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African ChillZone Vol. 7

Forty-one tracks that treat the African continent and its dance floors as one continuous conversation. Volume seven, and the ear has not slipped.

The chill end, seventh time out

What keeps this series worth following is the refusal to chase the biggest record. The selections are made on mood — melodic, mid-tempo, built to run for hours — which means South African deep house sits comfortably next to Nigerian pop and neither has to shout.

This volume in particular catches a specific moment: the point at which amapiano's log drum had become a continental default and Nigerian artists were beginning to reach for South African producers rather than the other way round.

What to listen for

Rema appears four times, which is the right call for this period. "Calm Down" became one of the most-streamed African records ever made, but "Peace Of Mind" and "Runaway" are the better songs.

Tems gets two — "Damages" and "Vibe Out" — and both are from the period just before she became internationally unavoidable.

The South African material is the quiet strength. "Dinaledi" pairs Major League DJz and Abidoza with Mpho Sebina of Botswana, and Sun-El Musician appears with Miči on "Respond" — Sun-El is one of the most melodically gifted producers working anywhere.

Lemon & Herb's "Wildest Dreams" and The Code's "East London, SA" represent the deeper house end.

Juls and Mayra Andrade's "Love Language" connects Ghana to Cape Verde, and Tomi Agape's "London" brings the British diaspora in.

"JAPA" by Odae and Babyface is worth a note: japa is Nigerian slang for leaving the country, and the wave of emigration it describes is one of the defining social facts of the last few years.

Bracket's "Mama Africa" is the oldest thing here and the most sentimental, deliberately.

Go deeper

Sun-El Musician's Africa to the World is the album to hear — it contains "Akanamali" and is one of the warmest dance records of the last decade.

Rema's Rave & Roses and Tems' Born in the Wild are the two artist albums.

And Mpho Sebina is the discovery worth chasing — Botswana has a small music industry and she is comfortably its most compelling voice.

A closing thought on the series. Seven volumes in, the value is no longer discovery alone but continuity — hearing the same curatorial ear track a scene across years lets you notice things a snapshot cannot, like the exact point at which South African producers stopped being guests on Nigerian records and started being the destination.

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