Thriving at curated events held in warmly lit rooms that as big a part of the atmosphere as the music, Afro House is finding its home in Zimbabwe. The wave of House's 4th frontier has been carried by a new generation of DJing talent that paints dance floor in a kaleidoscope of African rhythms. A key factor in this has been the international success of varying Zimbabwean talents, such as Nitefreak and Murphy Cubic.
New names have been rising to the forefront, and some long established acts in space have finally been getting the spotlight they deserve. Behind this wave has been an ever increasing amount of music releases. Which brings us to 2024 On The Floor.
While a recognised talent in the Zimbabwean music space, it hasn't been often that Young DLC has given us solo releases or releases as the lead artist. It is by far not a measure of his talent but it seems he was just biding his time, waiting for his moment, with his moment being 2024. Young DLC's debut full length project, 2024 On The Floor (Jan - July), carves out a thumping sonic landscape of Afro House that has Techno at its core.
In 10 tracks, Young DLC swings a pendulum from moonlit undulating rhythms to heavy synth laden bass lines that are as hard hitting as an unseen pothole in Waterfalls. 2024 On The Floor is true to it's title, it is a project for the dance floor, an ode to Afro Tech that has synth as words of poetry. For a debut full length project, it's certainly striking.
The album opens with Around Here, a distortion and synth heavy song with droning vocals. Described by Young DLC as "a track that embodies the essence of community oself discovery within the African house music culture," Around Here sets the tone for entire project.
Rules In Africa, which was released as a single earlier in the year, comes next and it embodies everything that is Afro house. It samples the viral TikTok of a tourist's experience at Chicken Inn, and the phrase "They're no rules in Africa, welcome to Zimbabwe" is transformed into something memorable.
Ready 2 Go tones down the tempo, and Drey lends her voice to deliver smooth vocals that give it a soulful feel. It is a song of tender oceans that go from a brush on the beach to a crushing torrent when the beat picks up. 2024 On The Floor feels like an album of two alternating moods, the soulful and tender tunes on one end, with the thumping up tempo tunes on the other.
Know Better, Understand and Friday are easily my favourites, and it's easily as much about the vocals as it is about the instrumentals. For different songs and different reasons, this album feels very much like you'll want to keep coming back to. While in it's embrace of Techno it may not be instantly loved by Zimbabwean Afro house palates, it's certainly an impressive debut.
Greedysouth rating: 7.2/10
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