Fu Chronicles (LP)

With a globetrotting 20-year career renowned for being a voice for the people across four decades of political and societal upheaval from the late ʻ90s to today, Antibalas celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a stark return to their Williamsburg roots on its latest Daptone Records studio album, Fu Chronicles.

Pre-gentrified Williamsburg serves as the backdrop for Fu Chronicles-voyaging back to the early days of when Antibalas and Daptone Records spawned out of lead singer Duke Amayoʼs kung fu dojo. A senior master of the Jow Ga Kung FuSchool of martial arts, Duke Amayo along with Antibalas founder/baritone saxophonist Martín Perna guide listeners through an epic journey of where kung fu ingeniously intersects with Afrobeat on Fu Chronicles. Recorded in the Summer of 2018, over seventeen musicians and singers crammed into the storied Daptone House of Soul in Bushwick, Brooklyn to record the massive body of work.

With live versions and arrangements stretching up to thirty minutes, Perna, Amayo, and Roth worked tirelessly to preserve the hypnotic power of the long-form live arrangements into six concise and powerful album tracks.