- Release date:
- 12.06.20
- Released by:
- Crammed Discs
- Published by:
- Les Editions de la Bascule, Strictly Confidential
"Kaloli" is the debut full-length LP from Kampala’s darkest electro-percussion group Nihiloxica. The album marries the propulsive Ugandan percussion of the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble with technoid analog synth lines and hybrid kit playing from the UK’s pq and Spooky-J. The result is something otherworldly. Kaloli journeys through the uncharted space between two cultures of dance music, where the expression of traditional elements mutates into something more sinister and nihilistic.
The album takes its name from the Luganda word for the Marabou stork. Kaloli are carrion birds that can be seen amassing in areas of festering waste around the country, particularly in Kampala, with its heightened levels of urban pollution.
Freakishly large in size and riddled with amorphous boils, growths and tufts, these toxic creatures thrive on detritus. Rising skyward on huge air currents, however, their wretchedness is softened as they effortlessly glide above the city. Nihiloxica tread a similar path to the kaloli: a dissonant, polyrhythmic assault on the senses holds a transcendental beauty.
From the press:
“The electronic percussive explorations of Nihiloxica [are] part of the new electronic African revolution.” Noisey, US
“Eerie, almost gothic, with digital synths fizzing and rumbling around hypnotic, polyrhythmic grooves.” Pitchfork, US
“The tribal-techno percussion of Nihiloxica [takes] the audience to rhythmic territories never before explored.” Les Inrockuptibles, FR
