Congotronics
Congotronics is the official debut album by Konono Nº1. It was released in 2004. by Crammed Discs. It has won the band massive favour in the dance and alternative rock scenes as well as in world music circles and in the North American and European media. Konono Nº1's "Congotronics" was also released on vinyl by Canadian label Ache Records, who issued three vinyl pressings of the album: the first included 546 on black and 548 on dark green; the next two were each 1,000 copies on black vinyl. "Congotronics" will now also be released on vinyl as part  of Crammed Discs Congotronics Vinyl Box Set, a limited-edition box containing 5 albums from the Congotronics Series as well as assorted bonuses. Reception. Initial critical response to "Congotronics" was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 11 reviews. The album placed 31st in webzine Pitchfork Media's staff list, "Top 50 Albums of 2005," and in August 2009, "Paradiso" was named the 386th track in their staff list, "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s". Congotronics series. Konono Nº1 's "Congotronics" was the first volume in the eponymously titled, ongoing Congotronics series of albums devoted to electrified traditional music from the Congo, curated and produced by Vincent Kenis for the Crammed Discs label. Volume 2 of the Congotronics Series is the multi-artist "Buzz'n'Rumble In The Urb'n'Jungle" album (released on CD and video), volume 3 is "In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic" by the Kasai Allstars collective, and Konono Nº1's 2010 album "Assume Crash Position". To date, the "Congotronics" series has featured music by  bands such as Kasai Allstars, Sobanza Mimanisa, Kisanzi Congo, Masanka Sankayi and Basokin. These bands play what is referred to in the Congo as "tradi-moderne" music, and comprise musicians who left the bush in order to settle in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic Of The Congo. In order to continue to fulfill their social role (they play at weddings, funerals and social gatherings) and make themselves heard by their fellow citizens despite the high level of urban noise, they had to resort to a makeshift electrification of their instruments, which provoked a radical mutation of their sound . The much-commented similarities between this music and some forms of avant-rock or electronica is purely fortuitous, since these bands draw exclusively on traditional trance music and have been totally unaware of current Western trends so far.