The noise of the world can be deafening at times. However when you have something to say, it can be necessary to amplify yourself with whatever you have at hand. This is the spirit of ‘Congotronics 2.’ Without the seemingly limitless excess of the music technology available to most Western societies, the bands of Kinshasa, Congo, have channelled their creative energies into all available mediums with the imagination, history and rhythm of a civilisation older than our own. The result is a sound so captivating and often overwhelming that it seems the CD case is the only way to prevent the music from leaping out and filling the room.

The flourishing music and culture represented on this album are strong and independent. It is a testament to the seemingly unbreakable spirit of a people whose country has been ravaged by war in the past. Ignored by major record labels of the West, the Congotronics sound has grown and evolved, and like a river pursuing its natural course, has cut through the noise of the city and crossed oceans.

The first in the Congotronics series, ‘Konono no.1 – Congotronics,’ was a mesmerizing and hypnotic album that served as the first contact for many who had not experienced the semi-traditional DIY electronic sounds of a band with a history stretching back to over 25 years. The second instalment goes further into the sound and brings together a collection of bands, each making use of heavily customised instruments and home-made amplifiers to create a sound that is so far from anything you may know, but has within it a sense of deep familiarity.

Throughout the album tradition and innovation sit side by side as in the case of “Kiwembo” by Sobanza Mimanisa. Following a rhythm that could give insights as to the roots of salsa and using a “power-chord” style on the electric guitar rarely heard in the music of the area, “Kiwembo” is a taste of a band whose full-on sound comes from only five instruments and their imaginations. “Le Laboureur” by Masanka Sankayi is the re-telling of a 17th century fable by Jean de la Fontaine told through strong tribal rhythms and the inspired playing of a highly amplified 20ft square likembe on which the preacher Muyamba Nyunyi sits lotus style. It is a fun funk-filled electrified trip of song that shows the closeness you would expect of a band who has been playing together since the 70s.

Konono no.1 close the album with a track recorded live at the Eponymous festival in Brussels. It is not an overstatement to say that this is perhaps one of the most inspired and gifted performances captured on tape. The rhythm pulsates with an ever increasing intensity and the ringing tone of Makuntima’s likembe becomes more and more warped and distorted. In the final few minutes of the track, the likembe sheds all of its recognisable traits; much like a snake shedding its skin, and is no more a homage to an ancient tradition than a vision of future potential. ‘Congotronics 2’ is the realisation of a sound that has been generations in the making.