Manu Chao – Clandestino (2xLP)

At first listen, this is a record for a cosy atmosphere from the next room, but on the second listen it is a dark work. Built from minimal Latin and roots loops, an acoustic guitar and the voice of Manu Chao, who some may remember as the singer of the Franco-Hispanic agitpop band Mano Negra.

Miguel Matamoros, Bob Marley and Subkomandante Marcos meet up on his hard disc for a bag of summer grass. But the mood changes as their heads are heavy in the face of the misery of their peoples. @Normal: Manu Chao is gallant, he sings about the expelled and exploited as a beautiful woman he wants to ask to dance. For those who don't speak Spanish, here are the first lines from the title track: ªI walk alone with my pain / Alone goes my punishment / Running is my destiny / To deceive the law / Lost in the heart / Of the great city of Babylon / They call me Clandestino / Because I have no papers'. Africano clandestino / Marijuana ilegal' is the chorus, and to a mixture of Mexican balada and Cuban son croaks the siren sound of one of those toys that illegal African immigrants sell on Spanish and French beaches. Chao scatters samples among his riddims like scraps of rebellious flyers: from Gibraltar to Rio, and when it comes to lost love, sometimes from his answering machine.