Radio Zodiak by Owls Are Not

 

Radio Zodiak released by Owls Are Not is super interesting project, a transcontinental one which features musicians from Poland, Malawi and Tanzania. To embrace the genre spectrum of it is an impossible task as it is a melting pot, a bubbling cauldron of so many different labels and sublabels and genres: East African IDM, prog, traditional ngoma drumming, avant-pop, 90s-style electronica, ngoni vocal hymns, trip-hop, and art punk. 

14 compositions released as LP/CD and DL are steadily something really sensational when the eclectism is taken for granted and forgotten almost. All the tracks give something to dwell on. 

Tiye (Let's Go) - is an anthem with ngoni harmonies and edgy synth lead that is the main of the whole track which other rhythmical nuances are built around. It could easily be granted an IDM label but it is so much more than that.

An interlude - Digital Church reminds the listener that it is still an experimental album - I could easily put it on some plunderphonic album with spoken word.

Next track - Emergency is an easily, a sure shot banger which you could use on any dance party, but hey, it is quite ambitious for that - the structure of it is more of an art punk or afro new wave to put it simply. Definitely nothing that can disappoint both the dancing part in you and the part that craves for a little bit more.

House of the Witch brings a much needed moody climax again with a distinct synth lead but then moving on to really unnerving beat syncopates and spoken word. 

And again - a nice interlude of Zero Miles - I can really feel first hand what afro futurism might sound like in terms of music.

To The Planetarium is another banger where you ask yourself how much the sophistication of Eastern African beats can be elevated to a completely different level and used in such a imaginative way - definitely nothing that can disappoint you.

The whole album works on different levels. Conceptually it is nothing to do with academia - the music study has been done here first hand - we know exactly what we are dealing with - yet it is something that you might not be aware. On a popular, digestive, consumer level of listening - it is an album that you can put into different contexts and will always work for you - be it avant dance listening experience, electronic album. Another level is a postcard from the world of Terra Incognita - how much do we really know about African music in its modern form? Probably not much beyond the cliches of Fela Kuti or some retro futurism.

On all those levels - it is the album that not only doesn't disappoint but brings some sort of new awareness to the scene. And first and foremost - it is really good fun to listen. Please buy any version from the link below:

                                                                      Bandcamp Link

The intercontinental group Owls Are Not, bringing together musicians from Poland, Malawi, and Tanzania, presents their latest album "Radio Zodiak" - a record that evolves from their surreal, dystopian experiments toward more cohesive yet spacey songwriting, enriched with dadaistic sound collages. "Radio Zodiak" blends elements of East African IDM, prog, traditional ngoma drumming, avantpop, 90s-style electronica, ngoni vocal hymns, trip-hop, and art punk. The result is a very particular version of global / goth / afro / pop.

In contrast to their previous, mostly instrumental albums, "Radio Zodiak" centers around vocalized songs that tackle diverse subject matter. Tracks "Tiye (Let's Go)" and "Tikondwere (Celebrate)" explore themes of hope and community spirit, while "Ndili Ngati Nkhwazi (I am like an Eagle)" and "Emergency" address freedom of movement and global migration exclusions - the latter alluding to helping people trapped on migration routes.

"To the Planetarium" draws from Walter Benjamin's poetic prose, quoting: "The ancients' intercourse with the cosmos had been different: the ecstatic trance. For it is in this experience alone that we gain certain knowledge of what is nearest to us and what is remotest to us, and never of one without the other." "House of the Witch" poetically presents an African perspective on witchcraft that profoundly differs from the romanticized Western view. Particularly notable is "Messiah Nisan Farber," recounting the story of a teenage revolutionary from pre-war Białystok whose kamikaze attack on violent tsarist militia made him a martyr icon of early 20th century anarchists, while “Mino Valkyrias” samples both Richard Wagner’s operas and West-African street music.

The album was recorded in studios across Warsaw (Poland), Mzuzu (Malawi), and Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) by an ensemble of musicians: Piotr Dang Cichocki, Happy Mphande, Piotr Mazurek (who rejoins the band after a 10-year hiatus), Lilian Yohana, William JahFace Mkolongo, and Dumis9ne I. 

credits

released October 2, 2025

Mastering: Michał Kupicz

Graphic design: Dang Thuy Duong (based on the image of Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius)

transcription from chiTumbuka: Hlalisa Sanga