A dark, thundering Kinshasa meets Paris soundworld. Ecstatic vocals, broken beats, subterranean bass, and full-throttle energy. Features ex-members of Konono No.1, Mbongwana Star & Staff Benda Bilili. Produced by Doctor L (Tony Allen, Mbongwana Star).
Knife-edged afro rock. Hot-wired global beats.
Welcome to Bantou Mentale, a brand-new chapter in a very long story. The band was born in Chateau Rouge and born out of Matongé. Two worlds, one universe. Drummer, songwriter and all-round concept guy Cubain Kabeya – originally from the DRC, now resident in Paris – has been in or around every big thrill to come out of Kinshasa over the past decade: Staff Benda Bilili, Konono No.1, Jupiter & Okwess, Mbongwana Star, you name it. Guitarist Chicco Katembo was part of the Staff Benda Bilili story in the early days, before moving to Paris to live with his French mother. He and Cubain worked with Damon Albarn when he came to Kinshasa in 2010 to record his DRC Music: Kinshasa One Two album. Singer Apocalypse is an ace face on the Parisian Congo scene, an alumnus of the orchestra of Koffi Olomide, emperor of contemporary Congolese soukous. Liam Farrell, aka Doctor L, born Irish, raised Parisian, is a musician, composer, and producer with an impressive score sheet that includes Assassin, FFF, Psycho on Da Bus, Tony Allen, Mbongwana Star, Babani Koné, Nneka, Les Amazones d’Afrique…
The Bantou Mentale sound is neither traditional, nor a slave to the all-encompassing tropes of Congolese rumba, nor slick and arty and self-consciously stylish. Neither haute culture nor haute couture. They’re bringing something modern, raw, open to the world, a sound that faithfully mirrors who they are: four baggage-free citizens of nowhere and everywhere on a mission to rewrite the washed-up codes of African music and realign it with the raw truths of this frazzled, screwed and beautiful world. They’re bringing a new punk rock, African style, but without the aggression because, according to Cubain, the Congo is “a country with a lot of spiritual tenderness.” Liam and Cubain have been distilling experimental mashes of electro African beats on and off for years, under names like Black Cowboys or Negro-P. They worked together on Mbongwana Star, the Congolese UFO that rose out of the ashes of Staff Benda Bilili. This is the next step, but it’s a giant one. “Bantou Mentale comprises all the experience I’ve accumulated,” says Cubain. “It’s not so much a new Kinshasa sound, as a new global sound.”
