Ahhhh! that photo on the album cover is so sweat but the music isn’t from outta space; it’s ancestrial black house. And that’s our favourite type of house. You’ll recall he had an EP out on R2 Records four years ago (‘Lesser Things’ later turned up on The Hub Compilation) and then he was involved with Kahil El’Zabar Remix Project (as did Osunlade, see review of Ethnic Heritage Ensemble HERE) and there are the space-age, tribal, deep soulful tech house roots of this album.

So ever since then Djini Brown was a name to look out for, think Lars Bartkuhn mixed up with Seun Kuti; throbbing beat, loads of synths, percussion galore and Yoruba in his soul; the track title ‘Synthetic Nature’ sums it up the best and along with ‘Ancestral Black’ and the opener ‘Afro-tekTheory’ they some of the best tracks on the album; moody, foreboding, techy with world music influences all at the same time.

Then ‘Smile’ is more Theo Parrish inspired whilst ‘Sweat Shop’ is upbeat house and ‘Marta’s House’ sounds like a lovely place to visit (somewhere on a Island retreat somewhere; Greece perhaps?) And he’s no afraid of adding some old skool hip-hop/breaks influences too; ‘Djini Calling’ is a JB tribute, ‘The Nuts Crack Her’ is sort of street poetry and ‘Deep In You’ comes with a XXX certificate.

This is an album to get excited about and worth the wait. No duff tracks and very dance floor friendly. House music at its best and expect to see Djini Brown on all the top DJ’s set lists.

P.S. Osunlade interview Explains the Legend; “Osunlade makes soul music for the world, he is a spiritualist, and a global thinker and this shines through in his music”, April 2008.

Reveiwed: Djinji Brown - Afro-Bionic (Yoruba Records) Cat. No. YSB012 Release date: 3rd November 2008
Tracklisting
1. This Is A Test (0:14)
2. Afro-tekTheory (5:47)
3. In The Ruff (Jungle Bunny Bounce) (6:39)
4. Sweat Shop (5:22)
5. Smile (6:18)
6. Deep In You XXX (5:18)
7. Marta’s House (5:10)
8. Ancestral Black (6:43)
9. Synthetic Nature (6:45)
10. The Nuts Crack Her (7:47)
11. The Private Dancer (6:18)
12. Djini Calling (8:14)
13. Anthem (0:56)

Links
www.djinjibrown.com
www.myspace.com/djinjibrown
www.yorubarecords.com
www.myspace.com/yorubarecords.com