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*** FRIKYIWA

COLLECTION 2

(Six Degrees)

The electronic world's fascination with '70s Afrobeat and Fela Kuti is spreading into new areas -- Frikyiwa, Collection 2 finds a crew of European electronic folks remixing a sparkling collection of contemporary Malian Afropop. Compiled by French DJ/producer Frédéric Galliano, the compilation succeeds because the results still sound more like music from West Africa than some First World conception of "Afro-groove." Sprightly guitar runs, pinched vocal cries, and the polyrhythmic cross-tug of scratchy percussion remain paramount; remix techniques are used mostly to boost the frequencies, freak the timbres, and fill in the grooves. The coolest tracks combine stutter-step drum loops -- the new style of West London's knob twisters -- with organic percussion percolations into monstrous slices of twitchy funk. Natty Bass Sound System's take on Djigui's "Ladilikan" stretches the source material with dubwise rim-shot scatter, echoing guitar shimmer, and double-time bass-drum patterns. Even farther out is German static enthusiast Pole, who wraps Lobi Traore's "Sayo" in a patchy quilt of fuzzy hiss and cavernous crackles that sounds like the whispered conversation between short-wave radios.

-- Michael Endelman