ALC16 #11: Chapters of My Life by Moken

[meccalecca]

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Chapters Of My Life by Moken

Chapters of My Life by Moken

So, there was a few other albums I was thinking of choosing, but this one seems like the most under the radar, and it's quite excellent. You can listen to it on Spotify, or I can likely hook you up.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6ymsPjnQaiQsyK6gi0Ggea

I actually interviewed Moken about a month ago...

http://meccalecca.com/?p=26046

"The culmination of his African roots, as well as his years in America, Chapters of Life is truly a world music album. There’s a wide stylistic range far beyond his magnificent vocals, which draw from the likes of Nina Simone, Dibango, Francis Bebey, and Van Morrison, among others. In his sound, you’ll hear hints of various African styles, from afrobeat percussion and the funky energy of makossa, to the desert blues guitar sound Mali great Ali Farka Toure. There’s also clear links to the soulful jazz sound of Nina Simone, and Van Morrison’s synthesis of rock, jazz and folk. There’s also rhythmic connections to samba and rumba."
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http://jonnyleather.com

[Grzywa]

I figure it was you who had already recommended it before in one of the threads. I happened to give it a try and marked it 8/10 in my spreadsheet on the first listen, so will be glad to revisit. Sounds fun !
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Always shouts out something obscene

[meccalecca]

[Grzywa]

Driven by a recent string of African-originated albums (just to mention Mbongwana Star's From Kinshasa or Baaba Maal's The Traveller), this one caught my attention immediately after @meccalecca recommended it.

Five further listens, and I'm totally impressed. While the roots remain African, this work goes far beyond them and Moken reaches out to the rich global traditions of artists deeply concerned with social issues on the lyrical level, and varied, predominantly uptempo folk rock inspirations in music.

I'm pretty sure that apart from Afrobeat aficionados, this album will appeal to everyone keen on Manu Chao or Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros. The non-intrusive teachings included in the songs and generally uplifting atmosphere of the album may also attract fans of Jamaican music.

What makes this album distinctive, though, is its phenomenally adventurous vocal level; Moken experiments with his voice a lot and with passion, both in low and high registers, and the accompanying female choruses are both discreet and efficient.

My minor complaint would be the track Ma Masse, which sounds a bit too much like the previous one, The Man That Never Gives Up.

However, this does not change the overall great impression: will rank high on my updated 2016 list, as soon as I get down to it. Brilliant choice !
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Always shouts out something obscene

[Tap]

this is a cool pick! seems like it's really flying under the radar and worthy of some attention. there's some style elements that put me off a bit, like vocal vibrato is something I struggle with. So I appreciate the variety in the vocals, but felt sorta distanced by it at the same time. But like I can't be mad, there's some fun silliness (he took my mustache!) that gets me grinning. At the same time though, I dunno it's like the combination of these different influences in the music just feel like they're more comfortable than they should? I will be the first to admit I have a very skewed perspective on this. But even with all that, this still seems like some inventive stuff with a lot of fun had in the arrangement and performance, and if I was on board with more of the stylistic things (which is a pretty arbitrary factor) I could totally see myself getting a lot out of it.

[RockyRaccoon]

So I like it. You can really hear the African influences all over this, it's a really cool album, it feels like an album about a fresh start, about leaving your past behind and moving onto a new one. Some of the songs almost feel religious and spiritual, like "Maliga" and "The Man That Never Gives Up". It's a cool album.
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2023 Chart

Early Psychedelic Rock

Electronic Chart

[meccalecca]