African Head Charge – watch ‘A Bad Attitude’ from duo’s first LP for 13 years

Vibey psychedelic video accompanies second single

African Head Charge, the long standing project formed by master percussionist/vocalist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah (pictured) and On-U Sound chief Adrian Sherwood, will release a new LP A Trip To Bolgatanga in July.

Scheduled for release on July 7, the album will be issued on CD, luminous and black vinyl via On-U Sound. The pair have just dropped ‘A Bad Attitude’, the second single from the album.

‘A Bad Attitude’ features one of Ghana’s foremost kologo players King Ayisoba, who provides the distinctive sound of the West African lute, as well as his unique vocals, leading the griot groove and group shouts. The song, set to subdued shuffling percussion, seems totally organic initially, until Sherwood subtly gets to work at the mixing desk.

Sherwood commented: “It’s always a case of getting all the right ingredients sorted for Head Charge, and then having some fun with overdubs and mixing and getting it completely perfect. We always work well together, but I think on this one we have the greatest result.”

A Trip To Bolgatanga is a musical journey to Bonjo’s current hometown in north Ghana, described as “a psychedelic travelogue across the landscape featuring their trademark hand percussion and group chanting augmented with rumbling bass, mutated horns, dubbed out effects, wild wah-wah, haunted voodoo dancehall, synthetic swells, disco congas, tumbling layers of electronic effects, blues-inflected woodwind, and funky organ.”

Bonjo grew up in a Rasta camp in the hills of Clarendon, Jamaica, where his grand-aunt was a Rasta queen. Taken under the wing of high priest, Reverend Claudius Henry, Bonjo was introduced to Nyabinghi drumming, aged six or seven. Possessed by percussion, he also picked up techniques, primarily Kumina, from a local Poco church, run by Mother Hibbert, a relative of The Maytals’ Toots.

Bonjo relocated to London when he was sixteen and he picked up work roadie-ing for artists including Desmond Dekker and Dandy Livingstone. Demonstrating his trance-inducing chops on the congas, while setting up, eventually saw him sitting in on gigs. He would also sing backing harmonies for Dekker.

Sherwood has worked with an eclectic array of artists including Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Horace Andy, Depeche Mode, Primal Scream, Cabaret Voltaire, Nine Inch Nails, The Fall, Turner prize winning artist Jeremy Dellar, Pinch, Vivien Goldman, Ari Up of The Slits, Mark Stewart and Brian Eno.

Check the African Head Charge artist page to pre-order your copy