Justin Adams &
Juldeh Camara
Soul Science
World Village 468076

The links between North African music and punk have never been more clear than on Soul Science, the noisy new collaboration between journeyman guitarist Justin Adams and Gambian multi-instrumentalist Juldeh Camara. The first notes of Billy Fuller's heavily distorted, syncopated bass on the opening track, "Yourra Mama", set the mood for the wild ride that follows. Camara's amazingly fluid playing on the ritti (single-stringed fiddle) spars with Salah Dawson Miller's inventive and supple hand percussion. With "Ya Ta Kaaya", Adams' bristling electric guitar brings the late Bo Diddley's trademark beat back to its North African roots. Camara handles all of the vocals in his native tongue, and much of the material he learned over the years. Adams, who has worked with artists as diverse as Tinariwen, 3 Mustaphas 3, and Robert Plant (for whom he served as lead guitarist for a couple of years), is equally at home cranking out John Lee Hooker riffs on "Naafigi," sparring with Camara's vocals on acoustic slide guitar on "Ngamen", or playing the tahardant (an African lute) on "Blue Man Returns", which he also embellishes with a Captain Beefheart-style vocal. Soul Science is not one of those polite cross-cultural collaborations, but rather an exciting record of two master musicians using their whole arsenal of styles and techniques to create something entirely new. - Michael Parrish (link)