Source: Insta

Kenya believe it?

Kenya, oh Kenyaaaa! Where the giraffes are and the zebraaare!

since people are gonna be askin, I believe that's Tosin Abasi, guitarist of the band Animals as Leaders

Thank you. Now I'm one of those who know.

Iceland has something similar: instead of politicians or illustrious people, their coins feature fish.

Bless the rains down in Africa!

I'm shredded

I was gonna be telling but I'm glad you beat me to it.

Instead, I will VERY LOUDLY EMPHASIZE THAT TOSIN ABASI IS ONE OF THE BEST MODERN GUITARISTS AND EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN TO HIS BAND ANIMALS AS LEADERS

I guess I was a bit overdue for my annual week of listening to Weightless on repeat. Thanks for the reminder!

ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE ADHD LIKE ME

Got any specific song recommendations? Specifically to do with his guitar playing?

tosin was always onto something

Physical Education!

Abas! He truly was.

Physicist Education is amazing and one of their most catchy songs.

I didn't think one really needs to recommend any in particular to demonstrate their musical ability, they are all complex and impressive. And good! the technicality serves the music, not the other way round.

Source: Kenya coins replace leaders with animals

I kenyan't! Or something...

https://youtu.be/0jpOBd949O4

Just to follow-up on this in a bit more detail for you and other readers; Animals as Leaders is a three piece instrumental band with Toxin, another guitarist Javier Rayes* and a drummer, Matt Gartska. The band lacks a bassist for a nifty reason.

Whereas the typical guitar has 6 strings, Tosin and Javier both play 8-string guitars. Those two extra strings are tuned lower and allow a guitar to play the same low notes as a bass. These two dudes dont swap roles so much as accompany themselves, though. They're both incredibly talented and create music with rhythmic complexity and depth.

Physical Education is catchy and bouncy and the music video is silly. They dont take themselves very seriously, but they do take their music and performance seriously. All three are extremely skilled musicians.

*: Javier's solo project Mestís is also amazing. Softer than AaL and heavily inspired by Spanish rhythms and melodies.

Thanks for the detailed write-up! I appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Physical Education was fun. I’ll definitely check them out a bit more.

I also checked out Mestís, too, as your description sounded really interesting. Gentle Giant didn’t do much for me but I really enjoyed Media Noche. I’ll be exploring this some more, too.

Yeah, I posted the source of the actual meme

My pleasure, friend. I'm a major guitar nerd and Tosin is one of the most skilled and creative modern guitarists I know of and I love to sing his and AaL's praises.

The Brain Dance is another excellent, more recent and much softer song of theirs. I'd also recommend you check out Tosin's live playthrough of Wave of Babies on the EMG YT channel.

Regardless, if you or another reader is interested in guitar-centric instrumental rock give these a listen. Unlike AaL, I wouldn't call any of these bands heavy FWIW;

Covet

Chon

Scale the Summit (stick to old stuff)

Intervals (new stuff)

Polyphia

Oh, wow, so another country which depicts on their currency