Since exploding into the scene back in 2017, the acclaimed Kinshasa-based collective KOKOKO! have captivated audiences globally with a striking, forward-thinking, dance floor friendly sound. The Congolese outfit’s full-length debut, Fongola was released to widespread critical acclaim with DJ Mag writing that it was “quite unlike anything else you’ll hear,” and The Guardian calling the collective a “commanding new voice.”
Building upon a growing profile, the band played attention grabbing sets across the global festival circuit, including All Points East, SXSW, Green Man and Pitchfork Festival. The Congolese outfit was named best live band by the likes of AIF, NPR Tiny Desk and Boiler Room.
Thematically and aesthetically, the acclaimed Congolese outfit has had a long-held, fiercely activist and political slant. The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to experience serious human rights violations, including mass killings within the context of armed conflict and inter-communal violence, as well as crackdown on dissent and ill-treatment of detainees. People residing in regions affected by a variety of armed conflict are deeply impacted amid mass displacement and other deepening humanitarian crises. Additionally, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s wealth of natural resources are routinely exploited by large, multi-national tech companies and other conglomerates, which helps to fuel even more conflict in the region.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, political protest using words carries a risk of imprisonment, so dissidents and performers often work with their bodies and sounds to express and signal their critiques and commentary. The acclaimed Congolese outfit’s highly anticipated sophomore album BUTU is slated for a July 5, 2024 release through Transgressive Records. The album reportedly sees the collective continuing to pair a resistant, punk-like energy and attitude, informed by the attitude and thoughts of a new generation of Congolese artists and young people with their attention grabbing block party alchemy, but pushed to new, global heights.
Kinshasa’s after-dark buzz was one of the major inspirations behind BUTU, which means “the night” in Lingala, and the album dives deep into the heart of the chaotic, throbbing city, celebrating and championing the joyful and creative spirit of its inhabits. Continuing their ongoing collaboration with Belgian producer Xavier Thomas, a.k.a. Débruit, the forthcoming album reportedly sees the collective led by Makara Bianko channeling a more electronic-driven, upbeat sound while replicating the frenetic feel of their hometown’s dynamic nightlife: equipment is pushed to its limits through saturated and distorted speakers and the sonic push-and-pull of nighttime sounds.
The band employs field recordings, recorded from the city’s nighttime sounds and “ready-made percussion” like detergent bottles,. the collective fed those sounds through distortion to get closer to those nighttime sounds. “Compared to Fongola, this album is intentionally way more intense, because it’s quite upbeat and quite full-on,” Xavier Thomas says. The album’s material also pulls from much wider influences and span across West Africa and South Africa, influenced by Bianko’s global travel, which introduced him to new types of alternative electronic music and punk.
Last month, I wrote about “Mokili” a house music inspired banger featuring glistening synth arpeggios, relentlessly skittering hi-hats and tweeter and woofer rattling thump serving as a slickly produced bed for Bianko’s crooning and impassioned shouts. Continuing a remarkable run of club friendly material with an in-your-face punk attitude and ethos, “Mokili” captures the frenetic and sweaty energy of their hometown and its nightlife scene with an uncanny, novelistic realism. But along with that, the song is a forceful and joyous reminder that Africa is the present and the future. (If y’all didn’t know, by 2050 close to a quarter of the entire world will be African.)
“’Mokili’ is about moving the world so much that it’s going to tip over sort of,” the acclaimed Congolese collective explains. “This track was a track we were used to trying live in a more improvised way, we never got the chance to record till recently where we added the right touch for the studio. It was the last addition to our album BUTU and became the first single, so it’s really fresh. It has obviously influences from Kinshasa but also Kwaito and 90’s dance music.”
BUTU‘s second and latest single “Salaka Bien” is a euphoric, trance-inducing banger anchored around percussion created on heavy ceramic pots and pans, glistening house music synth stabs and skittering beats that helps to emphasize Bianko’s punchy and swaggering delivery singing lyrics full of winking sexual innuendo. If this track doesn’t fire you up and get you moving, you’re probably dead — literally and figuratively.
“It’s a bass line driven track, with a lot of influences, like punk funk meeting old house stabs with a trance feeling!” The acclaimed Congolese collective explain. “When we play it live there are moments of overwhelming feeling building till it explodes and people let go totally. Do it, do it good, do it till you break it”.