Weekly mp3 #159: Osborne - Afrika (Bullion Remix)

Chipper electronic funk with vocal samples from some part of Africa.  Pitchfork has the goods.

Syncopated drum machines, plenty of hand claps and cheery bass guitar form the guts of this mix. Singing, chanting, electric guitar and all kinds of keyboard sounds keep things on the move. As with most Bullion tracks, nothing sits still for long.

Todd Osborn, aka Osborne (Sometimes he takes an e? Is that the point?) usually writes pretty stonking techno stuff that I'm not up for. Once more this is all about the remix, really.

London lad Bullion put out his first "non-LP" in January after a few EPs last year and remixes like this one. Prior to that he did a bootleg / mash-up thing where he mixed J Dilla beats with Beach Boys samples. To a large degree that seemed to define his style for a bit, but he's since delved into more 80s pop sounds and generally gone a bit further out there. At his most nuts is a track where he overlays loops of Laurie Anderson's somber 'O Superman' so that they swing, pulls out some bent beats and effects and then introduces a quick violin solo... Its proximity to straightforward pop is part of what makes it all the weirder.