Picture the sun setting on some distant African plain, the dust creating a circular cloud around the stamping feet of the dancing, chanting tribe's people. Then, try if you can, to hear the accompanying cacophony of sound, the resplendent congas, the hypnotic drum patterns and the overall sound of inherited and ancient rituals.
Then let Eardrum transfer this mirage of raw, base beats to your living room.
'Side Effects' may not be one hundred percent African or one hundred percent basic drum patterns, but the underlying theme behind the whole thirteen track album (and limited edition double vinyl) is.
In a similar vein to 23 Skidoo, the duo in charge, Lou Ciccotelli (Laika, Spleen, Mass) and Richard Outlande Baker (Cath Coffey, NT), do introduce the harder edge of our western music with Moog, sax, whistle, a touch of electronica and an arms length of other weird and wonderfully beat-biased instruments.
But generally they indulge their love of a music that is un-harnessed and freeform.
And it's an impressive list of contributors who help them realise their dream; Jason Yard who has worked with the funky percussion maestro Manu Dubango, Nii Tagoe who has worked with African Headcharge, Folasade Barbarinde who is part of the Adzido Pan African Dance and Drum ensemble. And the list goes on.
Between them all they manage to create a sometimes dark and sinister abstract picture ('Darker Still'), or a more light-hearted, almost oriental sound ('Trickster Tale')
Eardrum are looking in the right direction for their inspiration; Miles Davis, Sun Ra and Fela Kuti alongside the afro beat and carnival street sound. And this album, created in a wood-panelled recording studio in Clerkenwell - a far cry from the sun-drenched plains of Africa, clearly relays and reinterprets an age old sound to full effect and in a way only Eardrum could possibly feel so comfortable with.
Consistently minimal, consistently fluid and consistently entrancing 'Side Effects' is never going to see mass acknowledgement but it will nevertheless become a treasured gem amongst the collections of many an open-minded and hungry music lover.
