Kinshasa at night is hot, dark and loud. The Congolese city comes alive after a burning red sunset – which moves in fast due to its position near the equator. Suddenly, noise levels rise and senses are heightened: street vendors drum and shout for attention, megaphone adverts loop, and club sound systems and evangelical churches blare out music. The air is thick and heavy with car fumes. 

 The city’s after-dark buzz was the inspiration behind BUTU, the second album from KOKOKO! BUTU means ‘the night’ in Lingala, and the experimental record dives deep into the heart of the chaotic place, celebrating the joyful and creative spirit of its inhabitants. With vocalist Makara Bianko at the helm and production from Xavier Thomas, AKA Débruit, this follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut Fongola finds the band channelling a more electronic, upbeat sound.  

Pioneers of Kinshasa’s sonic revolution, KOKOKO! have captivated global audiences with their striking sonics and energetic performances since 2017. Their accolades include best live band award by AIF, NPR Tiny Desk and Boiler Room slots, appearances at festivals including All Points East, SXSW, Green Man and Pitchfork Festival, and a placement on the Grand Theft Auto and FIFA soundtracks. Fongola achieved near universal praise, with DJ Mag labelling it “quite unlike anything else you’ll hear”, while The Guardian called the group a “commanding new voice”. 

Thomas first met Bianko at one of his shows in a neighbourhood bar in Kinshasa, there they formed KOKOKO! – Bianko was performing with 40 dancers on stage, firing up frenetic loops, sticking the mic in the speakers for feedback. “You’d see the electric wires go red, literally – I even saw metal drops coming from the wires, they would actually melt,” says Thomas. “The amps would explode and then you’d have an hour’s break to fix something and then start again. That was the kind of energy that was in that room.” 

The pair started collaborating and joined forces with other members – instrument creators who fashioned pieces from recycled garbage. Upcycling materials such as metal, cans, engine parts and plastic containers found on the streets, the first iteration of KOKOKO! used what was initially a barrier to music-making – money – and turned it into a strength. Before long they were releasing an album, signing to Transgressive Records (Damon Albarn, Foals, SOPHIE) and touring the world. 

But the pandemic heralded a change of sorts for KOKOKO! As the world locked down and the group found themselves dispersed from one another, a more stripped back electronic sound and structure of the band emerged, with Bianko and Thomas remaining as core members – although the other musicians and collaborators worked on BUTU. This change saw the pair move into a more electronic mindset. Whether it’s the thudding synths of ‘Mokili’, megaphone-soaked ‘Nasala Nini’, or the syncopated rhythms of ‘Salaka Bien’, each track has a driving, propulsive force that recalls the energy of those Kinshasa alternative parties, often joined by the rich performance art scene. 

BUTU is a replication of the frenetic feel of that dynamic nightlife – equipment being pushed to its limit, via saturated and distorted speakers, or the sonic push and pull of sounds after dark. “Congolese and moreover Kinshasa people try to stand out  – if you’re a street vendor, you will have your style, your catchphrase, your rhythm, so that you can tell who’s around you without seeing them,” Thomas says. Even the group’s name – KOKOKO! – is what people say in the country outside the door, an onomatopoeic way of representing a door knock. You can hear it before you see it. 

 Taking field recordings from the nights and using “ready-made percussion” such as detergent bottles, the band fed the sounds through distortion to get closer to those night sounds. Album intro ‘Butu Ezo Ya’ opens with the screech of car horns progressively pitched into harmony and the chatter of pedestrians. “Compared to Fongola, this album is intentionally way more intense, because it’s quite upbeat and quite full-on,” Thomas says. The record’s influences are also wider and span West Africa and South Africa, kuduro and kwaito and since Bianko’s global travel introduced him to new types of alternative electronic music and punk. 

A track they’d played live but never recorded until now, ‘Mokili’ expresses a sense of pride in going out there to make the world move alongside old house music references. ‘Salaka Bien’ makes use of percussion created on heavy ceramic pots and pans, with Bianko’s lyrics firing up the audience with a sexual wink. ‘Motema Mabe’ started off as an improvisation from Bianko, with him vocaling a looping rhythm and synths. As a phrase, ‘Bazo Banga’ means “they’re scared”, a chant often shouted at football stadiums but put into another political context. It would often be their last track of the night, a way of letting go of the pressure accumulated during a high-energy show. 

The band has a fiercely activist and political slant. The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to experience serious human rights violations, including mass killings in the context of armed conflict and inter-communal violence, a crackdown on dissent and ill-treatment of detainees. People from regions affected by armed conflict are particularly affected amid mass displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis. The DRC’s wealth of natural resources are routinely taken advantage of by large tech companies, helping fuel conflict in the region. 

Political protest using words carries a risk of imprisonment in the country, so street performers often work with their bodies and sounds to signal their critiques. With BUTU, KOKOKO! provide a resistant, punk-like energy, bottling the attitude of a generation and bringing their DRC block party alchemy to new global heights.