Songs of Praise (1990) opens the set with a record that's busy creating its own genre of music. Equal parts dub and ambient, and fusion even, the album envelops a listener like only the best Adrian Sherwood-associated projects can. "Dervish Chant" and "Healing Father" conjure up moods even as the rhythms here carry these forward with verve. "Ethiopian Praises" and "Chant for the Spirits" mix light techno elements with the samples of chanting and African poly-rhythms to shine as real highlights here, and examples of the kind of music that is nearly impossible to describe to newbies to African Head Charge. Of course for fans this will feel familiar, and the natural progression on from heavier, funkier albums from AHC in the Eighties.
1993's In Pursuit of Shashamane Land is in some ways the perfect African Head Charge album. Largely accessible, the tunes here all bounce, but a few, like "Pursuit" and "Fever Pitch" throb in the service of a mood. These cuts, like many here, conjure a mood as much as a vibe, with the whole album containing some of Adrian Sherwood's most instinctive work as a producer. The vocals from musicians like Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah give this a lyricism in spots, like on "Somebody Touch I", that is almost mainstream, even as the entire album serves as a textbook example of how to mix dub and ambient touches with enormous ease, and in a natural fashion.
Vision of a Psychedelic Africa (2005) comes next and this rare record will surprise and jolt the pleasure-centers of any fan of this music. With guitar from Crucial Tony and drums from Keith LeBlanc (Tackhead), this might be the funkiest release in Drumming is a Language 1990-2011. "Positive Thoughts and Mind" swings on top of a woozy hook, while "Drumming is a Language", the song that gave this entire set its title, churns and pulses like the kind of thing David Byrne and Brian Eno once attempted. Vocalist Bonjo I A Binghi Noah uses a light touch here, preferring instead to let the samples and live drums anchor this. Elsewhere, "Who Are You?" sounds like the kind of thing Tackhead cranked out on occasion, while "Unplanned" is closer to Cabaret Voltaire than to dub itself.
Voodoo of the Godsent from 2011 is elegantly mysterious, with large portions of this one seeming more oblique than earlier releases in this box-set. "Undulating" and "This and That and The Other" benefit from some creative samples, while "Take Heed...and Smoke Up Your Collyweed" is buoyed by samples of Prince Far I. His voice is treated here, such that some of his distinctive growl is stretched out into the groove itself, but the overall effect is a blissful one. Skip McDonald provides some great guitar-work on this set, with the legendary George Oban holding things down on the bass. This might be my second favorite album in this Drumming is a Language 1990-2011 collection, and that's largely because the down-tempo space dub here succeeds at enveloping a listener in the way that only the best African Head Charge material can.
The compilation Churchical Chant of the Iyabinghi closes out this set. Complied in 2020, the album is available separately but here, in the context of this entire package, it provides a nice footnote to what's gone before. "Disciplined and Dignified" pops, and "Jungle Law" finds a groove to pound into submission, but most of the material here is similar to what's gone before, if only a bit more spacious and space-y.
Drumming is a Language 1990-2011 covers a huge time period in the history of this group, but it does it fairly successfully. While a listener, or even casual fan, won't be too surprised at what's here, I think, when taken in next to earlier recordings from African Head Charge, this five-disc set indicates a loosening of the divine groove, and a pursuit of something holy and pure through heavy rhythms. In that sense, there's a spiritual connection to more straightforward forms of reggae and dub but, as always, this is an Adrian Sherwood production we're talking about. For that reason, it's best to consider this as visionary and out there in the best possible way. Sherwood and the dozens of excellent players here mix very earthy hooks with nearly trance-like vocal-lines (in the cuts with vocals), and hypnotic samples in others. Throughout, there's a totality of sound that's distinctly recognizable as that of Sherwood and African Head Charge, but also an expansion of a style set down in earlier years. Progressive in the realest sense, Drumming is a Language 1990-2011 is essential, of course.
More details on Drumming is a Language 1990-2011 from African Head Charge is available from On-U Sound.
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