I've got a CD to review.

It's part of a series, so be sure you get the right one if you try to buy it--they all have the same title. This one, like the others, is called Congotronics, by Konono No. 1 (the other disk I've seen in the series, Congotronics 2, has only one track from this act).

Hailing from Kinshasa on the banks of the Congo river, the group combines traditional thumb pianos (called likembe) with some homemade microphone and amplification setups. Throw in some singing, a few drums (some sound equally homemade), and of course, dancers, and you have what by rights should be just a colorful long-time local act with the same eccentricities you see in any major city--obscure, but with their own fan base around town. Instead, thanks to American critics' enthusiastic reaction to this disk, they are now a minor international sensation.

And what do they sound like? The sound of the amplified likembe dominate the ear with a hollow, tinny, distorted timbre and harmonies that aren't based on Western scales--it's fascinating to hear the bass likembe thrumming along in a low ostinato as the various drums, buckets, and--probably--trash cans beat a shuffle or a suspiciously Brazilian-sounding beat. The band has been around for about thirty years, so they've clearly spent a lot of time and effort refining their style. There are call-and-response singing, so typical of African music in that part of the continent, and boiling polyrhythms that at times almost seem to lose themselves in a seething hum of amplification.

The disk is clearly recorded live in a concert setting and that's reflected in the hint of formality to the opening song. I don't know any Lingala, but "Lufuala Ndonga" opens with repeated mentions of the band's name--an introduction, perhaps? That live vibe doesn't keep the recording engineers from fading in and out once or twice, but most of the tracks open with a figure from a likembe, then dive into rich counterpoint for extended stretches, leavened with relatively simple sung melodies. At times, the trance-like tunes seem to not so much end as roll to a stop as they run out of steam, but this is a minor quibble in the face of such endless inventive counterpoint and resourceful cross-rhythmic joy.

9 out of 10

CDs listened to today:

• Samuel Adler: String Quartet No. 6
• Beatles: Beatles For Sale
• Konono No. 1: Congotronics
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sechs Lieder
• Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come
• The Earlies: These Were The Earlies
• Arild Plau: Concerto For Tuba And Orchestra
• Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet In A, "The Trout"
• Ernst Bloch: Symphony For Trombone Solo (Armin Rosin, soloist)