Ama Gogela

This scintillating album from Durban trio Phelimuncasi is named after a South African bee famed for its power and brutal sting. Ama Gogela, like its namesake, is hard to ignore. Building off their debut 2013-19, Phelimuncasi showcase the sheer vitality of gqom. Album opener ‘I Don’t Feel My Legs (prod DJ Nhlekzin)’ is exceptionally good. Initially affording space for heavy kick drums and a spatial hi-hat pattern, the polyrhythms soon kick in, adding intrigue to the super heavy low-end. Multiple vocals are overladen, suggesting chaos without carnage. And it’s irresistibly danceable.

Production across the record is outstanding, with South African stalwarts DJ MP3 and DJ Scoturn joined by fellow Durbanites DJ Ndakx and DJ Nhlekzin. There’s an international flavour, too, with South Korea’s NET GALA producing two tracks, including ‘Dlala Ngesinqa’, that combines incessant whistles and vocal chants with a defiant lead vocal. What makes Phelimuncasi stand out is their ability to use pretty much any source material as a rhythmic texture. ‘Ngiphupha Izinto’ folds in glitches and computer malfunctions, with its propulsive snare pattern a component of the wider percussive playground. ‘Kdala Ngiwa Ngivuka’ is simply on fire. Its devilish low-end combines insatiably with sampled shouts, icy percussion and a soaring vocal. This is dance floor music for the future.