Out of Johannesburg, South Africa, arrives a quartet likely to scare
you. Rock does register with Africans. At times, it seems the speakers
or your head might explode from the layers of rhythm, noise and the
unknown. The title and album images suggest an aftermath of some
trouble when humanity has no toys to filter its experience. Songs are
in English or tribal dialects. It’s like Midnight Oil got thrown into a
blender and sprouted anew and gnarlier. When you mix in the Hypnotic
Brass Ensemble and a drive to improvise aggressively, you have
something that could jolt each listener in a different way.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.