Tuesday's Sound Travels was a lil all over the place, we started with music from the new and as-yet-unreleased in America act, Jupiter & Okwess International. Moved on into some futuristic electro-cumbia from Argentina's Tremor and hit you at noon with a tune from Montreal-based afro-rappers Nomadic Massive only to close our trippin ways with a crucial tune from a Dutch/Belgian reggae cre called Lion Art.
The noon spot featured the day's focus cut; after all, Nomadic Massive is the evening headliner for this year's Global Union, put on by Alverno College and held on Saturday, September 21st in Bay View's Humboldt Park. And given the energy the band brings, as well as fiery French lyricism, it makes sense they would fit in the finisher role for Milwaukee's best Global music festival. Nomadic Massive is an impressive crew of singers, rappers, instrumentalists and beat makers out of Montreal, Canada that bring a heady style of hip hop built on outsider beats and some serious-yet-fun socially-conscious lyrics. If you make it to Global Union, my advice is to see these cats operate live. They have two albums, a mixtape and a brand new EP out at the moment and I'll be playing something from that brand new EP coming for you on Wednesday so stay tuned... I did play a cut today, built on a vintage Angolan semba tune and rapped to perfection on the song "Africa Malik el Umma"
Tuesday also featured a dreamy/spacy electro-cumbia cut from Argentine trio Tremor. I played the song "Huella" (trans. footprint) at 11am from their forthcoming album Proa. The group takes the traditional sounds of cumbia and reconfigures it with a digital edge. Judging from the debut single from that album, I'd say they do it very well. I'm excited to hear the album.
At 10am, at the start of the midday, I shared another cut from the highly acclaimed afro-pop band Jupiter & Okwess International. Thought their new album, Hotel Univers remains a Euro-only release, expect it to find its way here soon. Their success on the international and European scenes suggest they'll take the mantle that the now-disbanded Staff Benda Bilili formerly held.
And in this non-linear account of our international expedition for the day, we'll end in a natural way, with the last cut of the trip; a song from the Dutch-Belgian reggae crew Lion Art. Not too much to say about this group I discovered this morrning other than that I like what I've heard so far and the tune "Badness" is crucial. Catch 'em on the rise...