Tropical, carnival… even tribal. These words are in unrelenting blog rotation right now. And it also seems customary, when writing about this music, to talk about the weather. “As the sun comes out, here are some summery tunes to soundtrack you summer.” There is no sun here. But it is still summer. Just. But I get the impression this trend won’t slide as the days shorten, cool and darken. The likes of Deadfish, Dirtybird and Sound Pellegrino are showing no signs of stopping blasting these sounds out, while the rise of UK Funky is also pushing a similarly chipper sound. So here are some of the best african-influenced tunes that have graced the Pelski inbox of late:
This trumpeting carnival beaster was kindly sent to me by 21 year old Parisian newcomer A4C. It runs in the mould of those recent great tech-house tunes that fuse jazzy brass and rolling percussion (think Coolshop’s ‘Trumpet Girl’, Marek Hemmann’s ‘Gemini’, Thomas Schumacher’s ‘Sunset’, M.in & Bastian Schuster’s inescapable ‘New Orleans’ or Sebo K & Metro’s fairly self-explanatory ‘Saxtrack’: all worth checking out):A4C – Unnamed Mambo [pelski highly recommends]
This track will put a great big banana-shaped smile on your face. ‘The Very Best’ is the new project of Radioclit – behind the awesome Secousse – and Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya, and they sent this over in order to promote their brilliant album Warm Heart Of Africa. The title track features Vampire Weekend’s Koenig alongside a glorious flurry of congas, bassy grooves and xylaphones for the ultimate slice of african dance-pop. Buy the album here.
The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa Feat. Ez [pelski highly recommends]
This track has been hanging around in my inbox too long – and it doesn’t quite fit the carnival/african/tropical theme here, but it has to be posted some time. This has one of those plinky-plonky hooks that sticks in the head. Simple but effective. This should smash a big room:
NROTB – Droplets [pelski highly recommends]
This next one deserves a pelski highly recommends tag too, but I can’t be handing them out left-right-and-centre now… Bumpy rhythms and funky conga percussion designed to get you moving:
Lastly, MCs Jammer and Badness have collaborated with producer Silverlink for a Notting Hill Carnival special. Starkey, L-vis 1990, The Heatwave, Rude Kid and Mumdance are on remix duties. Mumdance just handed his out on the Mad Decent blog, and has given it a tropical beasting: 
