Baloji – 137 Avenue Kaniama

137 Avenue Kaniama presents a heady mix of African rhythms with electronic production and funked-up synths making for an album that can be thrilling in short bursts, but exhausting on a whole

Album Review by Eugenie Johnson | 20 Mar 2018
Album title: 137 Avenue Kaniama
Artist: Baloji
Label: Bella Union
Release date: 23 Mar

Congolese-born Baloji grew up in Belgium where, in his own words, he discovered “a land of surrealism and multiple identities.” His experiences of both cultures have often combined on his albums, and it’s no different on his new record 137 Avenue Kaniama.

It’s an album that presents a heady mix of African rhythms (and not just Congolese beats either, but also drawn from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Ghana) with electronic production and funked-up synths, Baloji’s own urgent rap style punctuates each track. Glossine sets the tone with its up-tempo, groove-laden beats and glitchier, bass-laden synth elements, while L’hiver Indien combines its lilting guitars with cosmic synths and a trap-influenced climax. With its gradual transformation into a disco-funk floor-filler, even containing a short but storming guitar solo, Soleil de Volt is (almost quite literally) electrifying.

However, it’s also an album of two relatively distinct halves, its second phase presenting slower, more meditative grooves. While this at first provides some welcome breathing room away from the breakneck speed of the opening tracks, with sounds and ideas that almost border on being experimental, eventually it starts to become slightly tiring in itself. Baloji often presents a grand, cinematic vision here that can be thrilling in short bursts. Taken as a whole though, the sheer scale of 137 Avenue Kaniama can be a bit exhausting.

Listen to: Soleil de Volt, L’hiver Indien/ Ghetto Mirador

http://www.baloji.com/