One of the unfortunate realities of no longer doing a radio show is that I don’t feel much pressure to keep up with new releases. But here at the end of the year, with “Best Of” lists on everyone’s mind, it’s a nice period of time to play catch up on Fall releases and anything else that might have slipped through the cracks. I’d heard some of Dexter Story’s new release, Wondem, but hadn’t really spent much time with the record to form any real opinion of the record. NOw that I’ve got some down time, with the end of the semester and the holidays, I can fully get on board with Story’s album. Given Story’s history with the LA collective Ethio-Cali, it’s perhaps no surprise that much of the inspiration for Wondem is clearly in East Africa, but it’s in the way the elements come together, in a thoroughly contemporary way. When I heard about the record before actually hearing the record I expected something much more along the lines of Ethio-Cali, with very clear Mulatu Astatke references, but Wondem is something else entirely, drawing on a variety of sounds to create one of the more enjoyable listening experiences of 2015.
As a bonus, Story has created some short films/videos culled from time spent in Ethiopia, in this case for the song “Merkato Star”: