Afrosoul 2

This disconcerting compilation leaps from one idea to another, trying to find something fresh. An array of African acts unsuccessfully try on hip-hop, reggae, Afrobeat and other genres. How bad can it be?

I could not listen to Rachid Taha's ‘It's Now or Never/O Sole Mio’ twice: the original was bad enough; this leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Cheick Tidiane Seck is a fine keyboard player but he opts for a bottom-heavy Manu Dibango-style groove on ‘Kile Bora’ so the Malian instruments become irrelevant and ultimately it goes nowhere. This disc lacks heart and soul: it's a bunch of disparate efforts that are individually dull and collectively irritating. The ninth track, U-Cef's ‘Dub Soudani’ immediately seems like a great improvement, even though it's rather generic Gnawa dub. Next up is ‘Midnight Ravers’ by Musical Stampede, which is also passable, but that might be because of the previous 40 minutes. Louis 2000's ‘Niafunke’ is another calm track that is an oasis of relief. This album demonstrates the liberties Western producers often take with traditional African sounds. Unfortunately it's not an even exchange.