An actual real new album by Dutch grandmaster Michel Banabila, who rose to fresh fame in the wake of the rediscovery of Fourth World music sometime in the mid-2010s. »Echo Transformations« is for everyone as well who still love their John Hassell, Andrew Pekler and Steve Reich. Marimbas and distant birds let listeners know right away where they are. But that’s not why this album is here. It’s because MIchel Banabila succeeds in translating these much-used ethno tropes into driving grooves, giving his sound an urgency that has nothing to do with the interchangeability of some of the exotic ambient releases of the last ten years.
Michel Banabila – Echo Transformations (2022)
