolling Stone yesterday, and in Austin Scaggs’ Smoking Section, he gave a heads up to the new album by Antibalas (which just came out March 6th). Scaggs said they “churn out the best Afrobeat since Fela Kuti left the building”.
So naturally, off I went to eMusic to download the album, and glad I did at that. Brooklyn-based Antibalas is most certainly hugely influenced by Fela. I would say it’s impossible to play Afrobeat and not be influenced by Fela. But these guys also manage to reinvent the form at the same time. The album is produced by John McEntire of Tortoise. If you want to spend an hour falling under the groove and spell of good Afrobeat (with some good rips on Bush & Cheney in “Filibuster XXX”), pick up this album.
Here’s the cool opening track to the album, the aptly named “Beaten Metal”.
Antibalas: Beaten Metal (mp3)
Buy:
Antibalas’ Official Site | MySpace (includes their latest tour dates, which includes SxSW in Austin over the next few days, and just about every American city it seems except for here in Phoenix – shit!).
