Nairobi is full of laughing, creative people!
Here’s an enthusiastic review/introduction by the people at MTV Iggy, who say:
Judging from [Just A Band's] songs and music videos, Nairobi is full of laughing, creative young people who get together at somebody’s house on a Tuesday night and scream laughing, make out in closets, and if they’re not too drunk, lay down some tracks in a bedroom studio. Could Nairobi 2011 be like Paris in the ’20s, Greenwich Village after WWII, Mexico during the age of Diego Rivera?
Some of us haven’t made out in closets yet (we’ll work on that when we come back 
) – but yeah, Nairobi is cool! Ha! Read the article here.
It’s not the greatest band name, but it’s accurate…
Here’s a cool review we just discovered, from “The Abstract Index”, in which he asks important (yummy) questions:
…Do I like this particular collage because it’s African, whereas I might not give it a second thought if it were some buzz band from Brooklyn? By the same token, do I, or other listeners, expect something more African or specifically Kenyan out of this music? To what extent is a band like this a new phenomenon?
Read the full article here. Thank you, David.
The Couch Sessions on “Huff + Puff”
Unkle Funkle over at the Couch Sessions says:
The idea that this is an electronic band of Kenyans gives me much pause. It’s African music, but not that traditional tribal sound that you think about when you usually think of African music. This song could bump in pretty much any international lounge scene and wouldn’t be out of place. The synth work is impressive, and when they declare that they’re gonna “huff and puff and blow the house down,” you can hear an uncanny undertone of malice, joy, and swag in equal amounts.
Malice, joy and swag? Mmmmm. 
Read the full article here.
Black Rock’s Blazing Genius!
Rob Fields of The Root placed us (We’re number 12 – OMG!) on their “Black Rock’s Blazing Genius” list along with other very cool bands/artists. Goodness!
Thanks to the video for their song ”Ha-He,” this Kenyan house/disco/funk band is making inroads in the States. The video, which spoofs blaxploitation films, became so popular that it was known as ”Kenya’s first viral meme.”
Afrobeat Blog’s 82 Review
Marc of the Afrobeat Blog says:
Just a Band accomplishes something truly impressive: they manage to create music that has widespread mainstream appeal without totally foregoing their integrity as artists. Many African musicians struggling to find their way often go for easy cop outs and cheesy effects, but Just a Band creates a production style that sounds contemporary and clean.
Woohoo! Read the full review here. Thanks, Marc!
Album Review at Exclaim!
David Dacks over at Exclaim! says:
Synthetically generated African music has been around since the ’50s, but Kenya’s Just A Band are likely to represent some new milestone of how the words “African pop” are perceived. If last year’s Damon Albarn-produced synth pop tracks by Amadou & Mariam represented a surprising mainstream breakthrough for the dyed-in-the-kente crossover group, Just A Band are motoring further down the same highway.
Yay! Thanks, David! Read the full review here.
The Huffington Freaking Post!
During the Makmende madness, Lars Russell of the FREAKING HUFFINGTON POST (deep breaths) said:
“Huff + Puff” could be a collaboration between Outkast and Scottish avant-gardist Momus. Other tracks feature elements of late (and early) Michael Jackson, Esau Mwamwaya or Daft Punk. Just A Band draw on foreigners Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai in their music, but its members came of age when Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai already lived, so to speak, in the daily, urban Kenyan culture. Their music is in that way not a hybrid, but wholly Kenyan.
- as well as other musings on the effect of a Twitter generational shift on what is known as ‘African music’. Food for thought. Read the article here. Thanks, Lars Russell of the freaking Huffington Post! :O
Makmende Fan Art
When the Makmende craze began, we made a couple of fake magazine covers for fun (with apologies to respective copyright owners):
Within days, our fellow Kenyans whipped out very cool, very funny pieces of their own. Here’s two of our favorites:
Just A Band on Fast Company!
The Fast Company were one of the first media outlets to proclaim Ha-He! “Kenya’s First Viral Music Video”. Dan Nosowitz said:
The song along with the video has spread like wildfire across Kenya–it’s the first real homegrown “have you seen this video?” moment, and should pave the way for all kinds of cute Kenyan animal videos.
Interestingly, Kevin “K1″ Maina (who played Makmende) is a big fan of cute animal videos; which is horribly inappropriate.
Read the article here.
Makmende vs. Wikipedia
Ethan Zuckerman discusses the difficulty Makmende had in getting his Wikipedia page, due to his relative cultural insignificance outside Kenya and ‘the inclusionist/deletionist argument that’s gripped Wikipedia’. He says:
“Makmende may never become particularly important to English speaking users outside of Kenya. But the phenomenon’s quite important within the Kenyan internet: it’s the first meme I can remember going truly viral and inspiring a wave of participation from Kenyans around the world. Most Wikipedians seemed to accept the idea that different languages and cultures might want to include different topics in their encyclopedias. But what happens when we share a language but not a culture?”
Read the full article here, and the comment discussion that ensues below it. The issue has since been resolved, and The Mack has his page now.
Breath of Life’s JAB Mixtape
Kalamu ya Salaam at Breath of Life says:
It’s the old story with black folk—a lot of stuff we do because we literally don’t know we’re not supposed to be able to do what we do. Who else is producing everything from the music to the video and everything in between? Just A Band proves you don’t have to be strident to be political, and you can be creative artistically and still be socially relevant.
Wait – how did they know about “Label Revolution”? We’ve never really talked about that before! 
Read the article here. Thanks, Kalamu!
Africa 10 on “Save My Soul”
The good folks at Africa 10 Media seem to like “Save My Soul”, the opening track from 82:
Their sound is expansive, part Air, part Daft Punk, part every good pop band out there right now and then they add their special Kenyan twist on it all.
Air, Daft Punk – bands we love and yes, we’d love to make soundtracks for films. Listen to the song here, and see what they had to say.
