Antibalas started out as an afrobeat band, albeit a very good afrobeat band. But by their fourth release, Security, they have begun to reinvent the wheel and turned themselves and the genre into something that can be both traditional, experimental and a fucking hoot.
If you've never heard Antibalas before let me paint you a picture. Imagine your at the circus and in front of you is that tiny car and clowns just keep exiting from the passenger door. After a few moments you begin to wonder just how many clowns can fit in one damn car. No, maybe there's a trap door underneath the vehicle. Now imagine each clown is carrying an instrument. Congas, organs, piano, clavinet, synths, trumpets, saxophones, guitars, trombones, basses, drums, dulcimers, and things I can't spell and you may not be able to pronouce. Once out the car, they all assemble on some stage that can barely contain them, let alone, instruments, and begin to make music as magical and wondrous as the clowns piling out of the car.
That is Antibalas.
Security is comprised of only a few tracks but clocks in at a normal length. It's filled with horns that both pucker and blurt, synths galore and a rhythmic madness that is always dedicated to the groove which is why Antibalas remains great. For all the new sounds and fresh ideas the band keeps everything revolving around that groove, never letting it get out of its site for even a moment. Like a cautious parent at Disneyland. Except Antibalas aren't particularly cautious, at least they don't come off as such, they just know what is best to serve the music.
As with the group's last album, Who Is This America?, Security is political fare with tracks titled Filibuster X and War Hero and artwork featuring a painting of lots of colorful people pact in a stadium and lots of different flags running through the space's center. This record came out on Anti.
Antibalas - Sanctuary
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