Assume Crash Position

It may be a sign that Konono No. 1 have made their mark on the international musical consciousness that no introduction or attempt to explain the group and what they do are provided on the liner to their new CD. Instead, the booklet presents us with some great photographs of second-hand car parts artistically piled in the Ndjili market. Ndjili is a municipality of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo where Konono No. 1 perform and now record their spectacular brand of “congotronics”. The connection, as the brief liner notes make clear, is that it is from the used-parts market that Konono get the materials for the instruments they build. This latest installment in the “Congotronics” series takes us a few more steps into the world of Konono No. 1, treating us as returning guests familiar with “Papa” Mingiedi Mawangu, his raucous electric likembés, and the incredible extended trance music to which they contribute.

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The earliest circulating recording of Konono No. 1 is "Mungua-Mungua", a half-hour-long live jam that was taped in 1978. Aside from its rudimentary sound quality, it's formally identical to this album, the Congolese band's second studio disc: the amazing sound of electric likembes (metal thumb pianos) playing through fuzzed-up amps and jury-rigged mics, augmented by drums, the occasional whistle, and some call-and-response yelling. Reportedly, the band is used to playing for hours on end. They could go on like that forever, which is both Assume Crash Position's strength and its flaw.

Full Review | More Reviews from Publication | Top Rated of 2010