I can’t say enough good things about this song. It’s the kind of summer feel-good song that resonates on a whole bunch of levels. The Very Best is a collaboration between Radioclit and Malawi-born Esau Mwamwaya. On ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ they get a little help from Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and he absolutely nails the hook. It’s the sort of thing that can get stuck in your head all day. A effortless piece of pop that doesn’t come off as cheesy.
It’s really hard to pigeon hole the group. Part Afrobeat, part hip-hop, part pop, part classic, part indie. Hell, my iTunes tells me it’s Tropical/Dance. On their mixtape, they shine the brightest when they are ripping apart a song like ‘Birthday’ and then piecing it back together their own way. Even when Mwamwaya speaks in a dialect you can’t understand, much like he does on M.I.A’s ‘Boyz’ remix, it makes a perfect companion piece to the original, without taking anything away from it.
Their debut album is due out soon but right now Gorilla Vs. Bear have ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ and another new song ‘Yalira’ available to download for free as a promotion for the 7-inch that is available for sale. Once you’ve downloaded those you should probably also head over to The Very Best’s MySpace page and download their mixtape ‘Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best.’
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