HHY & The Kampala Unit

Anchored by splintering syncopated beats and dramatic brass arrangements, 'TURBO MELTDOWN' is the forward-facing second chapter from HHY & The Kampala Unit - aka Portuguese sonic alchemist Jonathan Uliel Saldanha and Ugandan vocalist and horn player Florence Nandawula. The duo composed this one on the road, advancing the spiritual narrative they lavishly sketched out on 2020's 'Lithium Blast' and venturing into gloomier backstreets, adding cinematic pressure to their energetic fusion of mutant rhythms and apocalyptic fanfares.

Nandawula and Saldhana devised the project as a way to alloy their shared interest in diverse interconnected sounds - from gqom, jungle and funk to vintage horror soundtracks - and they view HHY & The Kampala unit as a collective effort. There's an extended cast on show here, with contributions from the Ugandan Homeland Brass Band's Kintu Jacob on trombone, and Congolese Afrofuturist collective Fulu Miziki's Sekelembele on percussion and vocals. On stage, they're also joined by dancer Junia and multidisciplinary artist Exocé Kasongo, both of whom help translate the collective's sonic concept into a hard-hitting, visceral experience.

Tense marching band snares lead us ominously into opener 'APEXPREDATOR', cut with gqom-inspired percussive snaps and backed up by Nandawula's audacious horns, that split the difference between Funkadelic and Prince. It's music that tramples over any pre-conceived genre boundaries, fitting gurgling AutoTuned adlibs and noisy electrical interference between its surging kicks. This time around, HHY & The Kampala unit train their gaze on storytelling, composing a spine-chilling, sci-fi tinged soundtrack to a disturbing dystopian future.

On 'NEON VEIL COLLAPSE', Nandawula's reverberating trumpet and trombone blasts perforate a dense mass of woody traditional rhythms that Saldanha interrupts with rave-ready hoover womps, and she captures the spectacle of Akira Ifukube's iconic 'Godzilla' OST (famously sampled by Pharoahe Monch on 'Simon Says') on 'RESONANCE RIOT', adding some monster movie zest to Saldanha's pneumatic ballroom-like thrust. 'TURBO MELTDOWN' is an album that never stops advancing, crashing through the neon-lit wreckage of a doomed civilization and orchestrating a party at the end of the world.