PREMIERE: Swahili Blonde - La Mampatee
If we're going to break it down (we are), "La Mampatee" is ESG meets Rolling Thunder Revue-era Dylan–minimalist punk-funk blown out with troubadour violins and facepainted flare; "UFO" and "Isis" rolled into one crunch wrap supreme. And while the photo above depicts the primary force of Los Angeles' Swahili Blonde, Nicole Turley, she did have some help in constructing this and the rest of her Man Meat album–bassist John Taylor (of, quixotically, Duran Duran), violinist Laena Myers-Ionita (of The Like), multi-instrumentalists Stella Mozgawa (of Warpaint) and Michael Quinn (of Corridor), and this guitarist named John Frusciante that we've never heard of. This confirms that L.A. is a weird, weird place that we will never, ever understand. Fun to admire from afar, though.
Man Meat is out August 3 on Manimal Vinyl.
