#antibalas

Dos Santos, logos / ¿cómo?, (Limited Edition 7" Vinyl, Digital album), IARCS119, International Anthem, 2018

Amayo was the only actual Nigerian in the Brooklyn afrobeat juggernaut Antibalas, reigning from 1999 to 2021 in colored face paint and elaborate headdress over pulsing Fela-obsessed grooves. A devotee of martial arts, he is a practitioner of Kung Fu’s Chinese Lion Dance, as well as Nigerian Edo traditional arts. Lion Awakes celebrates all these elements of the Amayo creative package, unfurling frantic blasts of brassy syncopation around intricate narratives of supernatural kicking, punching might. This is not a long album, but it has epic scope that’s well beyond the limitations of the usual five-song EP.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the late, great Kevin Ayers, Angela Bassett, Eric Bibb, me, John Bosco, Vanessa Carlton, Robert Culp, Bill Evans, Tim Farriss, Snowy Fleet (Easybeats), Flood, Ernie “Raunchy” Freeman, Eydie Gormé, Bob Hardy (Franz Ferdinand), Barry Hay (Golden Earring), Al Hibbler, Timothy Hutton, Eddie Kirkland, T.E. Lawrence, Donovan Leitch Jr., Ketty Lester, Gary Loizzio (American Breed), Madonna, Julie Newmar, Fess Parker, The Ramones 1974 debut at CBGBs, Rina Sawayama, Billy Joe Shaver, Bill “Sputnik” Spooner (The Tubes), Glenn Strange, Emily Strayer, James JT Taylor (Kool & The Gang), Russ Titleman, Taika Waititi, Eric Weissburg, The 1969 Woodstock Music Festival (Day 2), Wilhelm Wundt, and my pal, bandmate, comic wit, and unbelievably extraordinary singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eric Biondo a.k.a. Beyondo. His astonishing resume includes music-making with Antibalas, Charlie Hunter, Angelique Kidjo, The Monkees, TV on the Radio, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, & other luminaries. Eric & I have done a few music projects, but we put in many years together playing in the Davy Jones/Monkees orbit. Davy was a huge fan of Eric’s music and repeatedly said he wanted to cover Eric’s songs. On a cosmic jukebox Beyondo’s music plays next to Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, and Brian Wilson. For surreal but hooky pop, dance music, and jazz-inflected soundscapes for theatre of the mind, check out Eric’s bandcamp https://beyondo.bandcamp.com ...Meanwhile, HB EB and thank you for your funnybone gifts to the world.