‘Enclave’ is the first Hyperdub EP by Angolan producer Nazar, whose musical world centres around the extreme violence, injustice and omnipresence of a repressive state during and after the 27-year Angolan civil war, simultaneously exploring the hope, resilience and pride in a country torn apart by conflict. His own unique take on Angolan Kudoro music inverts the form, weaving the sounds of warfare among cold synths, cascading percussion and swells of noise, which he calls Rough Kuduro. On ‘Enclave’, Nazar transports the listener to a bygone dystopia fed by the oral histories of those who lived through the conflict, including his father, a politician and reformed army general. ‘South Border’ establishes the EP, then leads directly into the frantic ‘Warning Shots’, a broken 130bpm Kuduro beat. On ‘Airstrike’, the pace drops back down with a slow burning Batida rhythm recounting the stories of numerous airstrikes endured by his mother, aunties and older sisters. The track concludes with the repeated “it just takes a sec and it’s done, you’re outside the bunker you’re gone”. Title track ‘Enclave’ references the thousands of unnamed dead lost in the conflict, with Nazar’s distorted vocals referencing the divide between the South and the North caused by colonialism and colourism. ‘Konvoy’ is a unique club heater best suited to forward thinking DJs, which also features on Burial & Kode9’s forthcoming ‘Fabriclive 100’ mix. The EP concludes with the beautifully hopeful ‘Ceasefire’, an ambient track featuring Nazar’s father reading from a journal he kept during his guerrilla years, recounting a treacherous journey from South to North Angola.
