★★★★★
This is the album Antibalas fans have been waiting for. Anyone who has spent time losing themselves in the polyrhythmic layers of Afrobeat funk at one of the hundreds of shows they've put on over the past half-decade knows their potential. Maybe it was their label switch, moving from the experimental Ninja Tune to the saviors of jamband and roots, Ropeadope. Maybe it was the decision (finally!) to portray on wax what they do on stage: extended versions rather than brief snippets...
- www.afropop.org
2010-12-19
★★★★★
Track Listing: Who is This America Dem Speak of Today?; Pay Back Africa; Indictment; Big Man; Obanla'e; Elephant; Sister; Money Talks...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2010-12-13
★★★★★
Time and playing together have made Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra a pretty potent band. Security drops into solid, varied grooves at a number of tempos, staying true to its Afrobeat model without seeming trapped by it. Quibbles with the album are really quibbles with the form, which favors extended grooves with mid-career James Brown's sense of song structure—i.e. riffs punctuated by catch phrases...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-09
★★★★★
musically Fela's a great role model, politically don't be so sure ("Dirt and Blood," "Uprising")
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Anti-
While it initially sounds like it could have been the source material for David Byrne and Brian Eno's seminal 1981 collaboration, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra's Security is in some ways actually more gripping than My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Sure, it's near impossible to top that dynamic duo; but, with an 11-piece ensemble taking its cues from equal parts Fela Kuti and Art Blakey, Antibalas has no need for sampling. This funk is organic...
- www.filter-mag.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
"They're ripping off Fela, man." There is a law that says all reviews of Antibalas records must contain the above statement. And it's true-- this 16-piece Brooklyn collective owes a hell of a lot to the Nigerian bandleader and rabble-rouser, as they're the first to admit...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
This is a true compliment to last year's rash of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti CD reissues and reveals that the influence of the great Nigerian activist/saxophonist/Afro-Beat originator's influence lives on. Founder, conductor and bari sax man Martin Antibalas leads this aggressive Brooklyn troupe deep into the dense jungle of Fela's unique Africanization of Miles-meets-James Brown grooves...
- www.jazzreview.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Music is a political statement. This fact is inescapable. All forms of music, regardless of national origin or temporal placement, have in some way reflected the struggle and separation, the spaces in which artistic expression is allowed, as well as the spaces between those spaces, of the particular societies that bore them...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-07
★★★★★
Just when I start gloating about afrobeat legend Fela Kuti's influence permeating the underground, what should find its way through my mail slot but the new Antibalas LP? Let it be known: the American afrobeat awakening is in full effect. [Much rejoicing ensues.] All year, Fela-inspired ensembles have been rocking dancefloors and picking fights with nervous Republicans across the country...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-07
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