Animanz & Juanita Euka - Exotic Other (2018)

As the title suggests, the debut album from London four-piece Amimanz and Argentinian-Congolese vocalist Juanita Euka is something of a humid, tropical affair. Euka's multi-lingual vocals take centre stage throughout, though it's the vibrancy of the band's superb backing tracks that hit home hardest. Their style is naturally rooted in tropical music, but also draws heavily on exotic dancefloor funk, horn-heavy Afro-beat, fuzzy psychedelic rock, jaunty Afro-Cuban dub (see their inspired cover of Crystal Waters' house classic "Gypsy Woman") and a variety of complimentary South American styles. Highlights are plentiful throughout, from the hot and sweaty, hard-wired heaviness of "Them Changes" and sunshine funk workout "Chameleon", to the spiraling, all-action "Reload It" and suitably hallucinatory, cumbia-tinged "Drink The Water". Impressive stuff, all told.