Palenke Soultribe producers J.Borda (aka Insectosound) and Popa (aka Andres Erazo) have found a home at LA’s WC-Music for an album that has a feel of a live performance as the tracks develop/deconstruct their brand of folkoric beats and house.

They use a heady mix of vinyl, Ableton Live, drums (Marcelo Gomez), percussion (Sergio ‘El Mello’ Camaño, Juan Fernando Arango, Rodrigo Mancera and Andres Felipe Zuluaga), guitar (Rodrigo Mancer) and various live synths; Virus, Mini Korg, Operator, Novation X25 to give the set an ethos similar to that of those totally live wires, The Bays.

Starting with ‘The Color Of Your Dreams’ there’s a tropitronic mix of rain forest samples and a stuttering Spiritual South beat on a dub version. That’s mixed into the next track, ‘Elder Brothers’ featuring a poem from the oral tradition of Kogi Indian Tribe (spoken by Toddy Walters) and containing a sample from a John Tejada track (Plug Research) that builds a tribal house on some serious percussion. ‘Palenke From The Jungle’ even more so!

‘Trip Us’ (percussive rave house with some nice gentle bits), ‘Tropic & Heaven’ and the closing track ‘San Basilio’ are probably the best bangin’ examples of their style but, perhaps because Fat Freddy’s Drop have taken over my life this week, ‘The Color Of Your Dreams’ stand-outs on this album.

This set must be great live with the added bonus of ‘visuals’ by Tatiana Parra (see the video — “it’s not like Transglobal Underground”) and it’s clear that the sound of the Palenke has come a long way from The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes. It’s all about making that mental connection but bang that drum like ‘San Basilio’ and party Colombian style!

Hectic mix nominations: ‘The Color Of Your Dreams’, ‘Elder Brothers’, ‘Trip Us’, ‘San Basilio’

Live — July 2007
11th — NEW YORK @ Kion (Manhattan)
12th — NEW YORK @ D’Antigua (Queens)
13th — NEW YORK @ La Oveja Negra 438 38th St Long Island City
14th — SANTA MONICA @ The Temple Bar

Reviewed: Palenke Soultribe - Tropic N Heaven (WC-Music) Cat. No. Release date: 31st May 2007
Tracklisting
1. The Color Of Your Dreams (7:14)
2. Elder Brothers (5:39)
3. Trip Us (7:09)
4. Give You (6:00) vocals Ena Jiminez and Elizabeth Fraines
5. Chimbilili (7:29)
6. Mental Connection (7:58)
7. Palenke From The Jungle (2:53)
8. Tropic N’ Heaven (5:44) vocals Dilson Diaz & Santino
9. The Flu (3:04)
10. San Basilio (8:24)

Links:
www.palenkesoultribe.com
www.myspace.com/palenkesoultribeproject
www.wc-music.com 714 Pier Ave, No. 3, Santa Monica, CA 90405
www.plugresearch.com
Kogui is a Chibchan language of South America, spoken by 9000 people in the mountains of northern Colombia