Monomono in Stereo


















Lately, I have been on a psychedelic afro-beat kick. You will probably be into Monomono's Dawn of Awareness if you dug the Chrissy Zebby Tembo from last week . However, their sound is more reminiscent of Fela Kuti's syncopated afro-beat funk than Tembo's afro-psych fuzz guitar sound.

"Dawn of Awareness" was released on Capitol Records in 1974 to little critical acclaim. Friday Jumbo, the leader of Monomono was a member of Fela's group before he joined forces with vocalist Joni Hasstrup and bassist Kenneth Okulolo to form Monomono. The opening track entitled "Awareness Is What You Need" really nails the Fela afro-beat sound while still creating it's own sound. "Ipade Aladun" is the longest track on here at just over eight minutes and it really cooks with soulful vocals laid over a bed of funky organs and keyboards. Lots of breaks and weird sound effects for the beat junkies on this track alone. At just under five minutes, "Tire Loma Da Nigbehin" is the epitome of Clift-notes for afro-beat with complex syncopated basslines, repetitive vocal refrains and incendiary organs. This one says it's "Out of Stock" on Dusty Groove's website, so I'm pretty sure it's out-of-print. Enjoy!


Your comments are always appreciated!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Awareness maybe what you need, but a big "thanks" for this post is what you deserve.
3:55 AM
JR Heat Warp said…
Incredible! A new staple in my afrobeat collection. Many many thanks for this one.
8:06 AM
Kevin said…
I have been trying to catch up with responding to comments from people. Thanks to both of you for checking out my blog. I'm glad that you are digging the Monomono record. Keep checking back for some more rare/obscure stuff of all genres.

I hope that you will continue to check me out. Also thank you to jr heatwarp for adding me to his blog links. You have a great blog sir, and I continue to marvel at the rare gems you post on there.

Best, Kevin
11:57 AM
DjTaurunum said…
Nice blog mate, some great stuff!! I'm doing the same stuff with some of my vinyl's and cd's. Check my blog: http://djtaurunum.blogspot.com/

I would like to excange the links with you if you are interested

Taurunum
6:27 AM
grasprelease said…
This is a terrific blog! You know your stuff, and I am always down for big-eared enthusiasm and red threads running reckless but intent through lands far and wide. Keep it up!
10:35 PM
Kevin said…
Grasprelease:

Thanks for the kind words about my blog. I really dig what you guys do on Different Waters too. If you like what you see here on Eclectic Grooves, please add me to the links on Different Waters. Keep checking back for more amazing stuff.

Best, Kevin
7:01 PM
Ingvar Johansson said…
Great blog and this disc sounds very interesting. Is the rip from a re-issue CD or from vinyl ?
4:46 AM
Kevin said…
Hi esping. I don't know exactly, but it sounds to me like it is a rip from vinyl. I found the files on Soulseek, so I figured that I would share them on here.

Take care, Kevin
12:50 PM
Kevin said…
djtaurunum:

Thanks for stopping by my site. I just added you to my links, so I would appreciate it if you could add me to yours.

Take care, Kevin
1:15 PM
DjTaurunum said…
Hi Kevin,

Thanks, I just add you blog to my favorite sites and friend.

All the best

Dj Taurunum
2:47 PM
Anonymous said…
Interesting... it has that Fela flavor, but decidedly more poppy. I'm going to have to give this a few more spins.
11:43 AM
Anonymous said…
Thanks for this post - i've listened to this 5 or 6 times in a row. Superb.
3:41 PM
Anonymous said…
Hi !

We are two students in a school of art management in Paris and we have work for the independent french label “Tôt ou Tard”. Their latest discovery is the afrobeat singer Seun Kuti (the youngest son of Fela Kuti), who has released his first album in France on the 28th of april 2008. He will therefore be touring around Europe all summer. During this tour, numerous events will be taking place in England, notably in London.

You can discover his music on http://www.myspace.com/seunkuti

I hope you will enjoy his music and that you will be willing to write an article on your site. If not, we would be very grateful if you agreed to add a link to his myspace.

Thank you very much for keeping me informed of your future actions.

I hope we will very soon be in contact,

Yours sincerely,

Camille Perrot and Lucille Levy
levyrtuoses@yahoo.fr or camperrot@gmail.com
5:52 AM
SpankyMonkey said…
awesome!
8:59 AM
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