Buraka Som Sistema / Various

After a year of touring their debut album, Black Diamond, Buraka Som Sistema are coming full circle with the latest Fabriclive compilation, a nice way to start off the year with the label that first picked them up. The disc stays fairly true to the style that's paved the way for Buraka ― progressive kuduro ― allowing for raw, inspired percussion to bleed from one track to the next. The almost tribal sounds of Dre Skull featuring Sizzla open the disc, the percussion building before the track pulls out all stops and turns to gritty electro. Diplo & Laidback Luke ("Hey") fit rather nicely amongst the glitchy experimentation Buraka tend to delve into. They even slow the mix down with a bit of dub-step from Skream ("Fick") and Zomby ("Dynamite Sandwich"). The only perplexity to Fabriclive 49 is one third of the disc's material are tracks, remixes or re-workings done by Buraka themselves, which seems a touch egotistical when given the chance to emphasize the genre they helped push into the spotlight (or any genres and styles they see fit to publicize, really). While Fabriclive 49 is by no means a disappointment, a bit more artistic variation would have been more than welcome.