‘An Electronic Dance music project based on thousands of years of Rhythm history from all over the globe. No Boundaries. No Rules. No Bullshit. All Styles.’ - thus reads Africane 808’s manifesto-like Facebook bio. And if you play the first few bars of the opening track followed by the closing strains of the final track on Basar it’s pretty clear it’s a set of tenets the Berlin duo adhere to uncompromisingly. Incidentally, it also sounds like an ad for a decorating firm - ‘all styles, no job too small.’

Evidently, Africane 808 aren’t intimidated by the larger jobs either as their music is a broad church that embraces styles from all over the globe. The aforementioned opener ‘The Awakening’ incorporates a sassy bossa nova beat with jazzy overlays and then builds in a multitude of synthesised patterns. The record’s closer, ‘The Lord is a Woman’, is a joyous gospel freak-out complete with African beats and rhythms. Their range and scope is nothing if not ambitious.

The appropriation of ‘global’ musical styles has had something of a renaissance in recent years. From the Paul Simon-referencing polyrhythms of Vampire Weekend to the tribal sound of Goat and the voodoo vibe of last year's Sexwitch debut, artists seem to be increasingly looking east for inspiration. Where those artists tend to stick to a thematic trend in their work, Africane 808 have declared open season on world music.

Their tool of choice, quite surprisingly for such a substantial undertaking, is the Roland TR-808 analogue drum machine. As well as being their namesake, and their ‘third and first female member’, the old TR-808 was commissioned by the duo for the purpose of ‘transforming old gold into modern DJ and Dancefloor friendly tunes.’ On Basar Africane 808 are largely successful in bending the analogue device to their will. ‘NGONI’s’ Indian-inflected dubstep and ‘Balla Balla Master’s satisfyingly repetitive pulse is likely to fill many a sweaty dance floor with happy hip swingers.

Basar is not a one-tempo record though and there are plenty of tracks that will fulfil the slow number slot of an evening. The blissed-out rolling lilt of ‘Ready for Something New’ displays the duo are capable of a light touch when necessary. But ultimately it’s the tracks that brim with their obvious sense of fun and enthusiasm that are the most successful, and this is most clearly defined on the album’s highlight, ‘Yes We Can’. It’s a bizarre number dominated by a recurrent jaw harp riff (not an instrument commonly associated with cutting edge dance music), African rhythms and wandering synths. God knows how or why, but it works, and props for that.

Africane 808 describe themselves as ‘two nerds nerding’, and while ‘Yes We Can’ is testament to the success of that dynamic, that inherent nerdiness does fail them at times. ‘Language of the Bass’ is a tedious track and ‘Fallen From the Stars' is a wearily generic number. But these are rare missteps by this infinitely curious duo.

Basar is a curiosity of a record: using old technology to explore the use of traditional world music rhythms and styles within an electronic dance music framework. The nature of this very premise could so easily have made for a messy and confused effort, but Africane 808 somehow manage to make a cohesive piece of work out of so many conflicting elements. They should surely be commended for their brave experiments, especially when the outcome is as surprising and enjoyable as this. All styles indeed.