Conscious Choice: Nation Beat "creates an album as impressive as its highly regarded live shows"
By Derek Beres
August 1, 2008
In one of the more interesting mergers of styles, Brooklyn-based sextet Nation Beat takes a hard look at two regional sounds — Brazil’s percussive maracutu and New Orleans’ second line rhythm (an American derivative of the Afro-Cuban son clave) — and creates an album as impressive as its highly regarded live shows. This is dance music in its primal, untainted state, pulling from various music styles — both celebratory and devotional. Liliana Araujo’s powerful presence as front woman casts a spell atop an assortment of Latin percussion as well as Skye Steele’s excellent violin playing, which gives the record a Cajun/bluegrass feel. The festive “A Cowboy in Brazil” exemplifies this fusion, opening with a minute of lap steel guitar and country harmonies before the congas set the tone for an electric guitar rampage reminiscent of the other side of New O’leans: hard-edged blues. If every house of worship featured a preacher of this magnitude, church would be a lot more worthwhile.