KOKOKO!, the collective renowned for its daring sound, experimentations, rolling rhythms, stabbing melodies and powerful live shows, comes back with a more electronic, upbeat sound, inspired by the nights of Kinshasa, DR Congo. BUTU means ‘the night’ in Lingala. The album’s idea is a deep and intense dive into the night of Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, a noisy 17-million strong, chaotic and amazing city. All year long, the night comes really fast in Kinshasa because of its geographic location, the city being situated near the equator, in the heart of Africa. At six o’clock, with a short 15-minute burning red sunset, full darkness consumes the day rapidly. The capital, with little electricity, melts instantly into the night, its habitants becoming multiple graphic silhouettes in the front light of the numerous vehicles stuck in traffic. There is density, the senses are exacerbated, this is the moment everything becomes louder. Street vendors, having become invisible or indistinguishable, now need to be heard with shouting and drumming, distorted megaphone loops triggered by SD memory cards, phone top-up adverts, car / truck engines roaring close and far, taxis’ klaxons, power generators’ drone sounds – it is the prelude to the night’s show. The sound system from the clubs will soundtrack the city for the next hours, sometimes clashing with the evangelical churches. The air feels so hot on your skin, in your throat, the fumes are strong. The overwhelming environment goes to your head and can become suffocating. Music is the escape, a portal to an alternative reality where you can forget, lose yourself, dance, or be someone else like the performers from the boiling art scene, to let go in one only way – loud, loud, loud. Taking influences from the rich Congolese music, with a natural revolted tone, and with touches of Kuduro or Kwaito, in its own electronic post junk sound and sometimes distorted way, ‘BUTU’ is made for letting go, for trance, for expressing frustration and anger sometimes, losing yourself. It is busy like the streets, it is the capital’s night soundtrack – loud, energetic, surprising, driving, eccentric, intense like Kinshasa.

“KOKOKO! is an explosive new musical collective that thrives on ingenuity and induces a frenetic trance.” – TIME “The Congolese musicians making music like you’ve never heard before” – i- D “

Kinshasa collective who use home-made instruments to add street-party energy and punk attitude to their hybrid sound” – The Guardian

LP pressed on transparent red coloured vinyl.