Sisso & Maiko: Singeli Ya Maajabu (digital, Nyege Nyege Tapes, May 2024)

I’m quite surprised to find that this is the first record I’ve bought on Nyege Nyege Tapes, who describe themselves as “a Kampala based label … releasing outsider music from around the region and beyond”. I’ve certainly listened to a bunch over the years.

Anyway, there was no way I could resist this one. It is based on the the ultra-high-tempo Tanzanian electronic genre Singeli. Which, I confess, I know little about. What I can say is that this largely dispenses with the traditional vocals, that it keeps the ridiculous BPMs, and that it is heavily infused with the spirit of chiptune. There are bits where its hi-NRG lo-fi synth melodies remind me of the ’90s Welsh indie band Helen Love, of all the improbable things (check out the penultimate number, Zakwao). The little ‘this is the sound of speed’ vocal sample on the closer Ganzi is maddeningly catchy and guarantees you leave wanting more. It squeezes 14 tracks into its 38 minutes, and pretty much the whole thing is an utterly bonkers sugar-rush. (A few of the tracks have kind of ominous opening segments, but mostly they’re just setting up for more euphoria. I think there’s just one moodier atmospheric track, Mizuka, about two-thirds of the way through.) It’s crammed full of ideas and innovation, it’s fantastically well put together, and basically it’s a delight and a tonic.

I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Electronic.