IN DEMAND

Duma – Duma

Name: Duma - Duma | B Side Vinyl
Brand: Duma
SKU: BSV-862516
Price: 29.99 USD
Availability: InStock

$29.99

Lights out, game over. Duma won 2020. Breathtaking by any measure, Kenyan grindcore band Duma’s unparalleled debut of blast beats, sky-clawing synth noise and scarred larynx vocals was one of the mightiest things heard in 2020.kkDuma’s self-titled debut is the most incredible injection of life-affirming, outsider energy imaginable in these dark ages; an LP that’s bound to cleave opinion and upend preconceptions of what music from East Africa, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, can be.kkComprising Martin Khanja (Lord Spikeheart) and Sam Karugu, Duma mete out a jaw-dropping extreme sound rooted in Nairobi’s flourishing underground metal scene, where they’ve previously performed in bands Lust of a Dying Breed and Seeds of Datura. Faithful to the name – translating to “Darkness” in Kiyuku – they forge a frankly unprecedented darkside sound, welding trve metal vocals and eschatological synths with the frenetic energy of Central African and breakcore rhythms in transfixing arrangements that just beggar belief. kkCertainly we can compare them to other outliers of extreme music – the dark cosmic Congolese energy of Nkisi or the cataclysmic sound of Wold/Black Mecha, and Indonesia’s beastly Senyawa – but basically Duma are, like all the above, in a field of their own. From the psychoactive rush of militant snares and keening synths in ‘Angels and Abysses’ to the doomcore dirge of ‘Pembe 666’ and the exquisite menace of ‘Uganda With Sam’ and the scorching finale ‘The Echoes of The Beyond’ they uncannily reshape the game in their own image with every song, bending conventions and styles with profound sense of iconoclastic freedom and possessed discipline.kkWhen they performed in Berghain at this year’s CTM festival, worlds were shattered into a million tiny pieces. They had technical difficulties; their setup wasn’t working as planned, so producer Sam Karugu had to improvise, playing backing tracks from an audio player and direct injecting Lord Spike Heart’s mic into his laptop. Somehow even with issues that would derail the most professional Berghain vets Duma’s set was one of the undisputed highlights of the entire festival, pouring molten lava on the Berlin superclub’s sweaty mass of inebriated revelers who created a messy moshpit on the dancefloor.

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Record Details

IN DEMAND

Label	NYEGE NYEGE TAPES
Catalog No	NNT 22
Format	Vinyl LP
Country	United States
Barcode	0742521170281
Condition	New / Sealed

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Description

The Duma Duma vinyl is one of the most confrontational and genuinely surprising debut records to come out of anywhere in the world in recent memory, a self-titled LP from Nairobi duo Duma released on Nyege Nyege Tapes under catalog number NNT 22. This is not background music. It is not easy listening. It is something else entirely.

Who Duma Are and Why This Record Matters

Duma comprises Martin Khanja, known as Lord Spikeheart, and producer Sam Karugu, both veterans of Nairobi’s underground metal scene through previous projects including Lust of a Dying Breed and Seeds of Datura. The name translates to “Darkness” in Kikuyu, and the music holds that meaning without apology. What they have built on this debut is a collision of grindcore blast beats, extreme metal vocals, eschatological synths, and rhythmic structures rooted in Central African and breakcore traditions. The result is a sound that has no obvious precedent and no obvious successor. Comparisons to Nkisi, Senyawa, or Wold get you in the rough vicinity, but Duma occupy a field that is essentially their own. When they performed at Berlin’s CTM festival at Berghain, with equipment failing around them and Sam Karugu improvising from a basic audio player with Lord Spikeheart’s mic running direct into a laptop, they still produced one of the festival’s standout sets. That tells you everything about what this music carries inside it.

What to Expect From the Duma Duma Vinyl

Across tracks including “Angels and Abysses,” “Pembe 666,” “Uganda With Sam,” and the closing “The Echoes of The Beyond,” the record moves through militant percussive rushes, doomcore dirges, and arrangements of genuine menace that resist categorisation at every turn. There is a discipline underneath the chaos that makes repeated listening reward you differently each time. The record does not settle. It does not reassure. It presses hard against the edges of what recorded extreme music can do, and then keeps pressing.

The Pressing and Format Details

This is a standard LP format release on Nyege Nyege Tapes, the Kampala-based label that has been consistently releasing some of the most vital and uncompromising music coming out of East and Central Africa. Catalog number NNT 22 places this early in their catalog, from a period when the label was building an international profile track by track. Nyege Nyege pressings of this period reach collectors with real regularity, and this one sits among the most talked-about titles in their catalog. If you have been paying attention to what Nyege Nyege Tapes represents as a label, and you want a physical copy of the record that put Duma in front of a global audience, this LP is the one to own.