So what's in a name? For the Ariya Astrobeat Arkesta, a great deal, it seems. It's a mission statement in three words. There's a nod to the late, great Sun Ra, and a spacey play on a funky form that's belatedly become hip. That's quite a lot to live up to. And they do. Unlike some of the other Afrobeat bands that have sprung up, they don't worship slavishly at the effigy of Fela Kuti. Instead they take what the Nigerian did as a jumping off point for the 21st century. The massive grooves are certainly there — just listen to the thick pulsing of "Put Leg To Road" — with the parts all beautifully interlocking, but it's updated, drawing from all corners of the African Diaspora, as they show with the dub freakery that opens "Re-Education Mis-Education" or the rapping of Testament on "Sankofa." It reaches outward from the root, going all around the world.

This is a band that's ridiculously tight but still leaves plenty of room for improvisation from the horns, as on "African Kings," where the tenor man seems to be channelling Albert Ayler for his solo. But it all pitches to a climax with… read more »