Drum Machine

Don’t let their slick, suited aesthetic fool you, Ugandan drum ensemble Arsenal Mikebe are serving up a sonic onslaught of ear-mashing percussion and innovative electronic techniques on their pulse-raising debut. Master percussionists Ssentongo Moses, Dratele Epiphany and Luyambi Vincent de Paul provide the meat of the matter, overseen by producer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha (HHY & The Macumbas), while at the heart of Drum Machine is their custom percussion system. Designed by Ugandan sculptor Henry Segamwenge, it blends the trio’s traditional drums with a reverse-engineered Roland TR-808 to let them bring in a legion of electronic noise and beefy basslines. It’s used to particular effect on opener ‘Okuleekaana’, which offers no time for niceties, launching straight in with a slew of breakneck drums, ballooning into techno beats and fraught vocals. ‘Masiini’ plays out similarly, supplying juddering electronics over quicksilver polyrhythms and spooky, aerified synths. A hammering, delirious delight from the first beats to the final breaths.