ATOMIC BOMB

Listen to ATOMIC BOMB by William Onyeabor.

Today's final William Onyeabor selection was a big hit in Nigeria in 1978. Atomic Bomb also happens to be my favorite William Onyeabor song, but my copy *sounds* pretty poor. This is a straight up vinyl rip, so all the squeaks and pops are still there. After a few listens you won't notice. (And if any of you good good people out there has a better copy, don't be shy about passing it along!)

If I told you the main line of this song "I'm going to explode like an atomic bomb" you might easily get the wrong impression about the sound of this one. It's...not an especially convincing threat. Still, with the call and response, the sleigh bells, the keys, the ragged rhythm guitar, the psychotic synths, this song is a total masterpiece. Watch out.

If you enjoyed any of these William Onyeabor tracks this week, head over to this excellent blog for a couple more even rarer ones, and congratulate yourself for impeccably eclectic taste.

Photo: Old India snapshots--Jodhpur gate.

BODY AND SOUL

Listen to BODY AND SOUL by William Onyeabor.

Body And Soul is taken from another essential compilation, "Booniay!!" Body And Soul has an unbelievably fine groove, and sounds wonderful. Those drums *pop* and those synths swoop and whine with conviction. Play very loud. Listen closely to Mr. Onyeabor chatting below the groove for a few minutes there. Then download it and save it for your next DJ gig, when you need to use up ten minutes (maybe you need a bathroom break, maybe you want to chat up the patrons) with a weird floor filler everyone will be asking you about afterwards.

Photo: Old India snapshots--double exposure.

SOMETHING YOU WILL NEVER FORGET

Listen to SOMETHING YOU WILL NEVER FORGET by William Onyeabor

This is one intense jam.

I can't really confirm this, but I'm pretty sure William Onyeabor was a one man band. That accords with everything I've read, plus the pair of album covers I've seen, he's set up with a big bank of synths and a couple of microphones. So, I think it's all him, except the occasional backing vocalist. Someone described him as the "Nigerian Thomas Dolby" which is a juxtaposition you wouldn't expect but is a good description of Mr. Onyeabor.

Pretty amazing, and helps explain the weird spaced out feel of these songs. There's space because he only has four limbs with which to fill it!

(Today's selection is of slightly dodgy sound quality, though we've borrowed it from an excellent DJ mix. It's fine once it gets going.)

Photo: Old India snapshots--Delhi driver.

BETTER CHANGE YOUR MIND

Listen to BETTER CHANGE YOUR MIND by William Onyeabor.

Before we start again this week, can I just pass along our thanks to all of you loyal readers out there? Thanks. I'm looking back over the last few weeks of posts and noticing the music is just all over the map. (It must be the brilliant prose that keeps you all coming back....)

Anyway, in an effort to drive the rest of you away, this week I'm going in the weeds for an artist 99% of you have never heard of, with songs that are 7, 8, 10 minutes long, and of varying sound quality. Yes, readers, that's the thanks you get! But before you click away, have a peek at this capsule biography of William Onyeabor, and ask yourself if it's not one of the most intriguing artist bios you've ever read:

William Onyeabor studied cinematography in Russia for many years, returning to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a music and film production studio. He recorded a number of hit songs in Nigeria during the 70s, the biggest of which was "Atomic Bomb" in 1978. "Better Change Your Mind" is taken from the same album, and, as well as slating the power-crazed nations of the world, the second half settles into a unique slice of stripped down spacey, lo-fi funk which is unlike any other Nigerian music being made at the time. William has now been crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lives today as a successful businessman working on government contracts and running his own flour mill.

Doesn't that make you want to hear more??? Today's track (and the above biography) is featured on the awesome, now-out-of-print "Nigeria 70" compilation, and if you've ever heard one William Onyeabor track, it's probably this one. It's equal parts Cold War paranoia and stoned space jam, and it's a jewel.

Photo: Old India snapshots--We are the relics of your culture.