A night in which the Yankees are poised to win their 27th World Series begs for some wholesome, non-fascist entertainment, and The Very Best, the much talked-about collaboration between Radioclit and Malawi-born singer Esau Mwamwaya fit the bill—but only barely.
The band's set consisted of Mwamwaya singing over Radioclit’s beats, with backing tracks so heavy that it was hard to tell if Mwamwaya’s was the voice you were actually hearing; it also meant that songs like “Julia” and the title track of TVB’s stellar Warm Heart of Africa sounded exactly like they do on album. The charismatic Mwamwaya certainly played like one the coolest motherfuckers on the planet, especially when a couple of go-go dancers, and, subsequently, half the audience joined him onstage for the last half of the set. But seeing as the set clocked in at around 45 minutes, I was left wondering at why a DJ, a lead singer and a couple of backup dancers couldn’t have kept this thing going for another hour or two.
The good news: TVB can bring the party, even if “the party” is administered in frustratingly small doses. That remix of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” might just qualify as the most dramatic improvement upon any song ever, as the VW’s syrupy original is transformed into that rare uptempo club jam that you could mindlessly skank to for indefinite, seemingly endless stretches of time. Watching half of Santos Party House join Mwamwaya onstage for the encore, I wondered why this song—which is probably one of the best and smartest pop tracks of the year—isn’t echoing through every frat house in America right about now, and why the party had to wrap up before 10.
