Afro-Mystik

The world is insane! Traditional musical boundaries between nations are bending. The sounds of native drums can be heard merging with house music and uniting with jazz creating new forms, disintegrating the mass-marketed model of pop culture. This is the world of Afro-Mystik, Om Records' electrifying live experience. Fusing the rhythms of many cultures into one on their second full-length album, Morphology released April 2003, Afro-Mystik presents the evolution of diverse musical traditions into a singular, surreal electronic landscape.

Chris Smith (DJ Fluid) formed Afro-Mystik in 1999 as a fusion of DJ Culture, live percussion and global influences. "I wanted to get together a band that could bring in my influence as a DJ and live instrumentation," remembers Fluid. "There are so many artist/producers out there, such as Jazzanova and Bugz in the Attic, that are creating stunning, groundbreaking music. I wanted to take Afro-Mystik to a different arena by focusing on not only the production, but the development of a powerful live act." Originally producing downbeat, breaks, and house under his Fluid Motion moniker on SF independent label Mephisto, Afro-Mystik allowed Smith to explore his obsessive passion for the sounds of African and Brazilian rhythms naturally fused with electronic beats.

The purveyors of fine downtempo beats submit compilation number eight, a refreshingly diverse collection of sounds. Some standout broken beat and house numbers by the likes of P’taah (remixed by Swag), Kaskade, Mark Farina, and Afro-Mystik sit alongside some heavy dub and Eastern-influenced beats by Emo, Zeb, and J Boogie. OM mainstay Rithma provides the standout of the album with “Dream Again”, an instrumental hip-hop tempo piece with beautiful guitars and strings that moves from ethereal to funky in a heartbeat. This compilation is a perfect introduction to the diversity of the OM sound, and will move you to go and hunt down some of their excellent artist albums.