Description
Antibalas – Who Is This America? / Ropeadope Records Audio CD / RCD16048
UPC 014431604829
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architecture and language of afrobeat, it incorporates elements of jazz, funk, dub, improvised music, and traditional drumming from Cuba and West Africa.
As a hard-hitting Afro-beat orchestra that embellishes vintage Fela-style grooves with touches of gritty funk and fiery salsa, Antibalas quickly won over a sizable local audience in New York City with its sweaty live shows and relentlessly danceable rhythms. But while the band's past two efforts sounded fresh amidst a landscape of retro-rock cool, the discs never measured up to the band's galvanizing live show: Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1 was a piecemeal effort of live and studio material; Talkatif was woefully short. Now on Who Is This America, the band constructs a great-sounding 70-minute studio effort where the seven songs are skillfully woven together, not because they all sound like one long Afro-beat song, but because there is imaginative arrangements and tasty musicianship. Here multiple percussion players are the launch pad and the funky horn charts ignite liftoff whether it's the tightly wound "Indictment" or the slowly building "Sister." Undoubtedly the band's finest work to date. --Tad Hendrickson
Tracklist:
| 1 | Who Is This America Dem Speak Of Today?
Backing Vocals – Veronica Cuevas
Shekere – Geoff Mann (2)
Written-By – B. Mann*, Amayo
Backing Vocals – Veronica Cuevas
Shekere – Geoff Mann (2)
Written-By – B. Mann, Amayo
|
11:59 |
| 2 | Pay Back Africa
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Dylan Fusillo, Luke O'Malley, Martin Perna, Victor Axelrod
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Dylan Fusillo, Luke O'Malley, Martin Perna, Victor Axelrod
|
8:23 |
| 3 | Indictment
Backing Vocals – Olia Toporovsky, U Poppa Dobi
Cello – Alex Kadvan
Guitar – Tom Brenneck
Violin – Entcho Todorov
Written-By – Stuart Bogie
Backing Vocals – Olia Toporovsky, U Poppa Dobi
Cello – Alex Kadvan
Guitar – Tom Brenneck
Violin – Entcho Todorov
Written-By – Stuart Bogie
|
5:38 |
| 4 | Big Man
Backing Vocals – Babatunde Adebimpe, Veronica Cuevas
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Del Stribling, Jordan McLean, Luke O'Malley, Martin Perna, Philip Ballman, Victor Axelrod
Backing Vocals – Babatunde Adebimpe, Veronica Cuevas
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Del Stribling, Jordan McLean, Luke O'Malley, Martin Perna, Philip Ballman, Victor Axelrod
|
7:55 |
| 5 |
Obanla'e
Backing Vocals – Mayra Vega
Congas, Lead Vocals, Arranged By [Vocals] – Ernesto Abreu
Written-By – Traditional Yoruba Chant
Backing Vocals – Mayra Vega
Congas, Lead Vocals, Arranged By [Vocals] – Ernesto Abreu
Written-By – Traditional Yoruba Chant
|
1:39 |
| 6 | Elephant
Backing Vocals – Veronica Cuevas
Congas, Lead Vocals, Arranged By [Using Traditional Yoruba Chants] – Ernesto Abreu
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Ernesto Abreu, Luke O'Malley, Victor Axelrod
Backing Vocals – Veronica Cuevas
Congas, Lead Vocals, Arranged By [Using Traditional Yoruba Chants] – Ernesto Abreu
Written-By – Aaron Johnson, B. Mann, Ernesto Abreu, Luke O'Malley, Victor Axelrod
|
14:03 |
| 7 | Sister
Backing Vocals – Ogugua Iwelu
Written-By – B. Mann
Backing Vocals – Ogugua Iwelu
Written-By – B. Mann
|
19:14 |
- Bass – Del Stribling, Nick Movshon
- Congas – Fernando Velez
- Design, Artwork By – Andrew Cunningham (3), Cocoon23
- Drums – Philip Ballman
- Electric Piano, Organ, Clavinet – Victor Axelrod
- Guitar – Luke O'Malley
- Guitar, Recorded By, Mixed By – Gabe Roth
- Lead Vocals, Percussion – Amayo
- Mastered By – Don Grossinger
- Other [Management] – Andrew Kadavan For Kadavan Entertainment
- Percussion – Dylan Fusillo
- Producer – Antibalas
- Saxophone [Baritone] – Martin Perna
- Saxophone [Tenor] – Stuart Bogie
- Trombone – Aaron Johnson
- Trumpet – Jordan McLean
- Current
- Martin Perna – Baritone saxophone (1998–present)
- Duke Amayo – Vocals, congas, percussion (1999–present)
- Jordan McLean – Trumpet, flugelhorn (1999–present)
- Marcos J. Garcia – Guitar, vocals (2003–present)
- Eric Biondo – Trumpet (2003–present)
- Marcus Farrar – Shekere, vocals (2005–present)
- Reinaldo de Jesus – Congas (2010–present)
- Timothy Allen - Guitar (2010–present)
- Will Rast – Organ, electric pianos, synthesizers (2013–present)
- Raymond James Mason – Trombone (2013–present)
- Kevin Raczka - Drums (2015–present)
- Raja Kassis - Guitar (2015–present)
- Justin Kimmel - Guitar, Bass (2019–present)
- Morgan Price - Tenor Saxophone (2019–present)
- Jackie Coleman - Trumpet (2019–present)
- Former
- Luke O'Malley – Guitar (1999-2018)
- Victor Axelrod – Organ, electric pianos, clavinet, electric celeste, synthesizers, percussion (1999-2012)
- Dylan Fusillo – Percussion, drums (1999-2009)
- Fernando Velez – Congas (1999-2006)
- Phillip Ballman – Drums, first band manager (1999–2006)
- Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann) – Guitar (1999-2005)
- Former
- Michael Herbst – Tenor saxophone, alto saxophone (1999-2003)
- Mike Wagner – Trombone (1999-2003)
- Giancarlo Luiggi – Shekere (1999-2003)
- Amadou Diallo – Guitar, bass (1999-2001)
- Aaron Johnson – Trombone (2000-2018)
- Del Stribling – Bass (2000-2005)
- Stuart D. Bogie – Tenor saxophone, alto saxophone (2001-2018)
- Ernesto Abreu – Congas (2001-2003)
- Todd Simon – Trumpet (2001-2003)
- Anda Szilagyi – Trumpet (2001-2003)
- Nick Movshon – Bass (2003-2010)
- Geoff Mann - Shekere (2003-2005)
- Chris Vatalaro – Drums (2006-2010)
- Miles Arntzen – Drums (2010-2018)
- Nikhil P. Yerawadekar – Bass guitar, guitar (2010-2018)
- Yoshi Takamasa – Percussion (2010-2013)
- Cochemea Gastelum - Tenor saxophone, alto saxophone (2010-2013)
- Dave Guy - Trumpet (2010-2013)
- Jeff Pierce - Trombone, trumpet (2013-2018)
- Jas Walton - Tenor saxophone (2015-2018)
- Joseph Woullard - Tenor saxophone (2015-2018)
- Doug Berns - Bass (2015-2018)
