Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra to Release New LP

Catherine Lewis reports:
Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra are scheduled to release their second studio album, Talkatif, just as springtime hits in March. The album, which will serve as the follow-up to last year's Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1, is slated for a March 19th release through Ninja Tune.

Antibalas-- which is Spanish for "bulletproof"-- formed in mid-1998 by musicians from King Chango, the Soul Providers, and Daktaris. Their music is influenced by Nigerian Afrobeat, American soul, and Latin dance grooves (though mostly just by Fela Kuti), with their fourteen members (sometimes more) layering horns and bass over polyrhythmic beats. When they're not on the road, Antibalas host a weekly Friday-night party called "Africalia" in New York.

The band is already planning to spend a great deal of 2002 on the road, beginning tomorrow at Worchester, Massachusetts' Clark University. Scheduled dates will take them briefly along the northeastern coast before they head out for the west in late February. Venues are presently being booked for a spring tour of the midwest and Canada.

01-31 Worcester, MA - Clark University (w/ Sugarman Three)
02-01 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Underground (w/ Sugarman Three)
02-02 New York, NY - Makor
02-19 Seattle, WA - I-Spy
02-20 Portland, OR - Berbatis Pan
02-22 San Francisco, CA - Justice League
02-23 San Francisco, CA - Justice League
02-25 San Diego, CA - Casbah
02-26 Santa Monica, CA - Temple Bar
02-27 Santa Monica, CA - Temple Bar
03-16 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (record release party)

.: Pitchfork Review: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra: Liberation Afro Beat Vol. 1
.: Antibalas: http://www.antibalas.com
.: Ninja Tune: http://www.ninjatune.net
.: Originally published: 30 January 2002
.: Items mentioned above on Amazon.com: Talkatif (Antibalas Anfrobeat Orchestra, 2002); Liberation Afro Beat Vol. 1 (Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, 2001).

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