IT S A BOMB

Description

The music of Congolese Bony Bikaye was long sought after in the purgatory of "world music," a place of all possibilities, where raw diamonds coexisted with the bland nightmares of inexperienced artists who froze rumba like battered fish. Sometimes, with a more subtle approach, they would feature it on the menu while others wanted to move on. - - It is the trio TONN3RR3 that takes up the torch to build this album with him, which proudly announces its intent: "It's a bomb." Conceived by Guillaume Gilles (composition/keyboards), the album was completed at the One Two Pass It studio, with Olivier Viadero and Gaëlle Salomon on percussion, Yoann Dubaud (machines & bass), and Guillaume Loizillon (synth programming and facilitator of this project). It is a deeply musical record, played by an erudite team that has nothing left to prove, and you can hear it. Without attitude, the album floats well above the fray. - - We are warned: "keba na butu," be careful. Indeed: beyond the simple pleasures of soukouss or the rumba guitar riff that spins like a carousel that has failed its technical inspection, it is the total lushness of the arrangements that strikes. The all-powerful orchestra puts everyone to shame in a compartmentalized style, with a beautiful spirit of synthesis. There is law, syncopation, 808, and the typical bass that makes knees rise... but it is never a mishmash: in this global sound, there is a vision. - - Bikaye, renamed BIKAY3 for the occasion, plays with his well-honed voice whose wild vibrato has matured like a family plum. He puts it to use - particularly in "Zela" and "Balobi" - with a flamboyant showmanship reminiscent of Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Bikaye enjoys playing with song; his pleasure in language extends to pure storytelling. Thus, "La forêt et les dieux" is an excursion in French into the bush, advancing on a mossy carpet of synths and percussion to narrate a brilliant cosmogony that could put you to sleep standing up. - - The synth of Guillaume Loizillon and the flute of Nicole Mitchell complement this stroll in Akei through the "bush of ghosts" of Byrne/Eno, where they chat in Lingala or Kikongo. "It's a bomb" bastard rumba closes the dance with a rimshot that cracks like a cool hand on a willing skin. - - So for sure, we are living in a golden age, reissues are coming out in droves and satisfying our desire to catch up on the musical heritage of our neighbors, but let’s not miss the boat: it’s now or never to listen to the music of the living. - - Halory Goerger - - This is the case for Bikaye, who grew up in a bath of European music, loves Kraut, struggles with traditional sounds, and seeks out musical troubles in Brussels. Bony Bikaye will record several albums there with CY1 (Loizillon/Micheli), and some defectors from "Les Tueurs de la lune de miel," produced by Hector Zazou. - -