The long-awaited debut album from Afro-fusion band K.O.G. & the Zongo Brigade sounds as massive as you’d expect from the energetic eight-piece. The fourteen-track album encompasses the whirlwind energy of the aptly-named Brigade, led by frontman Kweku and rapper Franz Von, to merge together a multitude of influences and delivering an infectious celebration of multicultural music. Opening with the unmistakably African rhythms of ‘For My People’, the tracks that follow continue to honour influences steeped in Afro-fusion, intermixing sounds of rap, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, and even shades of punk. Rap and jazz combine effectively in ‘Money’, a reflective track voicing the anxieties of a modern world. It is the blending of numerous genres and topics which works to their advantage, creating an inclusive record accessible from all angles. The variety of tracks on are so extensive that the album serves as more of a setlist, transporting its listeners to a festival-style setting filled with upbeat brass and thunderous percussion. Culminating in feelgood tracks like ‘Mad Up’ – which ups the ante again following the understated ‘Transmission’ – the levels of positive energy that Wahala Wahala produces is truly on an infectious scale, and when matched with the impressive musical repertoire of the band, this album stands head and shoulders above the rest for its originality.
4/5
Phoebe De Angelis
Wahala Wahala is out now and available to purchase here
