Based in Kampala, Arsenal Mikebe are a groundbreaking Ugandan ensemble who playfully dance around the fringes of acoustic and electronic music, infusing tempo-fluxed polyrhythms with dizzying chants and ghostly synthetic drones.
Together they straddle a unique custom instrument dreamt up by Ugandan master sculptor Henry Segamwenge, better known simply as Sega. By reverse engineering Roland’s iconic TR-808 beatbox, they devised a steel-cast “percussion machine” that allows Arsenal Mikebe to seamlessly integrate bass-heavy electronic sounds into their frenetic performances, and it’s this device that lies at the core of debut album ‘Drum Machine’, released 6th September via Nyege Nyege Tapes.
‘Drum Machine’ is a rhythmic masterclass that’s impossible to slot into any niche or category. Moses, Vincent and Dratele’s kinetic beats appear to bisect each other, slipping between time signatures as fluidly as they pierce the membrane between the organic and the digital.
On opening track ‘Okuleekaana’, brushy high-end hits coalesce into quivering patterns that bounce off the trio’s guttural chants before the track is shuttled into peak-time by an ear-splitting distorted kick. Harsh death metal-style growls echo and spiral into the distance, and Sega’s percussion machine is nudged into overdrive – a smorgasbord of distinctive pulses lifted skyward by glassy, evocative synths and resonant twangs.
It’s extreme music, in a sense, but Arsenal Mikebe command startling dynamics, veering off course whenever possible. ‘Omuzimu’ is the perfect example, a labyrinth of itchy rhythms and anxious pauses that only slowly converges into a discernible beat, with its jerky bumps and muted crashes underpinned by eerie, almost inaudible B-movie whines and stifled shouts.
Elsewhere, on ‘Boiller Omukka’, the trio sing soulfully and wordlessly over feverish hollow thuds and cowbell knocks, referencing traditional Ugandan song forms while simultaneously excavating the bones of techno. It all builds up to the rubbery, intense ‘Bell Ghost’, that carves energetic vocal snippets into an undulating rhythmic concertina and fractalizes the atmosphere with swirling, psychedelic flutes and haunted intonations.
Arsenal Mikebe ‘Drum Machine’
Album released 6th September
Digital & Limited-Edition Vinyl
Tracklisting:
‘Okuleekaana’
‘Amazina’
‘Omuzimu’
‘Boiller Omukka’
‘Masiini’
‘Bell Ghost’
The band is made up of percussionists Ssentongo Moses, Dratele Epiphany, Luyambi Vincent de Paul and was co-founded by Portugese sonic alchemist Jonathan Uliel Saldanha.
Stay tuned at Futuristic Tracks of the Week selection and Listen to Arsenal Mikebe’s new music first
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