Kutkh_Jackdaw
I've been a devout follower of Shackleton since the Skull Disco days, and it's been fascinating to see his continuous evolution over the past 20 odd years. His collaboration release with Scotch Rolex last year was a recent highlight for me. Nyege Nyege Tapes seems the perfect fit for Shackleton, and it almost seems like he's come full circle, releasing on a Ugandan label with Omutaba, and with those early Skull Disco influences coming back through in these productions.
Favorite track: Insect Vibration.
ambermonkfam
Somehow I feel like this is one of those timeless releases...like it could still be relevant several thousand years from now, particularly in east sub-Saharan Africa. Regardless, my favorite release of 2024.
Favorite track: Burnt Earth.
Heavy, heavy, heavyyyyy rhythmic madness from Shackleton, Scotch Rolex and Omutaba, invoking new rhythmic traditions on an enchanted debut album for Nyege Nyege Tapes, twisting galvanic rhythms from HHY & The Kampala Unit's Omutaba into sozzled, psychedelic peregrinations. Dubby, kinetic and viciously mind-bending, it's peak gear if you're into anything from African Head Charge to Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force.
Leading on from Shackleton and Scotch Rolex’s maiden merger, ‘Death by Tickling’ in 2023, the duo pull in the dextrous limbs of Omutaba - known from his work with STILL, Metal Preyers and HHY & The Kampala Unit - for a dervishing session of dubbed-out and tumbling polyrhythms and psychoactive vibes as Three Hands of Doom. Shackleton’s hand on the tiller is patently apparent but, as with his recent works with Heather Leigh and Wacław Zimpel, he proves a mutable collaborator and porous to the shared spirits of fellow electronic music journeymen Scotch Rolex and Uganda’s Omutaba in four swingeing sections defined by their joint ability to diffract the flow between rolling and irregular grooves.
‘Ring Dirt’ opens the session with a limber display of monotone strings and suspenseful synth work that calls to mind Can sent economy class to the equator for ritual teachings. Enlightened, they proceed thru the lush, whorling metric calculations of ‘Insect Vibration’, layering shivering incantations and worm-charming subs with a frisson of field recordings. At this point fully attuned to each other, Omutaba’s Ugandan drumming is felt most powerfully meshed into the 10 minute matrix of rug-pulling and thunderous detonations to ‘Burnt Earth’, before they all buckle into the outright dread of a standout eponymous title tune that appears to follow rhythms from the Congo thru West Africa, to Haiti, via Japan and Berlin, and back to Uganda.
Both Shackleton and Ishihara have been on blistering form in the last couple of years, and 'Three Hands of Doom' feels like both a continuation and an extension of last year's 'Death By Tickling', weaponizing Omutaba's exhilarating playing into something that feels much, much more than the sum of its parts.
credits
released January 11, 2024
Production and arrangement by Scotch Rolex & Shackleton
Live Drums by Omutaba
Artwork by Moroto Hvy Ind & Jonathan Uliel Saldanha
Graphic Layout & Text by Kid Gringo
Mastered by Declared Sound
Nyege Nyege Tapes is a Kampala based label exploring, producing and releasing outsider music from around the region and
beyond.
We fulfill orders twice weekly, so most items will be shipped out within 3-5 days of your order being placed, with tracking provided automatically. We ship all records in whiplash mailers with extra cardboard protection.
supported by 134 fans who also own “The Three Hands of Doom”
i was digging around bandcamp last night looking for new artists to listen to and WOW did i hit the jackpot. love the growling vocals on 'no one seems to bother' and mc yallah's infectious energy on every track. cthuwu
The Congolese-Canadian musician's latest is a sensual delight, smooth and funky electronic pop with Congolese folk styles in its DNA. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 9, 2017