Antibalas

The eponymously titled fourth offering (and Daptone debut) from Brooklyn, NY's ambassadors of Afrobeat is Antibalas's first release in five years, and if the stylistic departure of 2007's John McEntire-produced Security wasn't the commercial breakthrough one might have hoped for, it wasn't a surprise to see various members providing accompaniment to the on and off Broadway runs of hit production Fela! The time spent in the play seems to have been well invested by the collective, resulting in their most intense album to date. The Occupy Movement couldn't ask for a better party anthem, as the current financial climate is skewered on opening cut and first single "Dirty Money," featuring the pulsing bump of their new rhythm section (drummer Miles Antzen and bassist Nikhil Yerawadekar) and the righteously indignant vocals of frontman Abraham Amayo (who's never sounded better). Former member and co-founder Gabe Roth produces the ensemble in full blood-and-thunder mode on workouts like "The Rat Catcher" and the sublime, almost seductive grind of "Him Belly No Go Sweet."