Simplicity is needed in these times.
I did not want to make a record with a message this time. Everything around us already has one. I wanted four tracks that do one thing: make a body move. A kick, a groove, a few sounds that keep turning. Nothing on top.
Where The Titles Come From
The titles need an explanation, because they are not my words.
A while ago I watched Foli, a short film by Thomas Roebers and Floris Leeuwenberg, made with the people of Baro, a Malinké village in Guinea. Its subtitle is its whole point: there is no movement without rhythm.
I am a techno producer. I spend my days alone with machines, and that film reminded me what rhythm is for. It is for people in a room, moving together. I had half forgotten that.
So I named these tracks after the drums. Dununba, Sangban and Kenkeni are the Malinké names of the three bass drums played in the Hamana region of Guinea: the big one, the middle one and the small one. Dununba is also the name of a whole family of rhythms and dances from Hamana. Takosaba is one of those rhythms.
What This Record Is Not
I want to be exact here.
That drumming is layered, it moves in twelve, and people spend a lifetime learning it. It is the opposite of simple. The simplicity I am talking about is mine.
These four tracks are straight, machine-made techno at 140 BPM. I do not play that music. Nothing here is sampled from it or copied from it, and I am not an authority on it. The titles are a thank you, and a pointer.
If you want to hear the music these words belong to, listen to Famoudou Konaté and Mamady Keïta. Their album Hamanah is a good place to start, and there is a Takosaba on it that has nothing to do with mine.
The Four Tracks
Dununba opens the record and carries the weight.
Kenkeni is the groove that holds it together.
Takosaba is the aggressive one.
Sangban closes warm and a little darker than the rest.
25 minutes in total. That is all. Play them loud.
Where To Get It
Dununba is out now on Bandcamp and here on mordio.online. If you want it on streaming, it will show up there whenever it shows up.
You came here, not to an algorithm, so you get the whole thing right here. Press play. If it moves you, get it on Bandcamp or in the shop.
MORDIO