Review: Buraka Som Sistema ‘Restless’
05.11.2009
For those who of you who read the AngelBreaks blog regularly you will know how big a fan I am of Lisbon’s Buraka Som Sistema. For those of you who don’t, you are in for a real treat because having barely recovered from their very excellent album, Black Diamond, and a summer of critically acclaimed sensory overloading live shows, they have only gone and dropped a gem of a single on us. Your education can start here.
I present to you Restless and Buraka’s coming of age. Whilst this track still harbours the raw Kuduro energy and percussive African tremors that have defined their sound, it represents a more sophisticated and textured piece of dance music production. It is a step away from their lo-fi back alley sound and it is a step in to measured and relevant music architecture.
The triumph of this track is its ambivalence, its polarising affect, its Jekyll and Hyde character. The sound is energetic, yet controlled. The beat is driving, yet hypnotic. The voice is familiar, yet eerie. These apposing qualities are cradled in the lyrics, most tellingly in the refrain , ‘Tell me if it’s real or should I let you go?’ It is about love and melancholy at the same time, yet it is these clashing uncertainties that make up its absolute success.
This track marked the launch of their world wide tour in late October, a tour which will see them swing through Manchester on Saturday 28th November for a starring role at the Warehouse Project. But if rumours are true , it is also a taster for a forthcoming album - watch this space.
In the meantime, Buraka’s Fabric Live mix CD is due for release on Monday 7th December. Santa can definitely expect a letter this year.
Buraka Som Sistema, you make me restless.
