On its first full-length in four years, Marie Daulne's Zap Mama project returns to Luaka Bop from a brief encounter with Narada and resumes its quest to wind African melody and vocal harmony around hip- hop, jazzy breaks, soul and Afro Cuban rhythms first explored on 7 and continued with mixed success on A Ma Zone. Produced by Daulne and Anthony Tidd, the music production was supervised by the Roots' Richard Nichols. As such, this exotic blend is earthy, steamy, full of souled-out slips and shimmers in "Bandy Bandy" with special guest Erykah Baud, and the laid-back funk of "Show Me the Way," with guests Air Thompson Bahamadia and Lady Alma. This is far more an urban recording, where urban pop and nu-soul are informed by worldbeat esthetics rather than the other way around. Take "Miss Q'N" with its late-night groove and stacked harmonies (all performed by Daulne) coming from out of the ether and weaving a tapestry of soft seductive lullaby around the lyric. "Yak," with its male chorus intoning the pronunciation ("Yah Yoa") is an intro against the whispering hi hat loop, before a huge chorus of alto and contralto voices re-frame it and Daulne's solo voice. As the hypnotic effect becomes the M.O., M.C. Intense begins rapping from his urban reality perch and throws the whole thing into overdrive. And so it goes, drifting, cutting, edging, and willowing toward some otherworldly collage that is all held together in the sheer vocal magic of Daulne's vision. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
David Byrne (Executive Producer), Mel Lewis (Drum Programming), Zap Mama (Main Performer), Philippe Allaert (Producer), Philippe Allaert (Engineer), Philippe Allaert (Mixing), Greg Calbi (Mastering), Jeff Chestek (Engineer), Marie Daulne (Percussion), Marie Daulne (Keyboards), Marie Daulne (Sound Effects), Marie Daulne (Vocals (Background)), Marie Daulne (Bottle), Marie Daulne (Producer), Marie Daulne (Clapping), Marie Daulne (Executive Producer), Marie Daulne (Vocal Arrangement), Marie Daulne (Sounds), Yale Evelev (Executive Producer), Larry Gold (Strings), Mike Harvey (Vocals), Tim Leitner (Mixing), Axel Niehaus (Mixing), Nina (Vocals), Jon Smeltz (Mixing), Marcellus Hall (Illustrations), Richard Nichols (Mixing), Richard Nichols (Music Production Supervisor), Storm (Engineer), Erykah Badu (Vocals (Background)), Anthony Tidd (Arranger), Anthony Tidd (Keyboards), Anthony Tidd (Producer), Anthony Tidd (Engineer), Anthony Tidd (Mixing), Anthony Tidd (Instrumentation), Yvette (Vocals), Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Drums), Dizy Mandjeku (Guitar), Talib Kweli (Vocals (Background)), Anita Daulne (Vocals), Arlynne Page (Vocals), Sophie (Vocals), Gordon Goss (Engineer), Scratch (Beat Box), Filippa Lidholm (Cover Photo), Lady Alma (Vocals (Background)), Aningi Bernadette (Vocals), Dana Leong (Horn), Manou NGuessan Gallo (Vocals), Manou NGuessan Gallo (Vocals (Background)), Manou NGuessan Gallo (Vocal Arrangement), Tanya Saw (Vocals), Tanya Saw (Vocals (Background)), Patrick Dorcean (Drums), Tim Green (Horn), Pablo Baptiste (Percussion), Xuly Bet (Stylist), Alessandro Canu (Illustrations), Kesia Daulne Quental (Vocals), Yassin Daulne (Vocals), Toya Day (Assistant), Jan DeRijk (Engineer), Jan DeRijk (Pre-Production), Jonathan Finlayson (Horn), Desta Haile (Vocals), Mfali Kouyate (Cora), Fredy Massamba (Vocals), Fredy Massamba (Vocals (Background)), Fredy Massamba (Guest Appearance), Chris McHale (Vocals), Chris McHale (Producer), Chris McHale (Post Production), Coco Minyaka (Vocals), Lene Nørgaard Christensen (Vocals), Lene Nørgaard Christensen (Vocals (Background)), Lene Nørgaard Christensen (Clapping), Chantal Willie (Vocals), Roman Zeitlin (Guitar), Roman Zeitlin (Keyboards), Roman Zeitlin (Engineer), Roman Zeitlin (Assistant Engineer), Roman Zeitlin (Mixing), Roman Zeitlin (Mixing Assistant)
