Goat team-up with MC Yallah for new single ‘Nimerudi’
It’s barely been a few months since their eponymous sixth album and the acclaimed soundtrack to Shane Meadows’ The Gallows Pole, but the restless creative energy of masked psychedelic Swedes, Goat, has demanded the mysterious seven-piece conjure another slice of festival-ready afrobeat rock.
They’ve returned to their trusty Gothenburg studio to spike their fuzzed-out Indigenous funk with the combative bars of Kenyan-born, Ugandan-based rapper and Nyege Nyege Tapes affiliate MC Yallah. This collision caused a collaborative spark wielded by London Producer Giles Barrett and mixed at Lightship 95 Studios, carving up another potent exploration of their trademark dance mysticism that will undoubtedly thrill the converted.
The new single ‘Nimerudi’, Swahili for ‘I’m Back’, on Rocket Recordings wallows in a looser, slacker pool of looped breakbeats and flickering woodwind that skulks listlessly compared to the more explosive moments on their prior LP. The languid groove floats in similar sonic territory to early 1990s indie dance like Saint Etienne, but with a manic twist.
They’ve injected that loose back loop with a gritty dose of late-night carnival two-step bounce. There’s no ounce of flab to be seen, pursuing a lean and gristly prime cut free of any samples or fussy arrangements that coloured earlier LPs as far back as their debut, World Music. Now, they’re opting for hypnotism which worms its way into your inner bag of earworms, mugging for your attention.
As the title’s English translation makes clear, ‘Nimerudi’ radiates with easy confidence. MC Yallah is largely responsible for this effortless assurance, having honed her spiky flow since 1999 across albums with Debmaster and the Hakuna Kuala label. Yallah’s multilingual flow and jump between seemingly differing tongues twists and turns hip-hop conventions like an amusement bumper car. A prime example of the invention on display is her turn into a bratty rap cartoon near the single’s end, offering a hilarious gear shift full of puckish fervour.
‘Nimerudi’s propulsive thrust is largely led by Yallah’s spunky rap attack, Goat offering little in the way of surprises, deciding to engage in a smart exercise of understatement, rightfully staying out of Yallah’s way save for the lysergic guitar solo that soars its way in with gliding effervescence. They’re a band who know how to collaborate perfectly with each other, and it shows with Yallah in the mix, too.
Festival season will arrive quicker than you think, and with Yallah’s continued rise and rise coupled with Goats’ reliable summer line-up fixture, ‘Nimerudi’ offers another psych gem that will light a dancing fire underneath any reveller. All the while, it still inhabits an authentic street-level swagger fit for these cold winter days.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.