Barely Making Much, by Masaka Masaka

Barely Making Much

by Masaka Masaka

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Includes unlimited streaming of Barely Making Much via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Mental Construct 03:20	buy track
2.	Before I Go 03:48	buy track
3.	Come with me to Goma 02:50	buy track
4.	Cut Right Through 02:42	buy track
5.	6pm Waiting on You 01:41	buy track
6.	Days of Nothingness 01:47	buy track
7.	Let Me Out 02:22	buy track
8.	Elv8t 02:53	buy track
9.	Barely Making Much 01:37	buy track
10.	Gone 03:49	buy track
11.	Nothing Makes Sense 01:48	buy track
12.	NRG 02:12	buy track
13.	Sacrifice 02:54	buy track
14.	It's Okay to Dance Alone 03:29	buy track

about

Growing up in Uganda, multi-disciplinary artist Ian Nnyanzi (aka Masaka Masaka) always knew he wanted to make music, he just needed enough time and breathing room to figure out what exactly his contribution had to be. He cut his teeth fashioning rudimentary hip-hop beats at a friend's studio on Makindye, a hill that overlooks Kampala's balmy Murchison Bay, and quickly realized that he wanted more. "Out here, everyone seems okay to listen to the same thing," he explains, and Nnyanzi wasn't interested in following the crowd. During regular commutes across the city, his mind was being cracked open by sounds from Dean Blunt, Slauson Malone, Arca, Jpegmafia and Vegyn; he knew he needed to show Kampala something similarly distinct.

'Barely Making Much' is a sprawling, ambitious album that's as sculptural as it is explorative, reaching through genre membranes and refusing to stay still for a second. Masaka Masaka wrote it over a fragmented two year period at Nyege Nyege's Kampala studio, and tapped into a jumble of interconnected sounds, from jungle and experimental hip-hop to techno and smoked-out, dubwise ambient music. He was particularly absorbed by the loose, open-minded production style he heard from Manchester's Sockethead, who makes an appearance on 'Before I go', a frayed tapestry of stuttering snares and floury breaks that billows into jazzy euphoria.

On 'cut right through', Masaka Masaka bends fictile piano hits through a lattice of Afro-Brazilian-style vocal chops, trap hi-hat rolls and serrated, synthesized bass thumps. Airy and energetic, the track makes an unexpected left turn when the hats transform into insectoid rasps that cushion a woody hand drum patter. Elsewhere, Nnyanzi isn't afraid to go straight for the jugular: on 'elv9t' he sets atmospheric, back room pads against booming, soundsystem-ready Southern rap subs, and on the kinetic 'let me out', he remolds hard techno in his image, knocking the 4/4 kick off grid to perplex seasoned dancers, and hammering the nail in further with swirling, psychedelic synth fuzz.

Even when Masaka Masaka's working in a more contemplative mode - like on the hypnotic title track and the fragile cinematic finale 'it's okay to dance alone' - he maintains the momentum, swirling otherworldly vocal loops and erratic percussion into pools of melted ambience. 'Barely Making Much' is a charming, hyperactive debut that wears its influences on its sleeve, playing like a lysergic, literate mixtape packed with layers and subtle gestures. Cool-headed and mysterious, it exposes the twilit side of the Kampala underground.

Trailer for 'Barely Making Much' the 'Movie' youtu.be/2UtDcoWXE4k

credits

released March 22, 2024

Artwork by Masaka Masaka
Mastered by Declared Sound

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HAKUNA KULALA Kampala, Uganda

Club explorations from the East African and Congolese Electronic Underground and beyond.

We fulfill orders twice weekly, so most items will be shipped out within 3-5 days of your order being placed, with tracking provided automatically. We ship all records in whiplash mailers with extra cardboard protection. ... more

discography

Coinage

May 2024
Barely Making Much

Mar 2024
Era

Feb 2024
Toxica

Nov 2023

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