Tag: Falle Nioke

Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 15 – 11

We’re more than halfway through the list now. Let’s not waste time.

#15: Ela Minus – Acts of Rebellion

Part-electro, part-goth, all great. Ela Minus made us move, stand up and fight, and otherwise get off our collective duffs during a year when we needed to be shaken out of our funks.

#14: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

Have you ever seen Cult of the Cobra from 1955? In that movie, a woman who can turn into a cobra tracks down the men who, for kicks, infiltrated her cult’s rituals, and kills them one by one. She falls in love with one of the men, however, and you can guess the rest. This album is pretty much what the Cobra Woman would have playing on her ear buds as she stalked and seduced her victims.

#13: Falle Nioke and Ghost Culture – Youkounkoun

“Barké,” a song from this EP, stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. The record mixes Afrobeat and electronica in perfect amounts, resulting in slick dance tracks and hypnotic songs.

#12: Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song

Kelly Lee Owens makes electronic music that can make you dance, sigh, relax, or meditate – all sometimes in the same track. Her second album continues to set the bar high for others behind her. I say it many times, but I don’t mind repeating it – She’s both an inspiration for me to make my own electronic music and at other times throw my digital turntables out the window due to thinking, “Damn, that’s just not fair.” after hearing her tracks.

#11: Public Practice – Gentle Grip

Trust me, this post-punk debut album is as intriguing and sexy as its cover. I’d been waiting for a full-length Public Practice album since 2019 when they released a few singles and I saw them live in Chicago. The wait was well worth it. Gentle Grip is outstanding and leaves you eager for more.

The top 10 are next!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture – Youkounkoun EP

I don’t remember where I stumbled onto Falle Nioke and Ghost Culture, but I’m glad I did. Their music makes you dance and feel a sort of spiritual warmth come over you when you hear it, and their Youkounkoun EP, is four tracks of musical magic.

Nioke hails from Guinea Conakry in West Africa and plays percussion while singing in six different languages while most of us can barely manage one. Ghost Culture is a producer / DJ who blends house, electro, and dub. The two of them are a powerful combination.

Opening track “Barké” (“Blessing”) is about doing good for others and receiving blessings from such work. Good grief, don’t we all need encouragement to do that in 2020? I’m not sure which bumps more on it, Nioke’s voice or Ghost Culture’s electro-bass and beats. “Fufafou” is an instant house hit with Nioke moving around and with GC’s beats like Muhammad Ali’s butterfly float and bee sting.

“Loneliness” mixes Nioke’s percussion and GC’s beats so well that you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. “Mounemouma” shuffles, curls, and bumps along for over three minutes of body-moving bliss.

It’s all upbeat, and somehow great for dancing or chilling at the same time. You could drop this EP into a workout playlist, a lounge DJ set, a world beat mix tape, or a wedding reception and it would work in all of them.

Keep your mind open.

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