Man:De.Ng Eletrik is the first fully consciously 'world music' release on the upstart Mulatta label. The interesting concept here is the introduction of a two-phase (and in some pieces, three phase) process in the making of the album. The album started as a recorded jam session with Guinea's Wofa ensemble and a handful of primarily electric New York session musicians, the most notable being
P-Funk's sublime keyboardist
Bernie Worrell. After a long session of amazing interplay, the songs were handed over to the
Organic Grooves team for some reworking to add in electronica elements and dance beats, as well as some small bits and pieces of digital enhancement. Finally, the new mixes were then overdubbed with fresh instrumentals and vocals from a set of African musicians, re-emphasizing the African core of the sound. Here's where it gets interesting, as female griots, Fula flute players, and Ethiopian songstresses are placed on top of a thick beat texture, which is itself on top of some fine performances on a range of new and old instruments intermingled. The end result is surprisingly coherent given the multiplicity of its components, with a worthwhile album both for basic grooves and for some nice examples of how world fusion can be done properly. ~ Adam Greenberg