Montreal’s Moonshine Collective proudly announce their latest mixtape, SMS For Location Vol. 4, out June 18th.
Under flashing club lights in the world’s biggest cities or under the Congo sun, the Moonshine collective pushes past borders and boundaries to radiate its Afrocentric, bass-heavy, electro-funk sound in all directions. The label’s latest SMS for Location mixtape fuses levity and acumen, inventive electronic production with traditional instrumentation, in a collaborative harmony between artists from around the globe.
In 19 tracks featuring the talents of over 20 artists, SMS for Location, Vol. 4 crosses genres and continents to follow producers, DJs and MCs from the legendary Moonshine parties to underground UK clubs, Parisian Afro-electronic soirées to Kinshasa’s booming electronic scene.
This new opus was completed in Kinshasa, DRC and also serves as a soundtrack to : Zaire Space Program, a hybrid short film/documentary following Moonshine’s first pilgrimage to Congo, exploring the collective’s roots and documenting collaborations between artists from Montreal and Kinshasa. The result is a true-to-life perspective on the significance of that collaboration, intertwined with conversations around the shaping of an African Utopia and the relationship between technology and culture on the continent.
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True to producer Sango’s style, Onward unifies cultures and musical styles with its soulful circular melodies, Brazilian funk samples and exhilarating, profound vocals. Known on the dance floor for his remixes of Aaliyah, Drake, Little Dragon, Nas and The Weeknd plus his own Baile Funk EP series Da Rocinha and recent full-length In the Comfort Of, Seattle-based Sango has produced music for Bryson Tiller, Tinashe, Mick Jenkins, GoldLink, Wale, Smino, Xavier Omar and more and is part of Los Angeles collective Soulection. It’s L.A.’s avant-garde soul, jazz and hip-hop scene that Sango overlapped with ingenious electronic producer, vocalist and songwriter Georgia Anne Muldrow, who co-founded label SomeOthaShip Connect, has guested on tracks by Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Robert Glasper and other artists, and is signed to Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder imprint. A paean to strength and resilience, “Onward” juxtaposes Georgia’s smooth contralto against Sango’s clangorous, rumbling production. It’s as if her voice is the human spirit, and his beats are life itself, with all its roughness, obstacles, and beauty. Rather than resist it, Georgia weaves through it, building momentum until the point where she lifts herself higher: “There’s no price on me, Finally. “Onward”’s artwork features a lukasa – a tablet/memory board from the Luba empire used to recount history in their rituals by diviners.
On Lelo Brooklyn-based Moonshine favourite and Que Bajo party co-founder Uproot Andy layers Congolese artist Sarah Kalume’s Swahili and French vocals into the sound of his Global Bass movement signature, replete with uplifting melodic synths and balmy steel drum rhythms. Written in partnership with Moonshine co-founder Pierre Kwenders, Lelo weaves its laid-back party beat with a lyrical thread of perseverance and dedication to creative work. Kalume, who launched into the public eye on musical reality show Vodacom Superstar in 2011 and joined its jury just a few years later, shows a depth of style and emotional expression in vocals originally recorded in Kinshasa in December 2020.
