We've talked about 'Warm Heart of Africa' before, albeit live, wherein I called it a "sweet rolling hill on the colourful plains of this cross cultural journey". We've also talked about the awesome remixes that arose from the single and now it's finally being released as a 7" via Green Owl who are also letting the single and it's b-side loose into the wild for freeeeeeeeee!

The name of the B-side rhymes with Shakira, and reminds me of the time when Wyclef yells "Shakira! Shakira!" at the start of that song he collaborated with her on.

The b-side, 'Yalira' is absolutely lovely. Epic. It gives me birth of Simba 'Circle Of Life' on the Lion King kind of feelings. Then the strings come plucking in. Full of joy, with Esau's ebullient vocals dominating what I imagine to be a tropical technicolour rainbow of the rich savannah-scape of this track, it's another teaser that will whip you all into a frenzy to hear The Very Best's forthcoming LP due out in October (it's very verrry good).

If we could choose just one style for Marina (as in Gasolina , ex-Bonde do Role) I'm afraid we would go for the sweet latin songs that she has just recorded with the cute French singer Soko that was produced by the Swedish duo Radioclit.

'Mum' features a sample from the gracious WAR's 'Low Rider' and has the cutest lyrics about your teenage relationship with your Mum - including the line "Don't blame me If I wake up at 2 / If my life seems shit and I hardly see you". Although not quite the hit you would expect from this team, the song will surely find a sunny place in your MP3 collection.

'Mum' is part of a series of 7"s of unreleased material that the label IHEARTCOMIX is doing with Pure Groove. Each single will be limited to 300 copies, so be fast. The art work was done by Robert Goodin, apparently a comic book sensation.

You should know by now that the combined powers of the Frenchman Etienne Tron and the Swede Johan Karlberg are the duo that make up Radioclit; who, joined by Malawian born Esau Mwamwaya, are The Very Best. Now in mid 2009 The Very Best find themselves on a US tour, hitting Le Poisson Rouge on the New York leg last Saturday.

Setting up for The Very Best at Le Poisson Rouge

photography by Christel Escosa

Having found a niche in the same part of London as the international trio, I felt a twinge of what I suppose you might call an oddly patrotic pride to see them on the NYC side of the pond. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation, warmed up by the somewhat bumbling, if well meaning DJs, before Johan took to the stage to introduce Esau Mwamwaya.

Esau Mwamwaya

Glowing with warmth and good spirit, Esau bounded onto the stage accompanied by two dancers - though one had her leg in a cast so resorted to occasionally hopping around on one foot whilst the other was left to shake it doubly hard.

A thoroughly feel good time ensued, the crowd singing along to The Very Best's collaborations and covers as best they could with each their own version of Chichewa (the national language of Malawi). The Very Best performed favourites from their critically acclaimed mixtape, where they transformed beats and tracks, collaborating, covering and remixing everyone from indie superstars to recently deceased pop royalty...M.I.A. and Santigold to Michael Jackson to Architechture in Helsinki to Vampire Weekend. And despite a couple of shouts to give their version of MJ's Free Willy theme 'Will You Be There' a turn, it was politely ignored - rightfully and thankfully so, in as much a relief from the MJ tsuami of late as anything.

Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig made a cameo

When the sunny opening notes of 'Warm Heart of Africa' began and Esau mentioned something about a special guest, we all realised that the fresh faced Ezra Koenig was to make a cameo. It wasn't particularly the highlight of the gig though, just another sweet rolling hill on the colourful plains of this cross cultural journey, which ended with the board thumping crowd pleading for encores. 

It was a fun gig, open hearted, unpretentious and bouyant, with no one holding back from having a good time. Johan even shared out the (leftover) booze from their rider and dished it out to the audience. Sharing is caring people! The nicest part about it all was the feeling of a mutual contribution between all the gig-goers and The Very Best.

Sharing is caring. Johan dishing out some booze.

I think this is due to Esau himself, the way Radioclit has gotten behind him and the way the music has come out as a result. Brilliantly, in a word. You can still catch the mixtape on their myspace.

Meanwhile, check out these two tracks from their debut full length, 'Warm Heart of Africa', one being the title track featuring Ezra Koenig and 'Raindance' with everyone's favourite bamboo banga M.I.A. doing what she does best.