Africa Express presents Egoli

"Africa Express er en projektorienteret platform, hvor toget kommer og går efter en ikke nøjere planlagt køreplan. Som album nummer 5 futter 'Egoli' af sted til Johannesburgs p.t. spilkogende musikscene ... Johannesburgs sprudlende talent udtrykker sig i former, der ikke er så fremmedartede endda med bl. a. lokale varianter af pop, house og hiphop. Det har mindsket afstanden mellem Damon Albarns rejsehold og de afrikanske kunstnere ... Albarn & co. er relativt diskrete gæster på en afvekslende og smittende veloplagt rundtur på Johannesburgs musikscene ... Popmusikken i Johannesburg udspiller sig i lokale genrer, der groft sagt spænder fra elegant gospel-influeret pop via lokale house-varianter til hiphop. Forfriskende er det hele vejen igennem".

Læs anmeldelse

"Top of the world" - "[Damon] Albarn travelled to Johannesburg last year with a crew of Western musicians that included Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Yeah Yeah Yeah's Nick Zinner. After seven days of intensive recording with an impressively diverse cast of South African artists, he returned home to fashion the tapes into this wonderfully eclectic 18-track collection. If the methodology was similar to Albarn's 2003 album Mali Music, which effectively launched what became Africa Express, the execution this time is considerably more assured ... As ever, Albarn allows his collaborators centre space but he also contributes a handful of brilliant compositions, including the sublime 1970s soul throwback "I Can't Move", on which he duets with [electrifying Xhosa ghetto-funk maverick Moonchild Sanelly, and the gorgeous ballad "See The World". Egoli may just be the best thing Africa Express has ever done".

"Johannesburg and electronics are the focus of this on-going African/European hook-up. As with previous collections it's something of a lucky dip, lurching between lean electro jams with a half-finished feel, robust MC skills, Young Fathers-like melds of chants and bleeding synths, and the breathy exhortations of Maskandi guitar legend Phuzekhemisi. Amid its 18 adventurous, freewheeling tracks, two stars emerge. First, Moonchild Sanelly, whose jazzy, Whinehouse-clear tones cut through whether she's singing ("Morals"), rapping up a storm ("No Games") or offsetting Albarn's best Bowie burr ("I Can't Move"). Second, Gruff Rhys. He's in peak form throughout, but his winsome, dovetailing duet with Zolani Mahola (...) is worth the trip alone".