V/A - Africa Scream Contest 2
(Analog Africa)

In 2008, the great Analog Africa label unveiled one of their finest compilations to date, the stunning and earth-shaking African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds From Benin & Togo. 10 years later we get African Scream Contest 2!
Incessant crate-digger and AA label head Samy Ben Redjeb must have been prepping for Volume 2 since that time because he's gone incredibly deep here. Served up here is another double LP of ground-breaking, Vodoun-inspired Afrobeat where psychedelic fuzz meets heavy funk in constantly hypnotic rhythms. There’s a varied selection of afrobeat, afro psych-rock, latin rhythms and stunning highlife sounds from Benin, and we get a little bit of everything. There’s even breezy jazz flavors within with Ignace de Souza’s “Asaw Fofor” revealing itself as a strange ballad. “Paulina” by Black Santiago stacks minimal funk with dizzying organ and guitar work that is easy to get completely lost in. And yes of course, there’s screaming! Scalding too for that matter. Super Borgou de Parakou’s “Baba L’oke” is a great example. 
Kudos to Redjeb for finding all the artists included and licensing each song directly from them. And you can expect beautiful ephemera like the deeply researched 24-page booklet with lovely photography. Top notch stuff without a doubt (Dom)
Check out a track here.