Ghana-based Benjamin Lebrave speaks fluent French and English, and can schmooze in Spanish and Portuguese. He’ll report on new African music every other week. This week, he wrote about Mo Laudi, a South African DJ ... read more

When Europop engineers Radioclit first teamed up with Malawi's joyously vibrant songster Esau Mwamwaya to endow all open of ear and mind with their Warm Heart Of Africa LP in '09, its thirteen tracks translated to an outstandingly harmonious cross-cultural mêlée with each song jocularly, vivaciously jostling with those surrounding it. Mwamwaya's role was both vocal and concentratedly focal, with only the odd guest spot from ex-Dirty Projector Ezra Koenig and our very own conventional genre-eschewing mogul M.I.A. shading the Malawian's luminous ubiquity. MTMTMK , in respects divers, is therefore a rather contradictory effort in both tactic [...]
![[new] The Very Best feat. M.I.A. & Santigold – Get It Up](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4300851_lg.jpg)
The Very Best 's new album MTMTMK will be out on 17 July. This tribally rhythmatic track (originally performed by just M.I.A. and Santigold ) entitled "Get It Up" has gotten a terrific re-imagining from Esau Mwamwaya and Johan Hugo (Johan who is half of production team Radioclit ). Ebede ?
FADER #52 cover star Esau Mwamwaya and producer Johan Hugo will release their second full-length as The Very Best, titled MTMTMK, on July 17th via Moshi Moshi and Cooperative Music. They've been working on it ... read more
On July 17th, Esau Mwamwaya and Johan Hugo (of Radioclit ), AKA The Very Best will return with a new album, MTMTMK . The duo has premiered the video (which is a play on Lil Wayne's clip for "A Milli") for the album's first single, "Yoshua Alikuti". Watch it below: Continue reading: New: The Very Best - "Yoshua Alikuti" Read more articles like " New: The Very Best - "Yoshua Alikuti" " on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing . Tags: Radioclit , [...]
After releasing their latest mixtape, Super Mom , The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya and producer Johan Hugo a.k.a Radioclit) are back for more, this time premiering a new track and video, on Pitchfork, plus announcing their newest album, MTMTMK out July 17 on Moshi Moshi. Dig their new video for "Yoshua Alikuti" above. This is starting to sound like a more mature Esau, but still keeping within his Malawi roots. While not as hook-laden as some of his previous efforts, we are HUGE Very Best supporters and can't wait to hear more from this record. [...]

So you might have heard about The Very Best putting out a new mixtape to celebrate mums. Or moms. Anyway, they did and it's pretty good. At heart it's still a mixtape, so there are hits and there are misses, but on the whole it is good. And there are a couple of reyt good 'uns on it. To celebrate the release they're putting on a party in London tomorrow night. Oh yeah, and it's free. And if you're one of the first 40 people to turn up you'll get a free T-shirt. The only catch is that the whole [...]

Well, actually I'm two days late but I just couldn't handle it to post it on Mother's Day (to be honest I was drunk as fuck Saturday night and therefore all knocked out on Sunday...) but even so, here you go with one of my favourite electro-pop duos! The Very Best - Super Mom If you like it you may grab their new mixtape . And do not forget to show them some love! Enjoy!

Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit , the minds behind global, electro-pop powerhouse The Very Best, celebrated their mothers yesterday by releasing a new mixtape titled Super Mom . The joyous and upbeat collection picks up where their past tapes left off and features remixes of tracks by LCD Soundsystem, Cee-Lo Green, and Kanye. Check out the title track and their remake of LCD's "I Can Change" below. Download the entire mixtape here . Thanks Mom! MP3: The Very Best: Super Mom MP3: [...]
The good people over at Malibu released this new app for the iPhone just before Christmas, the app features exclusive music from the likes of Major Lazer, Riva Starr, Douster, Mowgli, Mastiksoul, Savage Skulls, Style of Eye and Johan Hugo from Radioclit/The Very Best etc. The app is called Malibu Music Mixer and it lets you mix the music in sync only using the iPhone including EQs, a drumpad and effects. As a bonus you get a sample bank full of classic dancehall and rave samples. Grab the app for free over here !

The Very Best feat. Mo Laudi : Agonde ( Johan Hugo Remix) - MP3 Un peu de tendance world music pour commencer la semaine. On connaît surtout The Very Best pour leur collection de remixes, pourtant, le band possède déjà un LP à son actif. Un album très world. En effet, mis à part le titre de l’opus, Warm Heart Of Africa , des collaborations avec M.I.A. et Ezra Koenig (de Vampire Weekend ), Esau Mwamwaya, le chanteur [...]

More great African dance music coming our way courtesy of Crammed Records in the form of Radioclit Present: The Sound of Club Secousse , a collection of Radioclit's favourite African dance music. Radioclit's own project The Very Best is the first taster from the album. Club Secousse is the duo's club night in Paris and London. The tracklisting includes dance music from Ivory Coast, Angola, Zimbabwe, my favourite South Africa's Tshetsha Boys and more. The Very Best feat. Mo Laudi - Angonde (Remix) [...]

The Very Best have kept relatively quiet since releasing their outstanding debut LP, Warm Heart of Africa last year. The group will be celebrating the end of summer with a brand new 123 single for "Julia", arguably Warm Heart of Africa 's best song. The single will come backed with Javelin's acclaimed remix of the track and this new Johan Hugo ( The Very Best /Radioclit) remix of "Angonde", featuring rapper Mo Laudi . According to a press release, the 123 also includes two other remixes of Warm Heart album [...]

Since this may be a new beast to introduce to you, first, we share a bit of background info to educate. Angelique Kidjo is a Grammy Award-winning African singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. With a career spanning 20+ years, Kidjo is an influential staple of traditional rhythms and tones, all of which can be heard on her upcoming album, Oyo . [...]

So I haven't posted anything since January...pretty bad I guess, but who really cares? There's been plenty of bangers cropping up in the past few months, and I'll try and whittle it down to the essentials...so that's some originals, some mixes, and a couple of Portuguese music videos... So first up, I'll give you what I think are some pretty fucking hot tracks at the moment. I'm not kidding, mix one of these bad boys into your set and you'll have the [...]

Sukcesy gwiazd o afrykańskich korzeniach (M.I.A.), udane kolaboracje europejskich producentów z afrykańskimi wokalistami (Buraka Som Sistema) i w końcu ogromna popularność gatunku UK Funky, świadczą o swoistym renesansie afro beatu. O tym że artśyci coraz odważniej bawią się tą konwencją świadczyć może pojawienie się na scenie projektu The Very Best . W skład grupy wchodzi pochodzący z Malawi wokalista Esau Mwamwaya oraz londyński duet producencki Radioclit . Orginalność "Najlepszych" polega na wzięciu na warsztat potencjalnie mocno przypałowego gatunku jakim jest afro pop, kojarzony zwykle z [...]
The Very Best is a collaboration between Malawi's Esau Mwamwaya and electronic duo Radioclit that was formed in 2008. Their sound is described as a unique mix between afropop, hip hop, electronic, and dance. The Very Best's 2009 release, Warm Heart of Africa , involved contributions from M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig. Here is the new video for the first single from the album, "Warm Heart of Africa", which features hilarious green screen dancing by Esau and Ezra: Related posts: Fever Ray - "If I Had [...]

The Very Best's debut album "Warm Heart of Africa" still was one of my fave albums of 2009, even if it never ranked that high on my "Best of 2009"-list. And here's (finally) the official video for the title track off the album, featuring Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig: Here's also a little remix of the song I haven't featured earlier. The Very Best ft. Ezra Koenig - 'Warm Heart of Africa' (Alan Wilkis Remix) YSI [...]

“Blast that Christmas music! It’s joyful and triumphant.” — The Grinch Sometimes I feel that way about world music. All the rumbling percussion and mysterious African/Latin lyrics (they sound fun at least…) ultimately just remind me that my life is not that joyful nor that triumphant. I thus have a hard time connecting to the music. At least that’s my theory. Depressingly enough, I find myself all for such music when you add a slight dash of hipster magic to the mix. I suppose this says something about [...]