AFRICA HITECH
93 Million Miles
WARPCD199
Warp Records 2011
11 Tracks. 58mins19secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

Africa Hitech dropped a substantial first EP of broken dubstep and hip-hop-infused grooves just over a year ago, setting the hype machine in full swing in the process. The project of Mark Pritchard (of Global Communication/Jedi Knights/Harmonic 313 fame) and Steve ‘Spacek’ White, the idea of Africa Hitech came out of a desire to blend Detroit techno, soul and Jamaican dancehall. This was first synthesized into the razor-sharp urban textures of Blen, which was followed a few weeks later by an even more hard-hitting second offering, Hitecherous.

Fast-forward a year, and 93 Million Miles takes the pair’s original template and expands it to full length format. Right from the hyperactive opening title track, with its syncopated urban beat, minimal keyboard washes and vocoded electronic voice, the pair move beyond their first EPs to assert further the intrinsically digital context of their music, something which comes out even more clearly later on with the utterly excellent and hypnotic hard-edged digital dub of Out In The Street or the arcade bleep-happy Gangslap or Foot Step. This album is a vastly eclectic mix of concussed beats, playful eruption of electronics and lush linear soundscapes, which fuses its influences and scatter them out again in chaotic clusters faster than it is humanly possible to take stock. This is quite a dangerous thing to do, or at least it would be in the hands of less experienced musicians than these two. Here, it becomes a thrilling journey where pretty much anything can, or should, happen at any moment.

Pritchard and White never chose the easy route to progress through this album, but this is exactly what makes it such a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Following the hardened surfaces of Do U Wanna Fight, the massive sleek Out In The Streets feels like getting out of cold straight into a gigantic warehouse party and instantly be dripping with sweat. The transition between Gangslap, Our Luv and Spirit is equally as disjointed. One minute you’re being chased by some pixelated baddies in some SuperMario land, the next you’ve stepped onboard some trans-continental night train and are cutting through the countryside at the speed of light, before finding yourself sat around a fire in an African village in the deepest savanna, with Richard H Kirk as your host. And then there’s the tribal jazz of Cyclic Sun, the noxious atmosphere of Future Moves or the pastoral dubstep of Light The Way to throw things out even more.

Whatever tags stick to this record, and more generally to what they have produced so far, doesn’t affect Africa Hitech in the least. 93 Million Miles is, despite its comprehensive eclecticism, an extremely consistent album fueled by an infectious mirth.

4.8/5

Africa Hitech | Africa Hitech (MySpace) | Warp Records
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

Out In The Streets by Warp Records