Nyege Nyege Tapes Archives

DJ Travella in a black hat and white shirt against a brown backdrop

Tanzanian producer DJ Travella cranks up his nonstop dance tracks to ludicrous speed

by Joshua Minsoo Kim March 31, 2022March 29, 2022

Tanzanian producer DJ Travella sounds like he’s having the time of his life. The 19-year-old artist specializes in singeli, a frenetic style of dance music that sets raves ablaze in his home country. On April 1 he’s releasing his debut album, Mr Mixondo, on Nyege Nyege Tapes, a label based in Kampala, Uganda, that’s played […]

Music

Duma show that the future of metal is in eastern Africa

by Noah Berlatsky March 17, 2022March 15, 2022

Africa’s metal scene has been quiet compared to its counterparts on other continents. Duma rectify that, and loudly. Vocalist Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and guitarist and producer Sam Karugu hail from Kenya, and they relocated to Uganda to release their self-titled 2020 debut album on Kampala’s Nyege Nyege Tapes. That label is known […]

Yennu Ariendra (left) and J. Mo’ong Santoso Pribadi of Raja Kirik perform in 2018 at the Cemeti Institute in Yogyakarta.

Music

Raja Kirik refit a subversive Javanese trance tradition for modern uprisings

by Philip Montoro March 7, 2022March 6, 2022

When my colleague Leor Galil looked back on 2021, he said he’d listened to 750 new-to-him releases that year. I won’t pretend to be in his league, but in 2021 I did have a clear favorite album—not a common thing for me—and I figure it’s never too late to share. The duo Raja Kirik, based […]

A collage of the covers of the sci-fi novel Dare to Know and the two Slikback EPs Tomo and Akuhika

Music

Kampala-based producer Slikback soundtracks the death algorithm

by Philip Montoro September 13, 2021September 12, 2021

On Tuesday, September 14, my friend James Kennedy publishes his second novel, a sci-fi thriller called Dare to Know. (His first, the YA fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish, was reviewed in the Reader in 2008.) I’m not going to attempt to rate the new book, because I’ve destroyed my credibility on that front by admitting […]