May 6, 2011

Afromassive - Gridlock



Birthed out of the tall trees and lush green earth known as Humboldt County, California, AfroMassive is collective of like-minded musicians exploring the groove-based music of West Africa, known as Afrobeat. While trying to model the instrumentation from the sounds made famous by Nigerian musician and political activist, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, AfroMassive musicians are also bring their own set influences to the table. The group was the brainchild of Humboldt veteran musician, Greg Camphuis (guitar) and Cleveland native, Aaron Bortz, bassist of Bay Area super-group, ALBINO! Afrobeat. They soon enlisted the help of other community musicians such as Jesse Jonathan and Chris Noonan, as well as students from Humboldt State University's vast Percussion department led by the renowned, Eugene Novotney. As the ball continued to roll, the group immediately kept the booty's shakin' and the audiences growing. Before too long, the AfroMassive decided to put their sound on tape. The resulting creation is a hard-hitting groove machine, producing a greasy slew of West African traditional rhythm with elements of 70's funk and psychedelic jazz.





Tracklist

1. Milk
2. Gridlock
3. Triangle Plus Four
4. Everybody's Got To Go
5. Black Bag
6. Sketchballs
7. Mago Mago
8. Sunrise

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