Sinkane’s slippery grooves have their roots in Africa, as does their creator, the London-born, Sudan-bred, Brooklyn-based musician Ahmed Gallab. But calling his music Afrobeat or Afro-pop would be far too reductive. On Mean Love, his second album for James Murphy’s DFA Records, he layers funky guitar and clavinet hooks, swaying Caribbean rhythms, Hawaiian slack-key guitar and lovers rock falsetto croons to create a sound that’s like sipping piña coladas with Fela Kuti, David Byrne and Johnny “I Can See Clearly Now” Nash. Where his previous DFA effort, 2012’s Mars, relied on hypnotic grooves and splashes of space-jazz for its most memorable moments (and hopefully he’s still playing the relentless “Making Time” in his live sets), Mean Love finds Gallab exploring melody and songcraft, especially on such swooning island reveries as “Young Trouble” and the Motown-meets-Kingston title track.

Tue., Oct. 21, 8:30 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 10/21/14)

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