Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Extra Golden

Ok-Oyot System

Label: Thrill Jockey Release Date: 29/05/2006

14908
Mike_Diver by Mike Diver August 9th, 2006

Now bear with us here, because there’s quite a back-story to be told prior to any ultimate recommendation.

Ok-Oyot System is a collaboration between DC outfit* Golden’s Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff (the latter also plays in Weird War) and drummer Onyango Wuod Omari and guitarist/singer Otieno Jagwasi of the Kenyan benga band *Orchestra Extra Solar Africa (hence the name Extra Golden). The latter musician died in 2005 of liver failure, and this album is dedicated to his memory. He – Otieno – met Eagleson in 2000, and assisted the American in his study of benga (guitar-led dance music, popular in Kenya since the Sixties); in 2004 Eagleson visited the African nation for a year, to finish his thesis on the its popular musical style, and Extra Golden was born over a portable laptop ‘studio’.

What sounds a little too WOMAD for many tastes is actually a very accessible album, though, with Otieno’s lyrics every bit as essential to the overall sound and feel of this genre-splicing record as those of the English speakers. Granted, the likes of this writer has no idea what’s being said, but there’s an obvious tenderness in the lyrics of ‘Nyajondere’, a song written by Otieno for his ex-wife, that comes through regardless of the language barrier.

Defiantly lo-fi and low fuss, this collaboration isn’t the sort that finds its way into the collections of stereotypical world music fans – it’s simply too difficult to accurately pigeonhole, to slot beside so-called ‘traditional’ African releases. It swoons and sweeps, twangs and bangs but, most of all, it swings, gently and gracefully and in a fashion that ensures indie-rockers can get a flavour of Kenyan music without feeling like a sandal-wearing says-a-lot-but-knows-little sort, one whose entire experience of Africa is two weeks in a secure safari park and a couple of days’ sailing up the Nile.

Although tinged with sadness – the title translates as ‘It’s Not Easy’ – Ok-Oyot System is a record of celebration, and deserves investigation by anyone with an appetite for discovery.

  • 8
    Mike Diver's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

LaSalle

Expedition Songs

Mobback
14906
14909

Constants

The Murder Of Tom Fitzgerril

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND