Barbican Heights is a 4-track EP. The result of a session focused on a studio collaboration between African Head Charge’s Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and Brixton-based collective Speakers Corner Quartet. 

The opening cut is a cover of AHC live favourite, Wicked Kingdom, a song which dates as far back as at least 1982 (1). Setting the scene for the rest of the recordings, it’s a smooth, sublime blend of bass, percussion and mixing desk effects. The latter, care of On-U Sound’s Adrian Sherwood. Noah righteously protests, “Here they come with their bible and gun”, but the backing harmonies have a calming hymn / prayer-like quality, and Ross Harris’ flute brings a spiritual air, similar to Bim Sherman’s seminal “Miracle” acoustic set. 

Musical Medicine begins as an almost ambient reverb wash. Jazz dropped into dub’s expanse. Showcasing Harris’ woodwind and cellist Raven Bush’s treated strings. Only to be shaken up by Giles Kwakeulati King-Ashong’s tumbling traps and Fat White Family’s Alex White guesting on honking sax. Sherwood on sampled chants. 

Topanga is a take on a SCQ original that hits like a live, improvised jam. Strings and reed synergising to create an epic, melancholic North African symphony – a score worthy of Bowles / Bertolucci’s Sheltering Sky – before King-Ashong’s drums and Peter Bennie’s B-line whip up a dervish dance. White’s furious, free blowing exploding from the combined whirl and spin. 

The closing stoned, smoky Garden Of Inspiration, then changes the pace, allowing the listener a more gentle re-entry to reality. Its snares slowly rattling and rolling, the track sharing a Tortoise-esque post-rock feel. 

(1) “Wicked Kingdom” originally featured on the ‘Noah House Of Dread‘ album, a Bonjo side project, also released on On-U. It was then performed by African Head Charge and captured, on VHS at a 1990 Club Dog event, at Camden’s Electric Ballroom, then at The Mean Fiddler in 1991, and finally Tokyo in 2005. The Japanese tour revolved around the release of “A Vision Of A Psychedelic Africa”, and the only vinyl AHC version of the song can be found on a domestic 4-track 12” promo.

Barbican Heights can be ordered – digitally – directly from On-U Sound. 

Vinyl will be available on January 30th, exclusively from Rough Trade. 

A big thank you to Albert Carter Phillips for the fact checking.