The Very Best Prep Debut LP, Stream Track Featuring Vampire Weekend Frontman

Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig has found a new outlet for his Paul Simon-eque affinity for Afro-pop, sharing the mic with Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya on the title track of The Very Best's upcoming debut LP The Warm Heart of Africa. The track, on which the unlikely duo sings atop a fusion of traditional African drums and electronic dance beats, began streaming on the band's MySpace last week.

The addition of Koenig adds another hue to this band's already colorful cultural palette. Mwamwaya grew up in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi in East Africa. As the story goes, the singer and drummer moved to the U.K. in 1999 and was running a second-hand furniture store in East London when he met the British DJ duo Radioclit, whose studio was just down the street. The duo, comprised of Johan Karlberg (a.k.a. Johan Hugo) of Sweden and Etienne Tron (a.k.a. DJ Tron a.k.a. DJ Shark Attack) of France, bought a bike from Mwamwaya and invited the shop-owner to a housewarming party. Mwamwaya and Radioclit became fast friends and started making music together. Within two years they had a diverse and vibrant catalog of songs and had given themselves a promising name: The Very Best.

As 2008 drew to a close, the trio released the 15-track Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are The Very Best as a free online download or for purchase as a $7 seven-inch. This mixtape served as an intro to a collaboration that spans continents and genres. It tapped into traditional sounds from Mwamwaya's home and borrowed from Sri Lankan songstress M.I.A., Brooklyn's Santigold, and our favorite Ivy League boys, Vampire Weekend. Sandwiched between the thumping, danceable remixes of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," and "Paper Planes" (renamed "Tengazako"), sat the serene steel drum and rainstick-splattered traditional Malawian sound of "Chikondi," and the rest of the track list boasted an equally charming fusion.

We can have high hopes, then, as we await the group's official debut LP The Warm Heart of Africa, scheduled for a fall release on New York's Green Owl Records. In addition to the cameo from Koenig, M.I.A. returns for this record on the track "Rain Dance."

Also last week, The Very Best announced a handful of U.S. shows:

July
16 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Echo
17 - San Fransisco, Calif. @ Mighty
18 - New York, N.Y. @ (le) poisson rouge
19 - Chicago, Ill. @ Pitchfork Music Festival

Related Links:
The Very Best on Myspace
The Very Best on Green Owl's Official Site
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