African Head Charge – Environmental Studies
Trippy, experimental dub from famed UK producer Adrian Sherwood’s On-U-Sound. “African Head Charge” was formed as a studio project inspired by Brian Eno’s “vision for a psychedelic Africa” and heavily featured the driving, polyrhythmic African and “outernational” rhythms of master percussionist Bonjo I. Sherwood himself provided the psychedelia, soaking the instruments in his signature tape manipulation, recording and re-recording the parts until they sound like distant transmissions from some twisted paradise. The field recordings, found sounds, and occasional synthesizers add to this aesthetic creating a sort of dub from an unknown and imaginary place that bears similarities to Jon Hassell’s fourth world concept.
– Phil Cho
Recommended – Full listen
A1 Crocodile Hand Luggage
A2 Dinosaur’s Lament
A3 Beriberi
A4 Snakeskin Tracksuit
B1 High Protein Snack
B2 In A Trap
B3 Breeding Space
B4 Primitive
B5 Latin Temperament
Bass – Crocodile, George Oban, Lizard
Drums – Benbow, Bruce Smith, Mus’come, A.V. Scott
Engineer – Steve Smith
Guitar – Crucial Tony
Harp [Chinese] – Kishi
Horns – Deadly Headley, Flash, Steve Beresford
Illustration – T. “Alice” Furuta
Keyboards – Nick Plytas, Steve Beresford
Mastered By – Kevin Metcalfe
Melodica – Doctor Pablo
Percussion – Bonjo I
Photography By, Sleeve [Design] – Kishi
Producer, Arranged By – Adrian Sherwood
Sounds, Effects – Crocodile