Various - Africanism Allstars - Vol. 2

, Jun 13, 2005

When Africanism first appeared with their 12s in 2000-2001 it was a fresh breeze of house music. The lovely combination of african music & samba/latin mixed with house beats became a major success and DJs all over went mad for them, and the First edition will always stand as a milestone.
This time they take a different turn, but somehow they rule out some of the african influences and 3-4 of these tunes can even fit nicely into a tech-house set. Still with great sounding production and creativity, there are some high and lows here. My personal fave for instance are the brilliant summertune "Dont You Go Away" from the always reliable Liquid People. And i especially liked the Exodus sampled Macumba Walèlè by Bibi that sounds like an distant Manu Dibango tune with excelent Sax plays. The ones that sticks out from the African sounds are Primavera & Balearic by Diva that more sounds like deep-tech house. Martin Solveig is another man who takes a different road with a 80s synth-disco production called Heartbeat (samples the lines from Cerrone - Supernature).
On the otherhand, i really dont understand the contribution DJ Gregory has here. "Soldiers" is an awful tune by any means and this Snaredrum-marching synth-trumpet thing is horrible and dont work at all, i simply hate it.

After the listen, i wouldnt mind if the boys behind this briliant concept would stick to the pure african formula they did on the Volume 1, as i just wanted more after it.

But make no mistake, This box will satisfy many because of good production quality and great versatility on track selection allround. While Volume 1 caught you instantly by the uplifting rhythms, this will take some listens for you to enjoy it to the fullest. Throw away the "Soldiers" tune and i would give it a 5/5 anyhow.

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