MNGWA DELIVERS GROOVE-DRIVEN EP
Vancouver band brings the fun with fusion of Latin cumbia, soul, funk
MNGWA
Crackadoom EP |
Peace & Rhythm Records Genre: Vancouver Cumbia
Key Track: Camino pa'tu Casa
Featuring a membership from all-across the world, this Vancouver-based Latin cumbia, soul, psychedelic, funk groove unit keeps on mining its myriad influences to make groovy, trippy and fun tunes for a lockdown world.
This is the band's first release for Peace & Rhythm Records, a perfect fit for the band's polyglot sound and an inroad into the U.S. market where its music is far more likely to find a fan base familiar with its rhythm and rock approach. As a Canadian band with Mexican members, the group's focus on topics such as American politics in songs such as El Déspota made perfect sense. Other subject matter includes Oaxacan social celebrations and more.
Here are five things to know about the record:
1. Camino pa'tu Casa
The opening track with its accompanying video starring singer Blanca Escobar jumps into the Oaxacan Dio de los Muertos celebrations. With very cool cut-out animation from animator Masko Bents and Wryly and Minah of Moth Orbit Theatre, the song is a revelation of where this crew can go musically. Haunting violin pairs up against driving keyboards and bass while Escobar recounts the moments when she heads to the house of the departed to hang out with little angels and devils and party.
2. El Despota
Opening with its reverberating surf guitar riff matched by more of that wiggy violin, the eight members lock into a slinky salsa rocker inspired by the horrors leading up to the 2016 U.S. election. Originally written under the working title Trumpa Lumpa, member Nick Lagasse writes that the song is a message to “those antiquated dictators who still have the nerve to put their own myopic interests above those of the millions they were hired to serve: your reign is ending.” Here's hoping.
3. Crackadoom (Despierta)
An anthem of becoming awake to the weirdness out there, or is it a warning bit of acid-drenched slow speed cumbia to surf through your thoughts with? Hard to say, but the band clearly went back and referenced vintage hippie-era sounds and styles to get the feel of this track. It's the guitar heavy workout for the EP and all six and a half minutes are a joy.
4. Digital Shaman
The most driving track on the album is certainly this dubby rocker that rides in on a spoken word segment about how technology is allowing the human race to reclaim the lost knowledge of alchemists and shamans. Whether this spells a better future or complete chaos remains to be seen, but this instrumental is the kind of song you could imagine going madly off in many directions in concert.
5. Live shows
Naturally, this is a band best sampled in a live setting. The band's website lists its last show as Oct. 27, 2018 at the Parade of Lost Souls. Fitting for any artists with a Day of the Dead song, but also far too long to go without a chance for fans to get their dance on. Hopefully, the future will open up for MNGWA to make us move again soon.
Dave Douglas Overcome | bandcamp.com
Genre: Jazz
Key Track: Perspective
A surprise release from the massive unit of trumpeter/composer Douglas, trombonist Ryan Keberle, singer Fay Victor, guitarist/singer Camila Meza, bassist Joge Roeder and drummer Rudy Royston that is a digital only release on Bandcamp. Like its predecessor, Marching Music, the album revolves around songs about justice. The first arrangement for the session was for We Shall Overcome and it's a passionate statement of standing up to all of the forces facing racial, climate, gender, scientific and voting justice in the U.S. today. Tracks such as Perspective hit hard.
Khruangbin Late Night Tales | latenighttales.co.uk
Genre: Mixtape
Key Track: Khushi by Nazia Hassan Given the global nature of the music that Houston trio Khruangbin — Laura Lee Ochoa ( bass), Mark Speer (guitar) and Donald “DJ” Johnson (drums) — makes on its own albums, it should come as no surprise that its entry into the long-running and very rewarding Late Night Tales mixtapes is a winner. From Nazia Hassan's Hindi-disco slammer Khushi to the '80s pop vibe of South Korea's Sanullim's Don't Go or the Latin soul of Enséñame by David Marez, the 15 tunes and lengthy LatenightTales mix on the release make for a very cool lockdown cocktail sip or house party.
Lanterns On the Lake The Realist EP | Bella Union
Genre: Orchestral pop
Key Track: The Realist Mercury Prize-nominated orchestral pop crew Lanterns On the Lake make the kind of lush U.K. pop that bands from Coldplay to Florence and the Machine have made radio stables. With the four-piece string section and bass backing singer Hazel Wilde's soaring vocals and piano, all five tunes succeed to varying degrees. The title track is an epic rise where Understudy is a quite fragile, almost a cappella folk tune. The more atmospheric the project leans, the more appealing its music.
Rich Halley
The Shape of Things | Pine Eagle Records
Genre: Jazz
Key Track: Tetrahedron Saxophonist Rich Halley's killer quartet with pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor sees the quartet expanding on the chemistry for their second recording together. For players with a lot of outside leanings, songs such as Tetrahedron swing with an explosive energy, particularly when Bisio and Shipp get in sync with one another around the halfway point. Elsewhere, such as on Vector and Oblique Angles, Halley's full-bodied and breathy playing hearkens back to greats of the late '60s while still being very much in the now. A great sounding album with a phenomenal band that is adventurous and dynamic but not the kind of thing you couldn't turn your traditionalist jazz fan onto.