Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time on KEXP, is "Dabalomuni" by Avalanche Kaito, from the 2022 Dabalomuni EP on Glitterbeat Records.
Avalanche Kaito is as their name suggests, an avalanche of disparate sounds, ideas, and ancestral odes. Made up of Burkinabe griot singer and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse and Brussels noise punk musicians Benjamin Chaval (drums, electronics) and Nico Glitter (guitar), the trio fuse West African oral traditions with pummeling post-punk for a sound so unique it defies categorization.
Our Song of the Day, “Dabalomuni,” comes from the three-song EP of the same name, released in early 2022 and catapulting them into the European festival circuit, the international consciousness, and even the Grammys stage. The song is ferocious, with super-charged, sinewy post-punk rhythms backing a myriad of tribal instrumentation, glitchy electronic flourishes, and Winse’s powerful, bellowing recitations for a hypnotic experience that makes one ask, “What the hell just happened?”
Watch a mesmerizing live performance of the song, filmed in Geneva in late 2021, below.
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