“At a time when so many UK and US artists are shruggingly apolitical, the palpable anger blazing throughout Nigerien psych-rock guitarist Mdou Moctar’s second album on Matador, and seventh overall, feels like a powerful corrective. Following up on some of the issues raised on 2021’s hugely impressive Afrique Victime, Funeral for Justice doesn’t pull any punches, whether tackling the disastrous lega”
“Mdou Moctar’s Funeral for Justice is the fury of uproarious collapse”
“In his most directly political album yet, the Tuareg guitarist lets his solos become the sound of his fury when his Tamasheq lyrics aren’t enough.”
“rock revolutionaries remain wildly exciting”
“Admittedly, Mdou Moctar and I got off on the wrong foot. Having grown up with East African parents with no affinity for FM radio, many a Saturday morning was spent in a hypnagogic, nauseated haze as a hapless passenger, running errands and listening to the same four Ethiopian CDs that seemed to host a dozen of the same ol' song. The incessant stomp-clap-shuffle beat and aversion to Western rhythms”
“A towering African guitarist mixes mind-blowing solos and an urgent political message”
