The Very Best are a three-man crew (two-thirds Radioclit and one-third Malawian vocalist Esau Mwamwaya ). Now with that sort of name they might come off a little audacious on paper, but just having spent some time with these guys, it all made me realize how little goes into a bands name—when most of the real effort is spent on creating new music. We wouldn't care if they were called The Very Worst. They'd still have crowds jumping around from the U.K. to Malawi, San Francisco to New York, and back then again.

London-based Radioclit (Johan Karlberg & Etienne Tron) have long been producing solid tracks and remixes on remixes since 2004, but only recently, in 2008, did they decide to collaborate with Esau—by up-sampling chart poppers like Vampire Weekend, M.I.A. and Santogold, and having Esau reinvent the songs in Malawian lyrics. Playing with some hip hop, some nice electro beats and a little "crunky, not so Africany" stuff, according Karlberg, the Very Best come to feature The Warm Heart of Africa via some sweet Malawian lyrics, with much credit to Esau's songwriting and vocal talents. The awesome thing about this collaboration is the passion shared for music between these artists, and even more so the cultural exchange that has taken place. Whenever in prime shape, things can easily go to the head, but these fellas are keeping things pretty real for now, traveling to Kamphopo, Malawi on a frequent (where Esau now lives)... Johan even captured their first video on his cell phone while visiting Esau's hometown the last time.

The Very Best Myspace