Hello – what’s this? Ah yes – Power Struggle – the next big LP drop on Record Kicks. It’s the second album from ten-piece, Sydney-based afrobeat crew The Liberators yielding nine tracks and forty three minutes of afro-tinged instro grooves plus one vocal cut and slotting in somewhere between Daptone signings The Budos Band and Antibalas. Notable cuts include opener Cairo Uprising – a suitably dark slab of souk-instrument-tinged afro funk, presumably named for that key event of the ‘arab spring’ and Dark River – six-plus minutes of moody, jazzy-afro-psychedelia. Oh yes – and then there’s vocal cut Water Somewhere which closes the album and features one Roxie Ray. Not the adult film star Roxie Ray, I hasten to add (somewhat ironically, given what this one’s called and what she’s famous for) – but rather funk vocalist Roxie Ray i.e. she of Dojo Cuts collaborations, Underbelly collaborations and the silky voice. Water Somewhere is the radio single and a super limited run of a 45 with Cairo Uprising on both sides has also been pressed. Players below plus the album video teaser below them.
(Out 25 November on Record Kicks)