Antibalas

Talkatif

(Ninja Tune/Outside)

Brooklyn's Afro-beat preservationists return, some 17 members strong, flying the Fela flag high. The spirit of late Fela Kuti, Nigeria's pope of politicized pop, is present throughout-from the jacket illo by Ghariokwu Lemi (who did all of Fela's records) to the pin-point-precise polyrhythms, percolating guitar and requisite freight-train brass that defined Fela's original mid-'70s sound. Blessed with a seamless collectivity that underscores their people-power message, Antibalas are all the more necessary these days, as the U.S. creeps ever closer to being a militarized police state. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)