2010 has seen the term tropical tossed around more than ever, but Banana Clipz producers Oro11 and Chief Boima are anything but newcomers to the movement. Their self-titled debut EP is the culmination of several years of work, and effectively melds modern, bass-heavy club sounds with the rhythms of Africa, Jamaica, and Latin America. Oro11 is the co-founder of the Bersa Discos, the West Coast cumbia imprint whose low-end-heavy brand of cumbia and other Latin sounds helped bring an entire new sound palette to first-world dancefloors. Currently residing in Los Angeles, the California native previously spent several years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he first began fusing cumbia with hip-hop, dancehall, and electronic music. Chief Boima is a New York-based DJ, producer, writer, blogger, and academic. Basically, if you've spent any time investigating so-called tropical music in recent years, it would be impossible not to stumble across his name, his writing, or his productions. Well-versed in a variety of African, Latin, and Caribbean sounds, he frequently writes for our own acclaimed Ghetto Bassquake blog right here. He's also been adopted by New York's Dutty Artz collective, a label/crew headed by DJ Rupture and Matt Shadetek that released his Techno Rumba EP earlier this year. Together, Oro11 and Chief Boima are Banana Clipz, a project that began when both artists were living in Oakland. Forged over the course of three years, their EP distills the pair's shared love of...