The Very Best

• Genre: Indie Pop

About

Three foreigners adopt London as their hometown, and together they tweak musical threads that extend deep into real and imagined territories -- Malawi, John Hughes films, European dancefloors. An awkward mix? Perhaps on the surface, but for U.K.-based production duo Radioclit, it makes sense. Early on, Radioclit (Etienne Tron and Johan Karlberg) had adopted the "ghettopop" mantle, dipping their fingers into everything from grime and dubstep to Brazil's baile funk and Angola's kuduro. When they struck up a friendship with Malawi-born singer Esau Mwamwaya, it quickly morphed into a creative collaboration. Mwamwaya had played music for years in his home country, and in Radioclit's company he proved to have a limitless store of musical ideas. The trio launched a series of mixtape appearances and internet-only singles -- including a lauded cover version of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" -- and they dipped their toes in full-length waters in 2008 with the free, internet-only Radioclit and Esau Mwamwaya Are the Very Best. The release garnered accolades among the blogging class and built anticipation for 2009's intriguing Warm Heart of Africa.

- Sarah Bardeen