Cuban Roots Meet Dubstep on 'Mala in Cuba'
On his own and in the London dubstep duo Digital Mystikz, Mala has kept up a dizzyingly prolific pace over the last several years, between releasing DM records and solo projects, producing other artists, running the DMZ label and the renowned party of the same name, and remixing a raft of tracks by everyone from Grace Jones to Sizzla. But now, despite all the areas he's entered into already, Mala is getting set to tread on new territory.
Tapping into his love of the sensual melodic flavors and supple, sophisticated grooves of traditional Cuban music, he journeyed to the source of those sounds, making a trip to Havana with a plan to combine tracks by Cuban musicians with his own work. Sequestering himself in a studio with Havana-born pianist Roberto Fonseca and his band, Mala recorded the group's jams and then took the tracks back home with him to work his magic. The fruits of this pan-cultural effort will be released on September 11 on the Bronswood Recordings label as Mala in Cuba. Describing his agenda for the album, Mala says his intent was "to respect the musicians and the culture, but at the same time I still wanted to make music that I could play to my audience, and in my environment — on a soundsystem. It’s Havana meets South London, you know?"
