In their upcoming debut album WUM, Togolese activist rapper Yao Bobby and Swiss noisemaker Simon Grab combine sound generated through technical error with fighting lyrics about commodity culture and colonialism.

“Electronics was really not my universe,” says MC Yao Bobby, speaking to Rob Turner in The Wire 457, recalling the early days of his collaborative relationship with Grab. “At first it was complicated, no beat, no cue. I had to reinvent myself, to approach my rap in a different way. Hiphop is a protest movement”, he continues, “it got a bit lost, but that’s how I see it.”

Producer Grab's no-input mixing setup is also used to channel political themes on his and guitarist Francesco Giudici's recent album [No] Surrender, where feedback and drone loops are used to evoke self-referential systems and a continuous struggle.

In this video for Yao Bobby & Simon Grab's single “Lekeo” (“How”), film makers Jonathan Jäggi & Tobias Kubli use a thermal camera to capture choreography by Rafał Pierzyński, performed by the contemporary dancer Carlos Becho.

Learn more about the themes and provocations present in the duo's work in their interview in The Wire 457. Subscribers can also read the article via the digital archive. WUM is released by LavaLava. The pair perform at Tusk North and tour the UK in March: see Out There.