Album Review: Lion City by Dirtmusic

The electronic musical project Dirtmusic is probably the only time that the tag “world music” may be used in the 21st century without sounding pretentious or pejorative. Lion City, the group’s second album in 12 months, is a rich, expansive album that is worldly in every sense of the word. Lion City is a rich and fully integrative experience that adapts cultural and musical differences between Mali, Australia, and the United States.

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The horizon-broadening trip to Africa is a trail well blazed by this point amongst western artists, but Dirtmusic's third album, recorded in the Malian capital of Bamako, indicates something beyond the mere cut-and-paste fusion of which ethnic Afro-western collaborations have often previously consisted. This Aussie/American group's last couple of albums have been frantic near misses, wonderfully trying (and sadly somewhat failing) to fully fuse their Americana indie folk/rock with Malian blues grooves. Since 2010's BKO recorded in the west African nation's capital of Bamako, the balance of the group's sound has gradually fallen increasingly in the favour of Malian elements, with a growing array of native collaborators, which on Lion City includes legendary Malian, Samba Touré.

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