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CD Review
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The Knoxville News-Sentinel, CD Review >>
Rating: ***
The story behind Aprhodesia's "Lagos by Bus" is more interesting than the release itself.
The Afrobeat-based band from San Francisco was inspired by a trip to Africa that found the group traveling from Ghana to Nigeria, bribing unofficial guards at the Benin-Nigeria border and facing a harrowing encounter with soldiers before ultimately hooking up with Femi Kuti, son of Fela Kuti, for a performing rendezvous in Lagos.
"Lagos by Bus" is uneventful by comparison. Not that it's bad: The fluid release merges various earthy influences into a vivacious blend that will tug at the soul of many world-music geeks.
Yet the average listener might consider it merely solid background noise with occasional moments of spirited sway, as on "White Elephant" and "Agayu."
Dual vocalists Lara Maykovich and Maya Dorn sing individually and in unison, typically repeating just a few lines per song, while the rest of Aphrodesia anchors in to heady rhythms keyed to the rousing bass of founding member Ezra Gale.
Twenty-three performers are credited for "Lagos by Bus" - most of them horn players and percussionists, which gives listeners a clue to the brassy, stirring flow of Afrobeat music that also makes use of jazz and Cuban styles. There's plenty of bait to likewise draw in jam-band fans and stoners (which aren't mutually exclusive groups), but the repetitive vocals, redundant rhythms and protracted arrangements will test the patience of anyone not occupying themselves in some way while "Lagos by Bus" is playing.
The loose atmosphere is sunny and hard to disparage. However, more than half the tracks go beyond the six-minute mark, which is an uncomfortable range for many. So as with most bus trips, even the enjoyable ones, this journey seems slow-going.
-- by Chuck Campbell 01/04/08 >> go there
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