Spotify Takeover :: Rusangano Family

Big, bold tunes and even a little Steve Reich.

If you've listened to Rusangano Family's debut album 'Let The Dead Bury The Dead', you'll know this is a trio with a diverse musical DNA. Finding room to reference everyone from Jamaican dancehall deejays Spragga Benz and Super Cat, to Limerick rock duo GiveAManAKick, it's an album rich with influences filtered into a collective voice that is very much their own. To give us a little insight on what's been inspiring them lately, God Knows, Murli and mynameisjOhn picked seven tracks each for this Spotify playlist. Taking in English grime, Ethiopian folk and American minimalism, it's a suitably open-minded selection from one of the country's most forward-thinking groups.

Speaking of his selections, God Knows highlighted Stormzy's spiritual 'Blinded By Your Grace Pt.2' as "The first time that me and my Ma have bonded over Grime - that's a mile stone in my life" . There's also the excellent Foldin' Clothes by J. Cole, of which he says "I wish I could have written myself, I'm so jealous of the man's penmanship."

Murli shares his "post-gig wind-down music" in the form of the lilting Yene Nesh Way by Hailu Merga and Dahlak Band: "Let this album be your introduction to Ethiopian modernised folk music if you're not yet familiar with it. The legendary Mulatu Astatke is on it too, which is more reason to get on this". Speaking about Sampha's 'Know One Knows Me (Like The Piano)', Murli says "this is one of those songs that I simply can't get out of my head lately and I don't want to either. It's simple and raw but sometimes that's all you need when there's so much emotion to express".

For mynameisjOhn "there's always going to be some OutKast in a Rusangano playlist. To me, 'Spottie' is one of their most visceral tracks - it makes you feel like you're walking around a rural Atlanta neighbourhood in the sweltering heat, waiting for something to pop off. Definitely top three duos in rap ever - maybe even the best (I'm just covering my back)". While for the closing track, clocking in at a comprehensive 61 minutes, there's Steve Reich's 'Music For 18 Musicians'. As mynameisjOhn explains it's "proper trance music, after about 20 minutes in, you can feel your third eye acting up."

Takeover :: Rusangano Family

God Knows Selection
1. Wiley - Speakerboxx
2. James Vincent Mcmorrow - Surreal
3. Stormzy - Blinded By Your Grace Pt.2 Ft. MNEK
4. J.Cole - Foldin Clothes
5. Meltybrains? - The Vine
6. Kano - Strangers
7. Frank Ocean - Solo Reprise

Murli's Selection
8. Sampha - Like the Piano
9. Windings - Ambivalence Blues
10. Hailu Merga, Dahlak Band - Yene Nesh Wey:
11. Jidenna - Bambi
12. Saint Sister - Tin Man
13. Syd - All About Me
14. Run the Jewels - Talk to Me

mynameisjOhn's Selection
15. Shye Ben Tzur - Junun
16. Outkast - Spottieottiedopaliscious
17. Rejjie Snow - Crooked Cops
18. Flying Lotus - Do the Astral Plane
19. Kaba Bion - Furu Djougou
20. Redneck Manifesto - We Still Got It
21. Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

Watch Rusangano Family's interview with Annie Mac and their performance in St. James' Church on the RTE Player here.