Advertisement

Album reviews Music

A Tribe Called Red

Rating: NNNN


There’s no substitute for experiencing A Tribe Called Red’s music and audio-visual assault live, but their debut full-length, a capsule of the past year’s digital releases, is a good start. Much of the Ottawa-based DJ trio’s work – remixes and sample-based originals – centres on “pow wow step,” a powerful, subversive, hyper-Canadian meeting of traditional native drum-and-chant-steered songs and on-trend club music.

Starting with the slow bounce fuzz of opening track Electric Pow Wow Drum, ATCR weave sampled hand drums and vocal chorus lines through hip-hop, dancehall, electro, dubstep and moombahton influences. Weaned on rap and dancehall at school and indigenous rhythms of home, they cleverly articulate the in-between dichotomy felt by young urban Canadians of all backgrounds. To that end, ATCR can make a song by Grammy-nominated Northern Cree (Red Skin Girl) wobble while revving up a Jamaican dancehall chune (Shottas by Mr. Lexx) with earthy, percussive pitter-patter.

Top track: PowWowzers featuring Northern Cree and Clarence Two Toes

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted