New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Cooperative Music) With their second album MTMTMK ready to drop in two weeks' time, The Very Best have shared another track from the album, in the shape of 'We OK'. Featuring the Somalian-Canadian rapper K'naan and co-written by Bruno Mars, it's another bright and uplifting anthem from the continent-spanning duo - listen below, and feel free to share...
Stream:
https://soundcloud.com/theverybest/the-very-best-feat-knaan-we-ok
The track is the third song to be shared from MTMTMK, following the singles 'Yoshua Alikuti' (the video of which spoofs Lil Wayne's "
A Milli" video), and the life-affirming 'Kondaine', which features TVB's Johan, Esau, and guest vocalist Seye on a tripped-out adventure in Northern Kenya. Watch it here.
MTMTMK is the follow-up to The Very Best's celebrated genre-smashing debut Warm
Heart Of Africa. Comprised of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and London-based Swedish producer
Johan Hugo (We Don't Belong in Pacha), the group garnered extensive critical praise for both Warm
Heart of Africa and their string of online mixtapes.
MTMTMK was recorded over five weeks in Esau's hometown of Lilongwe, Malawi. "We had to make a big step with the second album, we had to evolve,"
Johan notes. "This time we wrote, produced and recorded together simultaneously — the way it should be done. It was a much more collaborative effort."
The album features an impressive list of guest appearances by the likes of Amadou & Mariam, Baaba Maal and K'naan, plus many more.
The Very Best first met in a London second-hand shop in 2007 haggling over a bicycle. After
Johan and Radioclit partner Etienne Tron invited Esau into their recording studio, the group recorded their first mixtape which quickly went viral and has amassed 850,000 downloads to date. After the release of 2009's Warm
Heart of Africa, which featured guest spots from a number of artists including MIA and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Etienne departed Radioclit leaving
Johan and Esau to work as a duo on MTMTMK.
MTMTMK is released 16th July on Moshi Moshi Records. Photo and Warm
Heart Of Africa press quotes below:
"Warm
Heart Of Africa" was released late Summer 2009 to huge critical acclaim:
"refracting Esau's love of '80s anthemia through a kaleidoscope that throws together synth washes, Caribbean soca, African gospel, tribal a cappella and indie-pop. The result is a twinkling, euphoric thing that veers between a John Hughes soundtrack for the Southern Hemisphere and grimy, pan-African dance music." NME - 8/10
"This debut album fore-grounds sequencers, 80s synths with Mwamwaya's vocals stacked and processed into ziggurats ofelated harmony, shunning world music cliché en route to equatorial pop nirvana" MOJO - 4 Stars ****
"an uplifting, gospel-tinged hybrid that recalls the big African crossovers of the 1980s" Uncut - 4 Stars ****
"one of this year's most uniquely inspired LPs" DJ Magazine - 4 Stars ****
"this album is ACE" SUPER SUPER - 5 Stars *****
"a remarkable project, a highly original collision between northern and southern hemispheres that is also one of theyear's great pop records." The Observer
"an eminently danceable record that features some inspiring vocal performances and eclectic production that mixes Afrobeat, electro and pop influences to heart-warming effect."
Clash - 8/10
"their beats and the Southern African harmonies will delight anybody already won over by Amadou & Mariam" The Times - 4 Stars ****
"manages to be at once challenging and immensely light and enjoyable… Presented before us throughout this blistering record are the very tenets of a successful collaboration project- sympathy, and a sense of the joy of learning." The Fly - 4 Stars ****
"a forward-thinking and organic meeting of ideas and flavours… Superb production and the joy you hear in Esau's voice becomes utterly infectious… Easily good enough to give even Hackney Council hope for inter-borough relations." Stool Pigeon - 4 Stars ****
"Warm
Heart of Africa is an undeniably good album… "brilliant, fun and intricate…" Loud & Quiet - 8/10
"Warm
Heart of Africa is full of charm and technicolour moments… Joyous" Artrocker
THE VERY BEST LINKS
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