I just joined this board after reading this thread. It's unfortunate that this conversation is just over three years old now, but I figured I'd add what I've found:
Fela is *the dude* He invented Afrobeat. Femi is really good too. But Seun Kuti is keeping Egypt 80 going and I really like his ****. He's clearly his father's son, but the records have a crispness to them that I really enjoy.
NOMO is a band I just stumbled across tonight. They're white kids from Montreal or something and they take the Afrobeat template, strip away the political aspect, and focus on the groove. So much so that I almost couldn't stay sitting. Tasteful solos, extremely tight band. I don't know about anyone else, but I can't stand over indulgent solos.
These next suggestions aren't exactly Afrobeat, but things that have Afro-Cuban rhythms in them.
Chico Mann just put out a record called Analog Drift that is essentially electronic Afrobeat. It's really smart. If he didn't embrace Beat so much, Pitchfork would probably have a lot more to say about him. He uses the in-vogue chintzy 80s casio sounds, so it gives his music this kind of weird sheen, but with all the grooves. Check out the song Ya Yo Se.
I really like Forro in the Dark. They're from Brazil. Just check them out. I can't really explain them other than saying their music is extremely rhythm heavy.
The Budos Band take horn arrangements from Funk, Soul, and Afrobeat, and create these imposingly epic hip-hop songs with that blend. They're on Antibalas' record label. (Which bears to mention: EVERYTHING ON DAPTONE RECORDS IS REALLY GOOD.)
Maybe give Novos Baianos a shot. They were/are a psychedelic pop/tropicalia band from Brazil. Their album Acabou Chorare is something I find myself listening to frequently.
Also, in the realm of sample music, Bonobo's third LP Black Sands takes a lot of Southern Hemisphere rhythms. He creates a type of downtempo or trip-hop that owes a lot to latin music, but in a very, very intelligently applied way.
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