Andre Afram Asmar Race to the Bottom

• Words: Dave Segal
• Label: Mush
• XLR8R Rating: /10

This disc finds underground-hip-hop hotbed Mush deviating into radical multicultural inventiveness. On his second album, LA producer Andre Afram Asmar unearths dub's roots and then fertilizes them with exotic seeds from Africa, the Middle East and Crooklyn. Asmar consistently keeps things eerie and disorienting, but he retains a soulful humanity amid the studio sorcery. Race To The Bottom is as sonically radical as mystical iconoclasts Muslimgauze and Badawi, but with a more uplifting spirit than either. Arabic-dub juggernauts like "Camel Clutch" and "Traptivity" are potently psychedelic antidotes to the dull worthiness of most world-music-inflected fusion.