TRACKLIST
Yetunde
Control Per Capita
Bad Dog
Xoomba
Last Leap
Bad Dog (Tigerbalm Remix)
Last Leap (Taj Remix)
DESCRIPTION
-In 2019, the group released their debut album Mèdaho on Ubiquity Records, drawing on the band’s shared reverence for the raw psychedelic sounds that captivated Kaleta as a Afrobeat pioneer. The album was included on Bandcamp’s “Best Albums of Summer 2019” while two of the songs were featured in Hulu’s hit TV series “High Fidelity” starring Zoe Kravitz.
Since its release, Kaleta and his band have performed at major music festivals both stateside, including a performance at the historic Apollo Theater as part of Africa Now! Festival as well as Brooklyn’s Afropunk and Chicago’s World Music Festival. In addition, the group appeared on VICELAND’s “The Untitled Action Bronson Show” while also playing Paste Magazine’s Emerging Music Festival.
-“One of the hardest-working groups in New York City, Super Yamba Band, is also among its funkiest… The live results are rarely anything less than a smiling sweatbox of soulful energy.” -Gothamist
-“[A] psychedelic twist on familiar afrofunk grooves and sounds.” -Hypebeast
-“...explosive, unabashed.” -Jazziz
With an adventurous and daring take on instrumental afrobeat, Super Yamba Band’s Last Leap EP takes listeners back to 2014, the band’s formative year. “We had just moved to Brooklyn—Walter, Sean, Evan, and I,” said Daniel Yount, the band’s founder and drummer, “and our only plan for ‘making it’ was to just play as much music together as possible.” Finally released from the Yamba archives, the Last Leap EP is a sonic timestamp of the band’s creative energy during those very special first days in New York City. “We were excited, inspired—and probably a little overwhelmed. We wanted to record a few of our tunes so that we could have something for the clubs to listen to as we were trying to book gigs,” Yount explained. “From there, we immediately fell into playing shows at Harlem’s African music clubs—places like Silvana and Shrine—as well as DIY dance parties in Brooklyn.” The result of all of this, Yount said, was “a sound that we intentionally designed to keep people dancing for as long as possible.” From the early days of the Last Leap sessions, Super Yamba Band never relented. Today the group has gained notoriety in the global afrobeat and afrofunk scenes largely through its extensive touring and Ubiquity Records releases with singer, composer, and guitarist, Leon Ligan-Majek, aka Kaleta, a veteran of the genre. “Our project with Kaleta gained traction so fast, we basically put these masters on the shelves and forgot about them,” Yount explained. “Years later we went back to listen—with fresh ears—and it was reinvigorating. We’re going to keep exploring these sounds and pushing the limits of what an instrumental, afrobeat-centric band can be, even as we continue to double-down on our work with Kaleta.”