Nandele - Maputo (2024)

Mozambican live artist and producer Nandele kicks off Human Endeavour’s 2024 release schedule with ‘Maputo’, a musical ode to the city he calls home.

As a key figure in the capital’s electronic music scene, Nandele has earned a reputation for producing hypnotic analogue beats shaped by his wide-ranging tastes; spells in grunge bands, boom bap crews and hip hop collectives, and releases for Tresor, Cotch International and Already Dead Tapes, are just a few footnotes in a nearly 25-year long career.

Plans for a full body of work for Ransom Note’s sub-label have been in motion for some time - Nandele’s track ‘Incomati’ opened the label’s first ever release in 2022 - so this EP marks an important chapter in Human Endeavour’s journey.

Across the EPs six tracks Nandele weaves field recordings captured around Maputo with tense rhythms; at times they crawl and slither, at others they rumble and clatter.

Both ‘Sou Plastiko (Meu Lugar)’ and ‘Chapa 100’ are prime examples. Dripping with suspense, their rhythmic skeletons have been fleshed out with tripped-out synth lines, eerie, textural sounds and sharp, crisp percussion.

‘Nau603’, ‘Makonde’ and ‘Arquivo 16’ are equally trance-inducing but the tempo is raised. There’s frenetic beats and squelchy 303s; fizzing static and harsh, industrial sound design - all signifiers of Nandele’s imaginative sonic world.

‘News Day’ showcases another side of his production prowess; not only is he a master of beats but of synthesis too, as this beautiful, shimmering beatless composition proves.

“Maputo is my birth place and the project is an ode to the city also known as "Cidade das Acácias", and MPT for short. The capital is such a vibrant city, rich in culture, and all ethnicities of the country live in this amazing place.

“It's the people that make this place a wonderful place to live: the markets; the vendors on the streets; the Txova pushed around during the day with their different chants about the food or supplies that they are selling; the semi collective transportation called "Chapa Cem" with the "cobrador" saying the routes in a very peculiar tune. There is Music everywhere... that's Maputo!”: Nandele.