An Afro Cluster gig is like the best jam session you’ve ever been to. All the musicians are top-notch, no-one is trying to out-do each other or show off (well, not too much) and all of the aimless noodling is filtered out well before it gets to your ears. It makes sense when you consider that that’s exactly how the band started out: meeting each other periodically during Cardiff jam nights and then meeting up regularly, accreting members along the way. Now they’re a horn-heavy eight-piece, and each musician brings something else to the table – hip-hop, Afrobeat, funk and jazz are the main culprits, but there’s a whole exciting world to be found in there.
Their connection to jam sessions extends past their origin story. The way they keep that energy in their live shows and studio recordings is by embodying that same spirit through the full journey of creation. Bassist Andrew Brown explained how their tracks come about: “We have these long jam sessions, we don’t put any restrictions on anything. We record it, and then we start to put that under the microscope and say ‘alright, this section is actually really good, let’s develop that.’” The passion and free-form creativity is preserved, while rounding-off the jagged edges and solidifying it into a cohesive whole.
It’s hip-hop that really provides an entry-point to the music, in many different ways even past the obvious musical markers. Turntablist DJ Veto reckons that it is a hip-hop state-of-mind that drives the band, and even provides the catalyst for their musical eclecticism. “To a large extent, the hip-hop element is the way that we take influences, the way that hip-hop would sample any type of music and create something different out of it,” he explains. “That’s essentially where we’re at with the band.”
Evoking vibes of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Jurassic 5, it’s an approach that harks back to the classics of alternative hip-hop, not least for their dedication to keeping their sound solidly in the political realm. Frontman and MC Skunkadelic brings in crucial topics from the real life of the UK today – racial inequality, mental health, money problems, living in a digital world with all of the bizarre, often poisonous, boundaries and borders that it facilitates – but the music is never po-faced. Afro Cluster’s parties are made with a perspective that could only have come from Cardiff, but which makes sense on a much wider scale. In many ways, they reflect a sort of South Walian Ozomatli, a band whose LA-centric sound resonates with ears and limbs around the world through an international consciousness. Where Ozomatli reinforce their sound with Mexican and Cuban rhythms, however, Afro Cluster’s finds its spice in Afrobeat, highlife and even Ethio-jazz.
They’ve been slowly gaining their reputation as an incredible live band over the past few years, and with a debut album, The Reach, on the verge of release, they’re poised to make a powerful statement for the head, the heart and the feet. Live or through speakers, they’re coming at you one way or another – make sure you’re ready.