“A dark, thundering Kinshasa meets Paris soundworld. Ecstatic vocals, broken beats, subterranean bass and full-throttle energy. This four-piece group of sonic groundbreakers have delivered a scintillating debut album. The fulfillment of their long-held dream to create an African band with the weight and sensory attack of knife-edged rock and hot-wired club beats. [...] The Bantou Mentale sound is neither traditional, nor slave to the all-encompassing tropes of Congolese rumba, nor slick and arty and self-consciously stylish. Neither haute culture nor haute couture. They’re bringing something modern, raw, open to the world, a sound that faithfully mirrors who they are: four baggage-free citizens of nowhere and everywhere on a mission to rewrite the washed-up codes of African music and realign it with the raw truths of this frazzled, screwed and beautiful world. They’re bringing a new punk rock, African style, but without the aggression because, according to Cubain, the Congo is “a country with a lot of spiritual tenderness.” Liam and Cubain have been distilling experimental mashes of electro African beats on and off for years, under names like Black Cowboys or Negro-P. They worked together on Mbongwana Star, the Congolese UFO that rose out of the ashes of Staff Benda Bilili.”

Bantou Mentale @ Glitterbeat