Afrofuturist Ugandan griot, Faizal Mostrixx, continues his avant-garde, multi-sensory disciplines on latest EP, Transitions, to be released on Glitterbeat Records.
Faizall Mostrixx has been behind some of East Africa’s hottest electronica and counter-cultural rhythms for the last 5 years at least when he dropped his first album, Tribal Match; a project that ferociously blended traditional instruments and organic rhymes with hard club music. “The motivation behind my work is to preserve and develop African cultural heritage,” he said at the time.
Fast forward 5 years and we can confidently say mission accomplished. Whether it’s his work with dancers at the National Theater of Kampala or the 5 compact projects that Faizal has released since his debut, there is a growing bibliography of heritage packaged for the future. “Ancient history gives us keys to understanding the present: where do we come from? Who are we? Thanks to that, we can be proud to be African.” Faizal told PAM back in 2019 on-site at the Nyege Nyege Festival. “Borrowing from the cultural codes and rituals of my country is first of all to celebrate them, but it is also to allow my people to identify with them. Reinventing them with an Afrofuturist imagination is to propose a new mythology to Africa and invite the rest of the world to embrace a common future.“
Mostixx’s newest release, and his first for Glitterbeat Records, is a 6-song EP entitled “Transitions” (a full album will follow in spring 2023). Once again, Faizal’s music creates a seamless bond between traditional music and chants and electronic textures. It is a fluid afrofuturist thump of regional beats and moods, and ultimately a reflection on how beauty arises when differences are respected and appreciated – and how by doing so, fresh futures emerge. The EP features Ugandan traditional folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Giovanni Kiyingi as well as a deep tapestry of ear catching samples and innovative programming.
“My journey into producing is a search to find my own identity.” Faizal Mostrixx said of this latest EP. “As a versatile dancer I have always experimented and explored musicality with various genres for choreography, dance workshops and audio-visual. So when I first discovered production I saw an opportunity to showcase and share yet another African story… Creation is very rewarding for me and that makes me not wanna hold back on those afrofuturist beats.”
Transitions out May 20th via Glitterbeat Records
