Half-Mauritian singer-percussionist Mo Kolours returns with his second release: EP2: Banana Wine, the second in a trilogy of EPs to be released by One-Handed Music. Last year’s EP1: Drum Talking saw his blend of sega, soul, dub and various electronic styles celebrated far and wide.
There’s a sense of spontaneity at the heart of Mo Kolours’ (aka Joseph Deenmamode) music and much of the music he loves: Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, King Tubby and many more. Like the best records, the result is so much more than just the sum of its influences: it’s a new feeling which breathes fresh life into the past and keeps its eyes set firmly on the future.
Opener Ridda Mountain sets the tone: a hypnotic blunted incantation which draws heavily on a love of dub. Twelve sees a loose hip-hop rhythm paired with Mo Kolours’ unique sound palette, turning something familiar into something altogether strange. His percussion skills come to the fore on the fast-paced Afro-Latin workout Mini Culcha as he seeks to explore what dance music can sound like in 2012.
The witty Keep It Up roots Mo Kolours in the here and now, a tale of a life spent disturbing the neighbours, while the astonishing Banana Wine takes its cue from a Sega classic and sounds something like dubstep imagined on an African island in the 1970s. Talking Move and Temi offer two more chances to dance to a different drum before Beautiful Swimmers from Washington’s cult Future Times label rejig Mini Culcha into compelling leftfield house track.
After EP3 drops in the near future, there’s the rather exciting prospect of a full length album from Mo Kolours. In the meantime, there’s a live show to be planned, as Deenmamode mentions in a recent interview with Brainer:
"It’s not ready yet and I’ve got a month to sort it out, but I want to do some stuff with loop pedal, playing in little bits live. There’s a chance of a band, but right now it’s just interesting to see what I can do on my own!"