10lec6 - Ako Akas (New Vinyl)
Circling a mountain until you disappear into the dance: this is the starting point of 10LEC6's new album.
Several years after "Bone Bame", released on Ed Banger, 10LEC6 returns with an album that is both digital and organic, conceived as a euphoric journey where language is bent, repeated and stretched until words begin to function like rhythm.
The title, Ako Akas, is the name of a mountain in southern Cameroon. Legend has it that those who try to walk around it disappear into an endless dance, a perfect image for this ever-moving music where each loop propels the next.
Built around layered percussion and Nicole's voice, singing exclusively in Bulu, a language from southern Cameroon, 10LEC6 makes adventurous music where utopian techno meets gospel, Sly & Robbie-style Compass Point grooves, Chicago footwork, UK bass, Nigerian afro-pop, punk-funk and afro-tech: a constellation of influences turning on the same axis. The sound also nods to the early rave spirit, echoed in the artwork by graffiti legend Honet.Â