"This is world music that lives up to
the name...Fusing classic Afrobeat, Latin funk, and acid
jazz, the dozen-plus members of Berkeley's ALBINO! offer
a torrent of hard-grooving jams designed to make Mojito-gulping
weekenders shimmy right out of their low-rise jeans."
-SF Weekly (see full
text)
"ALBINO!'s hour proved to be the most
crowded set at the entire (Joshua Tree
Music) Festival, bringing in all sorts of
festivarians looking to get the tribal beats in
their soul and the jig back in their feet. They
held down a funktified groove that was
backed by the ultimate of beats, percussion
and flying horns that shouted out at the crowd that had formed." -JamBase.com
"This Afrobeat band deserves the exclamation
point following their name: everything that they do
and play is exaggerated, energized, and
enthusiastic, deserving of said punctuation
mark... From dress to dance (and please, lets not forget the music) ALBINO! is on
fire...one thing you can count on is a wildly fun night that you never want to end." -TheOwlMag.com
"ALBINO!'s propulsive grooves, jazzy horn
arrangements, and socially relevant
commentary turn the dancefloor into a
forum of politifunkification" -East Bay Express
"All 11 ALBINOs stomped, stepped and
swayed to the beat, making it hard for the
audience to resist doing the same.
Members of the horn section (three
saxophones and a trumpet) were the stars, treating their instruments like dance
partners and playing with such animation as to appear almost cartoonish."
- The Durango Herald
ALBINO!:
Best World Music Band
Fusing classic Afrobeat, Latin funk, and
acid jazz, the dozen-plus members of Berkeley's Albino
offer a torrent of hard-grooving jams designed to make
Mojito-gulping weekenders shimmy right out of their
low-rise jeans. The sound is aggressive and brassy,
informed by world fusion artists like Fela Kuti and
Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo, and brought up to date with
a mash of spacey global inflections (think of Herbie's
Headhunters shanghaied in West Africa, and you'll be
up to speed). The ass-inspiriting percussive engine
comes from a rhythm section of local all-stars, including
drummer Michael Pinkham, bassist Kevin "Bam Bam"
Blair, keyboardist Bob Crawford, percussionists Trevino
Leon, and dancer Kim Agnew. Together, they form rhythms
based in the West African Ewe tradition (which holds
at its heart the inseparable union of drumming and dance)
colored with Afro-Cuban structures. Atop the band's
rhythmic maelstrom ride tightly figured five-part horn
lines directed by founder/tenor player Nathan Endsley.
His section enlists the formidable talent of Seattle
jazz trombonist "T-Bone" Charlie Wilson and
a snarling dual baritone-sax yawp from Jonathan Hoops
(featured soloist for Burning Man sensation the Mutaytor)
and Michael Bello. Though the 2-year-old band is still
something of a pup on the scene, Albino's members' résumés
include experience in local heavies from every niche
of the city's musical spectrum, including Starvin Like
Marvin, Monkey Knife Fight, Spearhead, CK Ladzekpo,
and Hamsa Lila. This is world music that lives up to
the name. - SF Weekly 2005 Music Awards Issue
