BOM Nation takes influence from all corners of Africa and its diaspora, blending them with 25 years of Western electronic music into a melange of forward facing, leftfield Afrofunk. It was started as a multicultural project by Flash Atkins and Tom Lonsborough (2 Billion Beats), who have been making various shades of club music for Paper Recordings the past 25 years.
What Should We Know About BOM Nation's Latest Album Àṣẹ?
Their lates album Àşę features one of Africa's brightest rising stars, Luka Productions (Mali), cosmic poet Sirius Rush (United Kingdom) and master drummer / vocalist Felix Ngindu (Democratic Republic of the Congo/UK) for a journey into kaleidoscopic Afro-tech. Gqom, amapiano, shangaan electro and cosmic township funk rub shoulders with Balearic, bass, deep house and dub for a psychedelic celebration of collaboration and possibility.
Àṣẹ is a Yoruba philosophy signifying the power that makes things happen and produce change; given to gods, ancestors, spirits, humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, songs and prayers. BOM Nation's new album is currently available as a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl release, and is also digitally available on Bandcamp. The album features stunning sleeve artwork by Stockport artist Tom Bevan; each release comes with this unique art print insert, along with a BOM sticker exclusive to Bandcamp orders. Digital purchases include unlimited streaming of Àṣẹ via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
BOM Nation's Genre-Blending Weedsday Playlist
For their Weedsday Playlist, the members of BOM Nation chose tracks that represent some of the distinctive and genre-blending work that has emerged from the meeting of electronic music and Afrofunk. Groove on!
Zinja Hlungwani - "N'wagezani My Love"
A stone cold Shangaan Electro banger. The genre is super fast and this sounds like it was made on a synth salvaged from a charity shop, with soulful vocals by originator Nozinja. It is taken from a compilation released by Honest Jon’s in 2010, which incidentally is my favourite London shop to go digging.
Click here to play on Spotify!
DJ Dadaman And Moscow Dollar - "Nyoka"
This list had to include at least one track from Uganda’s astounding Nyege Nyege Tapes. DJ Dadaman and Moscow Dollar are pioneers of ‘bacardi’, one of the iterations of genres emerging from township culture (see also amapiano and gqom). "Nyoka" has elements of pop, house, techno, Afro with a brilliant lo-fi electronic vibe. I defy anyone not to hit the dance floor when it comes on.
Click here to play on Spotify!
Florence Adooni - "Mam Pe'ela Su’ure"
Ghana’s Florence Adooni has been touring and collaborating for the past five years and this is taken from her brilliant debut album A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity) that came out in February of this year. It hits a heavy groove, mixing up jazz, Afrobeat, highlife, disco and soul into a super fresh sound. Florence is an exciting new voice whom I’m itching to see live and I can’t wait to see where she goes next.
Click here to play on Spotify!
Nihiloxica - "Bwola"
Is it dubstep, techno, bass? All of these things and more! Nihiloxica formed at the Nyege Nyege Festival and consists of UK electronic musicians pq and Spooky-J with Bugandan percussion collective Nilotika Cultural Ensemble. I saw them at WOMAD in the UK, and if there had been a roof, the bass alone would have brought it down. They were super intense and heavy as f**k, heading into The Comet Is Coming and Sons of Kemet territory.
Click here to play on Spotify!
Thandi Zulu & The Young Five – "Love Games (Luke Una Edit)"
A party starter or a one more tune, this is a perfect blend of disco, bubblegum, soul and South African positivity. Whenever I play it at home, the volume gets notched up every two minutes and it’s invariably on full blast by halfway through. The chord progression is the same as my top tune of all time, Double Exposure’s "My Love Is Free", so it was always going to do it for me. Manchester’s Luke Una brings it up to date with a great edit, released by Mr Bongo on vinyl.
Click here to play on Spotify!
For more about BOM Nation, visit their Bandcamp page or follow @bomnationmusic on Instagram. Learn more about ÀSE on Bandcamp.
What are your favorite Weedsday tracks? Tell us about them - reach out at @honeysucklemagazine on Instagram!
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Featured image: BOM Nation (C) Sarah Mason @sarahmasonfilmmakeruk
