Vweto

iTunes Review

Ever the Afrocentrist, it should come as no surprise that Georgia Anne Muldrow named her 2011 studio offering Vweto, which means “gravity” in Swahili. What is surprising is that nowhere on these 10 groovy tracks does Muldrow bestow her beautiful and powerfully soulful voice. Vweto is an all instrumental affair that opens with the bygone blips and beeps of old-school video games on “The No-No Chords,” a throwback jam of hard-strutting beats and skronky, analog keyboard notes. “Funkrocker” makes good on its name with a distant electric guitar feeding back under a pounding meat-and-potatoes beat and a bellbottomed bass groove played on what could be the deepest notes of a ‘70s Korg synthesizer. “Zulu Bounce” takes a more exotic approach with primitive 606 drum machine beats stuttering under a Casiotone organ playing what sounds like eastern modal notes. The six-minute-and-40-second “fOnk Stroll” is a standout cut with its delightful contrasting of organic piano notes dancing around the warm tones of a real kick-and-snare drum combo while cold and angular ‘80s-inspired synths wail in the shadows.