Humans

This nine-piece, comprising members from the UK, Congo, Italy, France, Argentina and New Zealand, is a fantastic emblem of the vibrant London Afrobeat scene. The band notably performed to a crowd of 10,000 at the Mecca of Afrobeat – Nigeria's New Afrika Shrine – during the annual Felabration dedicated to Afrobeat's founding father, Fela Kuti.

From the first few seconds of the album, in ‘Tolembi’, the group establish a delicious, perfectly mixed groove that immediately ensnares the listener. Drummer Giuliano Osella (a seemingly omnipresent groove-maker on the London scene), percussionist Leo Crisp and bassist John Mathews lay down solid grooves that provide a perfect basis for LAC's three-strong brass section, two guitarists and Juanita Euka's powerhouse vocals. Euka's emotional and urgent delivery, especially on ‘Power to the Women’, harks back to Afrobeat's originators while adding to the originality of LAC's dub-, rock- and jazz-influenced brand of Afrobeat. This serial collaborator (she works with Animanz and Wara, among others) is definitely worth checking out. LAC's songs hit around the five- to six-minute mark, but the musical contrast and intricacy of the arrangements in each tune make you feel like you're listening to long-form masterpieces (many classic Afrobeat tunes can break 15 minutes) in DJ-friendly snapshots.