Nakhane

• Bastard Jargon [Star Red/BMG, 2023] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Bastard Jargon [Star Red/BMG, 2023]
Definitely not what we expect of South African dance music, the well nigh angelic Nakhane Mahlakahlaka surrounds a contentious proposition called "Tell Me Your Politik" with more conciliatory songs bearing the titles "The Caring" and "The Conjecture." Intent on adding base-broadening agape to the erotic acuity that has been his specialty, what is conceived as an audience-building album enlists 70-year-old Nile Rodgers to deliver neoclassic grooves that fuse the penetrating with the all-embracing, which for the most part they do. But without Nakhane's simultaneously thoughtful and enraptured vocals those grooves wouldn't get us where we're supposed to go. B+