Reviews

Felix Laband - 8/10

'Deaf Safari' (Compost)

A decade on from Felix Laband's last album on Compost, 'Deaf Safari's nine sprawling tracks are heavy on vocal collage and rhythms influenced by the local Kwaito house scene, creating a kind of 4/4 where tempos lurch and roll, not rising above walking pace in places; it calls to mind the organic sampling of Gold Panda, even Moby's early, rootsy stuff.

From a bedrock of claps and unadorned drums, the South African creates gossamer-light house on 'Righteous Red Berets', while 'Squeeze The Trigger has a melancholy, cloudy, slo-mo groove. Sun appears in the shape of 'Down The Garden Path' and the neo-Balearic 'Pietermaritz-burg', all delayed acoustic guitars and ethereal melodies. Unforgettable.