v/a: Nigeria Rock Special

Label: Soundway

The third Nigerian compilation from Sound Way this year is another winner. Most of the time there are elements of highlife or Afrobeat in the sound, but the guitarists tend to favor rockish styles and there’s lots of heavy, swirling organ fattening the sound. There’s a track here by Elcado that sounds like a cross between Santana, Traffic, and the Grateful Dead, Mono Mono’s instrumental “Kenimania” conjures up the Allman Brothers, and the guitarist of Original Wings sounds like he’d listened to Wes Montgomery, but the rhythm sections of these bands groove a lot deeper than their Western counterparts. (Steve)