ORCHESTRA BAOBAB N'Wolof (Dakar Sound) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Seeing as how Orchestra Baobab had just released a brand new album, we thought we'd pick up their first album (recorded between 1970 & 1971) for kicks and it's so damn good we've decided we ought to just list it. Orchestra Baobab's namesake is derived from the club (its interior decorated like the trunk of a gigantic baobab tree) where the group backed up a fluid collection of vocalists who would sing for drink and cash. Unlike the group's later recordings, the tracks on N'Wolof have a much more subtle Latin influence with the exception of a few numbers (the vocal chorus for "Cheri Takama" sounding a great deal like "La Bamba".) At times, during the longer, contemplative numbers, they sound strikingly like Mali's Rail Band (itself the house band at a Bamako hotel) during this same period. Which should probably not come as much of a surprize considering Mali shares Senegal's Eastern border. It's these longer tracks -- some 7 and 8 minutes -- where Orchestra Baobab really shines; the vocals dropping out, leaving rhythm guitar, bass & drums to play unbelievably sensuous back up for laid back sax and guitar solos. And it's the guitar solos (by the amazing Barthelemy Attiso, who still plays with the group) that are truly *gorgeous*. It's that unmistakable African pop electric guitar sound: hollow body electric guitar with lots of reverb & tremolo. But then, on top of that, there's these insane psychedelic, fuzzed out solos with heaps of echo that fairly raises the hairs on your skin. It's almost painful when these tracks end, and you're awoken from your opiate like reverie. And it was all recorded live (sans audience I'm pretty sure) at the Club Baobab. The surviving tapes and albums -- originally released on the club's own Bao label -- are in varying states of decay -- you can distinctly hear some tape drop out more than once (but I personally love that such analog anomolies will forever survive in the digital realm.) But fidelity schmidelity, this album is absolutely fucking essential!
RealAudio clip: "N'Diaye"
RealAudio clip: "Aduna Jarul Naawo"
RealAudio clip: "Lat Dior"

ORCHESTRA BAOBAB Pirates Choice (World Circuit) 2cd 23.00
Orchestra Baobab was formed in 1970 in Dakar, Senegal to inaugurate the opening of The Baobab Club. The band was made up of musicians from Dakar's Star Band (formed in 1960) and numerous other big players in Senegal's fertile music scene played parts in the group as well. The music of Orchestra Baobab and much of the Dakar scene was heavily influenced, ironically enough, by Latin songs and rhythms. Three of the songs on Pirates Choice are reworkings of Cuban songs and much of their music is sung in Spanish as well (so, it's very recommended to Buena Vista Socail Club fans). Kit drums and percussion lay the backbone of the Baobab sound, a deep and muted bass fills the room while a warm and reverberant guitar plays laid back solos, betraying even the fastest of the band's numbers. Occasionally a saxophone will add its two cents as vocalists sing in Wolof or Spanish. Though the Latin influence is always present, the songs here are much less drum taut, more likely to swing with an off the cuff ease. The tracks on these two discs were recorded in 1982, but only the six tracks which comprise the first disc were ever released on lp or cd. Lovely.
RealAudio clip: "Utrus Horas"
RealAudio clip: "Soldadi"
RealAudio clip: "Ngalam"

ORCHESTRA BAOBAB Specialist In All Styles (World Circuit) cd 17.98
Brand new recordings from Senegal's legendary Orchastra Baobab. The group, which got its start over 30 years ago, had a huge comeback with the reissue of their 1982 release "Pirate's Choice". It seems that the global attention the band received via this trip to the vaults inspired the band to reform, tour, and finally, to cut a new album of songs. Those fearing a watered down, world beat shadow of the band's legacy should sigh a heavy sigh of relief. "Specialist" could well have been recorded 20 years ago as much as it was several months ago. It's nice to know that the grubby little paws of Peter Gabriel and other homogenizers of music still can't destroy everything. Orchestra Baobab still stick to the same instrumental arrangements: airy & echoey electric guitars, deep & warm bass, saxophones, drums (along with congas, maracas & timbales) and vocals. The Latin influence in their rhythms and melodies is still ever present and, thankfully, they still opt for a live sound in their recordings, as they have since their earliest recordings. A fine return from a great band.
RealAudio clip: "Dee Moo Woor"
RealAudio clip: "Hommage A Tonton Ferrer"

ORCHESTRA ETHIOPIA Ethiopiques Vol. 23 (Buda Musique) cd 15.98
Formed in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Orchestre Ethiopia took on the task of bringing traditional Ethiopian folk sounds back into the limelight at a time when modern music ensembles were at the height of their popularity. However, rather than simply performing traditional songs for a wider (and eventually international) audience, the Orchestre's sound was unique as it took elements of a number of different folk traditions and mixed them up into a joyous, celebratory blend of Ethiopian cultures. The group itself was as diverse as its musical inclinations: it was initially assembled and led by a series of Americans including an ethnomusicologist and a Peace Corps worker (although it found a native leader in 1966 when Tesfaye Lemma took over leadership) and its membership included singers, dancers and musicians from a diverse array of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The result is a sound that falls squarely between the two styles that the Ethiopiques series has done such a remarkable job of documenting: Orchestre Ethiopia weren't a traditional folk group, nor were they a modern groove ensemble. Instead, they played an inspired pastiche of traditional sounds in a very modern way, never committing to one particular sound or groove.
Although Orchestre Ethiopia released two LPs between 1969 and the group's disintegration in 1975, the majority of the tracks included on this disc are previously unreleased archival material - a fact which is reflected in the less than stellar fidelity of the recordings. However, the lack of polish adds a wooly, mysterious air to the music, and further emphasizes the group's outsider status. For all of the reasons above, this latest installment of the mighty Ethiopiques series has quickly become a favorite of the aQ staff, and it includes the extensive liner notes, personal essays, and archival photographs that one would come to expect from the fine folks at Buda Musique. Whether this is the first Ethiopiques cd you pick up or the 23rd, the fact of the matter remains: this is a brilliant, gorgeous and haunting collection of music from the golden age of one of the world's most culturally rich regions. Essential!
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRE ETHIOPIA "Yèhetsanu Lèqso"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRE ETHIOPIA "Besetchet"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRE ETHIOPIA "Aba Balano Shanka"

ORCHESTRE POLY RYTHMO DE COTONOU Echos Hypnotiques: 1969-1979 (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
We nearly wore out our copies of the first volume of singles and jams from the amazing Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, a previously little known but highly prolific Afro-beat group from the tiny western Africa country of Benin. Now they're one of our top favorite groups! The Analog Africa label was practically founded on their discovery and other groups who recorded for the Albarika Store Label and its elusive producer, Adissa Seidou. That discovery yielded enormous riches. Over 500 tracks from this legendary group in its many incarnations were unearthed, nearly half were recorded for the Albarika Store Label and this collection focuses on that period. The previous volume was a collection of singles from smaller labels that the band made on the sly while Seidou was out of town. All lo-fi recordings often only using one microphone for the singer as well as the band. The recordings on this collection were made with higher quality recording equipment, and while the songs here have less of that urgent funk made by a band on the run, they are much more composed, varied and altogether stranger. Some of this is in fact seriously nuts! Lots of fuzzed out and wah'd guitar, layers of distorted percussion, horns and spacey organs. Though there are tracks that continue the Voudon funk vibe of the first volume, tracks like "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me" bring some head-boppin' Go-Go garage stomp, while tracks like "Gan Tche Kpo" are mind-melting Afro-psych. Others have more Latin flavor similar in vibe to Konono No.1's infectious dance rhythms, which makes sense as the OPRDC are one of the featured groups on the latest Honest Jon's comp, Africa Boogaloo (reviewed elsewhere on this list) that traces the influence of Latin rhythms on West Africa. The Analog Africa Label has yet to disappoint, and if you liked any of the labels other releases, or are new to this group/label, right here is a fine place to start!!
MPEG Stream: "Azon De Ma Gnin Kpevi"
MPEG Stream: "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me"
MPEG Stream: "Gan Tche Kpo"
MPEG Stream: "Mede Ma Gnin Messe"

ORCHESTRE POLY RYTHMO DE COTONOU Echos Hypnotiques: 1969-1979 (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
We nearly wore out our copies of the first volume of singles and jams from the amazing Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, a previously little known but highly prolific Afro-beat group from the tiny western Africa country of Benin. Now they're one of our top favorite groups! The Analog Africa label was practically founded on their discovery and other groups who recorded for the Albarika Store Label and its elusive producer, Adissa Seidou. That discovery yielded enormous riches. Over 500 tracks from this legendary group in its many incarnations were unearthed, nearly half were recorded for the Albarika Store Label and this collection focuses on that period. The previous volume was a collection of singles from smaller labels that the band made on the sly while Seidou was out of town. All lo-fi recordings often only using one microphone for the singer as well as the band. The recordings on this collection were made with higher quality recording equipment, and while the songs here have less of that urgent funk made by a band on the run, they are much more composed, varied and altogether stranger. Some of this is in fact seriously nuts! Lots of fuzzed out and wah'd guitar, layers of distorted percussion, horns and spacey organs. Though there are tracks that continue the Voudon funk vibe of the first volume, tracks like "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me" bring some head-boppin' Go-Go garage stomp, while tracks like "Gan Tche Kpo" are mind-melting Afro-psych. Others have more Latin flavor similar in vibe to Konono No.1's infectious dance rhythms, which makes sense as the OPRDC are one of the featured groups on the latest Honest Jon's comp, Africa Boogaloo (reviewed elsewhere on this list) that traces the influence of Latin rhythms on West Africa. The Analog Africa Label has yet to disappoint, and if you liked any of the labels other releases, or are new to this group/label, right here is a fine place to start!!
MPEG Stream: "Azon De Ma Gnin Kpevi"
MPEG Stream: "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me"
MPEG Stream: "Gan Tche Kpo"
MPEG Stream: "Mede Ma Gnin Messe"

ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU The Vodoun Effect: 1972-1975 (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
One of our favorite cuts from the recent African Scream Contest compilation was from the Benin based Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Contonou, a stellar Afro-funk collective that in various line-ups recorded over 500 tracks between 1970-1985. This is part one of a planned two volume release, this one focusing on a prolific string of singles released on various private labels between 1972-1975. As the story goes, the band were signed to a major African label and recorded at a high quality studio (which will be the focus of the second volume), but while the label head was away on business, the band would take matters into their own hands, recording various singles for small independent labels, often at people's homes with only one microphone for the singer and the band in a close semi-circle behind him. The sound quality with such limitations is actually quite amazing and really displays the group's tight -knit musicianship. Like Fela Kuti's legendary band, the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou deal in heavy James Brown inspired Afro-funk, but more centered on guitars and organ than the horn section. This is one of the best and most consistent anthologies of West African music from a single group we've seen in these parts all year! Highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Mi Homlan Dadale"
MPEG Stream: "Mi Ni Non Kpo"
MPEG Stream: "Iya Me Dji Ki Bi Ni"

ORCHESTRE REGIONAL DE KAYES The Best Of The First Biennale Of Arts & Culture For The Young (1970) (Mississippi) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thus far Mississippi Record's bread and butter has been seriously deep blues and gospel compilations, with the occasional pre-war Hawaiian tune or Balkan folk ensemble. However, with the reissue of Orchestra Regional de Kayes, originally released in 1970, and the sterling soon to be re-pressed Lipa Kodi Ya City Council comp from a few lists ago, Mississippi is finding a bit of flexibility in their catalogue, with no drop in quality whatsoever.
In 1960, after Mali won Independence from France, the government specified that each of the eight regions of Mali be represented by an orchestra comprised of, naturally, their very best musicians. The orchestras convened once a year from 1962-68, and subsequently every other year until the mid-eighties, to determine who was the best. This record documents a portion of the repertoire performed by the Orchestra Regional de Kayes, representing a region in the northwest of Mali bordering Senegal. It is their only recording, and was originally released in the Barenreiter-Musicaphon series. The bulk of the songs are renditions of traditional Mande folk songs, interpreted in the context of Mali's burgeoning modernity. And now, with a bit history under our collective belts we feel more justified in saying casuallyŠ holy shit, this is beautiful.
After a few listens, it comes as no surprise that we are listening to players that were determined most officiously and perhaps ridiculously, to be THE best. Sit with that for a moment... THE BEST. What comes as a surprise, therefore, is how soulful, sensitive and lyrical every performance is. Though technically flawless, the musicians' chops are always employed in service of taste and spirit. The guitars alone are worth the price of admission, and are deployed in a seriously vast and nuanced manner; sometimes darting through the mix with insect-like dexterity, other times languidly careening across the chorus with zen-like patience, and most often threading their way adroitly to a soft spot between rhythm and melody, tradition and innovation, in which the players freedom is found in a limitless palette within and through the manipulation of convention. And in this way, the guitar playing is always very musical, but also lyrical and mimetic, as though the players are talking to you, or hinting at some emotional quantity embedded in the form. And that is just the guitars!
The vocals are also fantastic, with plenty of excellent call and response dynamics between a lead vocalist and a chorus. A few of the tracks feature lead vocalists that spill untamed and urgent phrasings that harken to recent Aq fav Omar Souleyman, and also hint at the kind of rabid flows some of us have come to love in the grime explosion. However, most of the vocals are more soulfully paced, and sometimes a bit mournful and bluesy. Needless to say they are all very moving performances. The vocals are also supported by some gorgeous and syrupy accompaniment from an array of wind instruments, and a terrifically spare but present percussion ensemble. Something particularly exceptional in this collection compared to some of what we've heard in the Ethiopiques series, and more recently with the Nigerian Trilogy on Soundways, is the sense of space and continuity. This is one band, in one room, and as a result there is a sense of atmosphere and spaciousness that makes the record effective. Rather than a survey of style, it is an invitation to inhabit a space that is entirely elegant, and lyrical. It's hard to believe that it has taken this so long to find re-release, so don't miss this limited opportunity to gain a fleeting glimpse into a truly powerful and nascent period in Mali's musical history.

PATTON, CHARLEY Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton (Revenant) 7cd 160.00
This is seriously one of the most amazing packages we've ever seen. And lucky for us the music easily lives up to the breathtaking packaging. This is the ultimate Charley Patton collection, finally giving props to the man who was tearing it up when Robert Johnson was still a kiddie. 5 discs of every issued and unissued track by Patton and his sessionmates Son House, Willie Brown, Louise Johnson, Henry 'Son' Sims, Bertha Lee, Delta Big Four, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Edith North Johnson as well as talent scout HC Speir. Disc 6 is Pattons contemporaries: Ma Rainey, Howlin' Wolf, Poor Boy Lofton, Kid Bailey, Walter Rhodes, Rube Lacy, Blind Joe Reynolds, Tommy Johnson, and Pops Staples. Disc 7 is all interviews with Pattons associates: Staples, Wolf, Speir, and Booker Miller. Also included is a 128 page book John Fahey wrote about Patton in 1970, as well as liner notes from Fahey, and a host of blues scholars, lyrics, full size reproductions of 6 original 1929 ads, a full set of 78 record label stickers and tons more. But it's the packaging that'll knock your socks off. A huge green fabric 78rpm-style hardcover (something like 14" x 11") slipcase, complete with a pocket for Fahey's book, and all 7 cds mounted on faux 10"s, in old fashioned 10 inch sleeves, which along with the liner notes are all bound on one side just like old multple set 78s. So unbelievably nice. For those unfamiliar, Patton was one of the founders of Mississippi Delta blues. With a palpable anger just below the surface, Patton combined gruff gravelly vocals, heavy handed guitar style, amazing bottleneck slide, and lyrics made up on the spot, into some of the most important music in our history.
RealAudio clip: CHARLEY PATTON "Pony Blues"
RealAudio clip: CHARLEY PATTON "A Spoonful Blues"
RealAudio clip: CHARLIE PATTON "Down The Dirt Road Blues"
RealAudio clip: SON HOUSE "County Farm Blues"
RealAudio clip: UNKOWN CONVICT "Blues"

PEKOS / YORO DIALLO s/t (Yaala Yaala) cd 14.98
First release from Drag City sublabel Yaala Yaala, a new Sublime Frequencies style series of West African musics culled from field recordings, found sounds and tapes purchased at flea markets. And much like Sublime Frequencies, these mostly low fidelity recordings are allowed to remain mysterious, no liner notes, very little information about the artists, just a brief bit of text, mostly about the discovery of the music itself, and one can only assume, no system in place for providing the artists with royalties. A sticky situation for sure, one we can only hope the label will eventually address and make right. In the meantime though, these recordings are so fantastic. Raw and intense, gritty and gorgeous. 
Yoro Diallo is from Mali and is a well known singer and here is paired up with Pekos, who plays a guitar-like lute, an instrument whose sound is absolutely mindblowing, a fierce buzzing rhythmic riffing, crunchy and heavy, warm and resonant and so so powerful. Strummed and struck, picked and rubbed, weaving a totally hypnotic groove, on the first track it takes the form of a raw blues jam, the melody looped and repeated mantra like while Diallo, wails over the top, his voice deep and intense, as powerful and raw as the music beneath it. The two trade verses, Pekos offering up a never ending patter, almost scatting, while Diallo swoops in every few measures and destroys, his delivery a super intense almost toasting. The first track has been stuck in the cd player on repeat since we first got this in. All the intensity and emotion of Konono No.1 and the same sort of festive vibe, as well as the same song structure, a looped cyclical jam that could go on forever and ever and oh how we wish it would. The second track is like a slowed down back porch version of the first. The strings weaving a loping laid back backdrop, with simple percussion, and the same vocal interplay, Pekos more subdued, Diallo a gorgeous intense roar. 
Besides the first track, the other highlight is probably the track, a sprawling midtempo jam, way in the background, simple metallic rhythms and softly strummed guitars, while over the top, another guitar is pounded in and out of tune, warbling drunkenly, intertwined with the vocals, eventually dropping most of the melody and becoming another percussion instrument, emitting occasional squalls of tangled melody before returning to its motorik pulse, until eventually evolving into an almost James Brown like detuned funk jam, with the crowd watching going wild. So intense and emotional. One of our favorite 'new' recordings, we can hardly wait for the rest of the series...
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 4"

PHIZMIZ, ERGO The System Of A Down Sessions Vol. 1 (Mukow) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of the truly genius and truly wild and weird Ergo Phizmiz. You may have read about him in the most recent issue of the Wire. Or you may have picked up one of his cd-r's that we listed here in the past, including a disc of interpretations of The The songs. Well, if you dug that one here's another one for you. Tweaked and twisted versions of songs by nu metallers System Of A Down! Fear not, the songs are barely recognizable, in fact a couple of times it made us laugh out loud these "versions" were so bizarre. Jungle rhythms, soaring soundtrack strings, skipping exotica records, creepy holiday music, and bleating trombones are smeared wildly over sliced and diced chunks of the original songs. Sounds like something that would be right at home on Tigerbeat 6 or Violent Turd.
MPEG Stream: "Chop Sue Me"
MPEG Stream: "Fucked Kirkus"

PSYCO ON DA BUS s/t (Platform) cd 16.98
The press release for this record claims that it attempts to "fill the gap between the 70s and the new millenium, blending gospel & soul vocals, Afrobeat rhythms, jazz & funk licks with wicked electronics", but uh... they forgot to confess it's *bad*. This is just limp throwaway material, too fragmented and half-thought-out to warrant a cd release, too spaced out to be funky, too loungey to be anything more than cocktail party background mood music at some yuppie watering hole. Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen deserves better than that, doesn't he? Granted, the album was made between a tour that Allen, Doctor L, and various other guys embarked upon in 2000, and it was probably hard doing stuff on the bus or in living rooms in between soundchecks. But that's no excuse for releasing this when it sounds so obviously halfbaked (or totally baked, if you know what I mean). Sorry, I'd recommend you pass on this and pick up Tony Allen's recently reissued older albums -- No Accommodation For Lagos / No Discrimination and Jealousy / Progress -- which are certifiably great Afrobeat classics.
RealAudio clip: "Afropusherman"

RAGAB, SALAH & THE CAIRO JAZZ BAND Presents Egyptian Jazz (Art Yard) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!
Wow! What an artifact. Here's some Egyptian jazz from the late '60s-early '70s courtesy of of the man who founded the first jazz big band in Egypt and later accompanied Sun Ra on tour in Egypt, Greece, France and Spain. We're pretty sure you must be damn curious by now, so we should tell you that beyond those enticing facts this is some seriously fine jazz played by a band made up of some of the best musicians in Egypt during that era. Five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion all coming together to form a super rich and tasty sound. Incorporating Middle Eastern melodies and mystique into its sound, this is the kind of jazz that's pretty impossible not to fall for. Like the best instrumental Ethiopiques tracks, Sun Ra's big-band era and Randy Weston's multicultural approach to hard bop. Incredibly pleasing!
MPEG Stream: "Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Oriental Mood"

RAGAB, SALAH AND THE CAIRO JAZZ BAND ...Present Egyptian Jazz (Art Yard) cd 23.00
REPRESSED, BACK IN STOCK!
Wow! What an artifact. Here's some Egyptian jazz from the late '60s-early '70s courtesy of of the man who founded the first jazz big band in Egypt and later accompanied Sun Ra on tour in Egypt, Greece, France and Spain. We're pretty sure you must be damn curious by now, so we should tell you that beyond those enticing facts this is some seriously fine jazz played by a band made up of some of the best musicians in Egypt during that era. Five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion all coming together to form a super rich and tasty sound. Incorporating Middle Eastern melodies and mystique into its sound, this is the kind of jazz that's pretty impossible not to fall for. Like the best instrumental Ethiopiques tracks, Sun Ra's big-band era and Randy Weston's multicultural approach to hard bop. Incredibly pleasing!
MPEG Stream: "Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Oriental Mood"

RAIL BAND Mansa 2 (Sterns) 2cd 19.98

RAIL BAND Soundiata (Syllart) 2cd 17.98

REFAT, MAHMOUD Miramar (100Copies) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We like a label that is totally upfront about their intentions, no beating around the bush, a label like 100 Copies, who are simply and succinctly letting us know, that this is in fact, a drastically limited release, and once we run out, we will not be able to get more. So be warned, we tried to order a ton of these, and ended up with a little more than a dozen. So why should you care? Well for the 12 or 13 of you who are quickest on the BUY IT NOW button, the work of Mahmoud Refat is a series of soundscapes crafted from the sounds of daily life in Egypt, conversations, calls to prayer, street musicians, portable power stations, the sounds of children playing, the bustling market, all woven into fuzzy glitchy dronescapes, some dark and lugubrious and barely moving, others skittering and looped sounding, while still others are funky jazzy Autechre-ish jams. Chopped up voices, sampled instruments, soft indistinct drifts of ambient sound, ultra minimal abstract glitch and rumbling cavernous whirs all woven into a gorgeously mesmerizing whole, from the distinct sonic threads of people's lives, halfway around the world.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES (duh) and we have less than ten...
MPEG Stream: "Wrong Information 1"
MPEG Stream: "Mirimar"

ROGIE, S.E. The Palm Wine Sounds of... (Workers Playtime) cd 15.98

SANGARE, OUMOU Seya (Nonesuch) cd 17.98
One of the most treasured voices in Mali's musical landscape, Oumou Sangare has been making rich and rewarding music for over twenty years now. She is really one of those rare examples of someone who is respected and loved so deeply by her neighbors all throughout West Africa, as well as having the good fortune to see her music spread throughout the rest of the world in more recent years, to equal fanfare. Drawing upon the influence of folks like Ali Farka Toure and Youssou D'Nour in her ability to inject so much melody and passion into her songs, and with over forty amazing musicians playing on the record, the sound and instrumentation is beyond lush, and serves as an equally strong force to counter Sangare's beautiful and timeless voice. This is true soul music!
MPEG Stream: "Sukunyali"
MPEG Stream: "Iyo DJeli"
MPEG Stream: "Donso"

SOLANKE, JIMI Storyteller (Eko Star) cd 16.98

SOM IMAGINARIO s/t (Rev-Ola) cd 16.98
Oh how nice! Want to feel the glow of summer's warmth no matter what it feels like outside? Som Imaginario have got the golden rays for all of us to bask in. Brazil, 1970 - and yeah start thinking Os Mutantes and the Tropicalia revolution of sound. While they never got the wide attention that some of their peers would end up receiving, their music was just as dazzling, delightful and adventures as those whose names are now much more known (Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, etc). Som Imaginario were a six piece who initially came together to back up Milton Nascimento for his short lived Brazilian TV show. This, their debut, was never released outside of Brazil until now, and with Os Mutantes launching a reunion tour this spring, the time is ripe for other wonderful sounds from that scene to finally resurface. Equal parts sun soaked pop, fun-freak-out and an underlying irreverent spirit make this one of those reissues that doesn't just sound cool in theory but you actually want to listen to it over and over.
MPEG Stream: "Super-God"
MPEG Stream: "Tema Dos Deuses"

SPIRITUAL SINGERS Ntsamina (Mississippi) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MISSISSIPPI Alert! MISSISSIPPI Alert! MISSISSIPPI Alert!
Wow! This is unlike any gospel or African music we've heard. The Spiritual Singers were (are?) an evangelical pop group hailing from Brazzaville, that fused Afropop, R&B, garage rock, high off-kilter vocals and epic harmonies into a strange amalgam of groovy far-flung devotionals. Fronted by Berthe Loudi, whose amazing vocal quality borders on the endearingly outsiderish: raw, passionate and high keening at times, almost out of tune but in a way that goes perfectly with the music, tempered by the lovingly angelic quality of the back-up harmonies. The combo features two guitars, bass, organ and some really amazing drumming that kicks up the grooves on the faster numbers and highlights the epic devotional quality on the slower ones. Released in 1980, this is another highly worthwhile entry in the Mississippi catalog. Remember, these are limited!

STAFF BENDA BILILI Tres Tres Fort (Crammed Discs) cd 16.98
What is it about Kinshasa? The capitol city of the Democratic Republic Of The Congo first brought us the mind blowing Konono No.1, who fashioned PA's and amps out of old car parts, and rigged up thumb pianos with home built pick ups, crafting one of the most unique and fascinating and exuberant sounds we had ever heard. Now, also from Kinshasa, comes Staff Benda Bilili, an even more unique musical combo (as if that were even possible). A group of senior paraplegic street musicians, who live in and around the grounds of the zoo, who travel in cool custom built wheelchairs that look more like motorcycles, they sing and play guitar, and are backed up by a young all acoustic rhythm section, featuring a 17 year old prodigy, who plays wild psychedelic leads on a one string 'guitar' made from a tin can. There are pictures in the booklet, it's hard to believe anyone could conjure such amazing sounds from this little bit of scrap and string, but the proof is right here.
The music itself is not as far out as Konono No.1, it has much more of a traditionally folky feel, a distinctly highlife vibe, the vocal harmonies form the core of the sound, lush and laid back, stunningly intricate and gorgeous, the various stringed instruments buzz and twang, simple drumming holds it all together, and the occasional wild tangled squiggly solos on the tin can lute, sounding slippery and super high, the songs build to festive codas, and just as often slip back into something much more contemplative.
Feel good, sunshiney sounds that make you want to dance or drift off, you can almost imagine these guys all parked in their motorcycle wheelchairs, rocking late into the night around the campfire or under the streetlights. But you don't have to imagine, there are a handful of live videos too, so you can watch these guys create these amazing sounds live, sitting on the grass in the park, under the trees, hanging out in after dark lit only by firelight, and seeing that little kid rock out on the tin can lute, WOW. Also includes a really cool trailer, for what could either be a documentary about the band, or it could just be a short film / trailer for the record.
Needless to say, but we will anyway, TOTALLY recommended, especially for anyone who loves Konono No.1!!
MPEG Stream: "Sala Keba"
MPEG Stream: "Moto Moindo"
MPEG Stream: "Staff Benda Bilili"

TARTIT Abacabok (Crammed Discs) cd 16.98
There is no doubt that we have a big soft spot for so much of the music that comes out of West Africa and Mali in particular, so we were not sure how we missed the first album from this great Mali outfit called Tartit, but we are more then pleased to jump on their fan wagon with their new outing Abacabok. Recorded in the northern Mali desert by Congotronics producer Vincent Kenis, this is a record that keeps you captivated from start to finish. Call and response vocals, handclaps and percussion creating the perfect back-beat, three-string lute and one string fiddle, a few moments of electric guitar. It all comes together to form a record that feels so coherent, hypnotic and grounded to the salt of the earth. Fans of Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure will be thrilled to hear this record. And just about everyone here at AQ has caught the Tartit fever with a fury! This is really great!
MPEG Stream: "Eha Ehenia"
MPEG Stream: "Tihou Beyatene"

TEMBO, CHRISSY ZEBBY & NGOZI FAMILY My Ancestors (Hummingbird) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've been getting all riled up over some hot Afro-rock releases lately, first from those killer Nigerian comps put out by the Strut and Soundway labels and then The Peace's Black Power reissue. But the lo-fi fuzz that's really rocking our world is this gem from Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi family, 1974's My Ancestors. Though included on the Love Peace and Poetry African psych compilation, Chrissy Zebby Tembo may not be so memorable from that because their track was the one instrumental track from My Ancestors, and though it's great, it's not as good as the tracks where Tembo sings. Like an odd hybrid of Malcolm Mooney from Can and Sabbath-era Ozzy Osbourne, Tembo's English delivery over these fuzzed-out groovers is the reason to take notice. Hailing from Zambia, same as The Peace and The Witch (another Afro-rock group we'd like to see get more affordably reissued), Tembo wails over these rhythmically charged but largely western-style rock structures. The best being the Sabbath gone to South Africa "Trouble Maker". In constant rotation, since this first arrived a few weeks ago, we've finally managed to get enough to share with our customers. Don't hesitate, this whole record kills!
MPEG Stream: "My Ancestors"
MPEG Stream: "Trouble Maker"
MPEG Stream: "Feeling Good"

TEMBO, CHRISSY ZEBBY & NGOZI FAMILY My Ancestors (Hummingbird) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! Good thing too, since the cd reissue is now out of print. Our review of it follows...
We've been getting all riled up over some hot Afro-rock releases lately, first from those killer Nigerian comps put out by the Strut and Soundway labels and then The Peace's Black Power reissue. But the lo-fi fuzz that's really rocking our world is this gem from Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi family, 1974's My Ancestors. Though included on the Love Peace and Poetry African psych compilation, Chrissy Zebby Tembo may not be so memorable from that because their track was the one instrumental track from My Ancestors, and though it's great, it's not as good as the tracks where Tembo sings. Like an odd hybrid of Malcolm Mooney from Can and Sabbath-era Ozzy Osbourne, Tembo's English delivery over these fuzzed-out groovers is the reason to take notice. Hailing from Zambia, same as The Peace and The Witch (another Afro-rock group we'd like to see get more affordably reissued), Tembo wails over these rhythmically charged but largely western-style rock structures. The best being the Sabbath gone to South Africa "Trouble Maker". In constant rotation, since this first arrived a few weeks ago, we've finally managed to get enough to share with our customers. Don't hesitate, this whole record kills!
MPEG Stream: "My Ancestors"
MPEG Stream: "Trouble Maker"
MPEG Stream: "Feeling Good"

TERAKAFT Akh Issudar (World Village) cd 21.00

MPEG Stream: "Akh Issudar"
MPEG Stream: "Soubhanallah"

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN s/t (Virgin) cd 13.98
Damon Albarn has quietly emerged from the shadows of 90's MTV fame with Blur's hit (No. 2 Song) to become one of the more interesting musical figures in the more mainstream realms of modern rock. From his travels to Africa that resulted in the great Mali Music album, his collaborative efforts in The Gorillaz, and even the last Blur record, Think Tank which was pretty much a solo endeavor and contained some really smart and somewhat somber pop songs. He's also been running a great record label Honest Jons who have released some amazing records old and new from the likes of Moondog, Candi Staton, Tony Allen, Las Malas Amistades, etc. The Good The Bad & The Queen is his latest project and he's assembled quite the all-star cast including Clash bassist Paul Simonon and legendary drummer (of Fela Kuti fame), Tony Allen, with production duties handled by Danger Mouse. Together they've created a really nice album of subdued pop songs with layers of warmth and an expansive and moody disposition. At times it even made us think of a more polished version of Three Mile Pilot's Another Desert Another Sea, and this for sure should appeal to fans of Pinback and Radiohead. This keeps growing on us listen after listen, revealing something more each time. For sure one of our favorite major label records in quite a while.
MPEG Stream: "Kingdom Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Sun"

TINARIWEN Amassakoul (Harmonia Mundi) cd 21.00
About time we listed this, people have been raving about this North African band for a while, and this new domestic cd came out last fall...we've been selling 'em pretty steadily but our review slipped thru the cracks until now. So here's the lowdown if you haven't yet heard about these folks. The members of Tinariwen are Tuareg, nomadic people from the borderlands of Libya, Algeria and Tunesia. Formed in 1982, the group can probably boast the most interesting circumstances under which they met: in a rebel training camp of Colonel Ghadaffi's while fighting in an insurgency against the Malian government! So it may or may not seem odd that the most distinctive sound they share with another is the lilting electric guitar of Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure. After 22 years Tinariwen have fused shades of Taureg music with Bo Diddley like rhythms and traditional instruments with electric bass, guitar and drums. Andee thinks the rhythm they keep returning to throughout the album sounds a lot like 50 Cent's "In The Club"!
MPEG Stream: "Amassakoul 'N' Tenere"
MPEG Stream: "Aldhechen Manin"

TINARIWEN Imidiwan: Companions (World Village / Harmonia Mundi) cd + dvd 21.00
While the origins and history of this Tuareg nomadic group are so interesting and epic, these days what truly stands out is the amazing records they make. Their last outing Aman Iman, was a bigtime AQ favorite and this follow up does not disappoint.
On each release, Tinariwen tend to ease into their sound with more flow and a tranquil intensity that's very hard to achieve, yet it comes to them so naturally. Their guitars, vocals, hand claps, and percussion all come together to create such a hypnotizing intensely moving musical experience. For sure following blueprints laid down by the late great Ali Farka Toure but truly finding their own voice and signature sound that rings with so much soul and such undeniable authenticity. Tinariwen are one of the few African bands who have managed to slightly cross over into a larger following without losing one ounce of their integrity or musical vision. They truly have crafted a sound that's instantaneously recognizable as their own and it's so awesome that we've begun to hear their influence on lots of American indie bands like Brightblack Morning Light, The Drift, OM, and Wooden Shjips. The album closes with "Desert Wind" which really captures the desolate feeling of sand blowing across the desert sky, a track that most drone acts would kill to call their own. Once again Tinariwen has made a record that we're sure will stand the test of time. Oh, and this also comes with a rad documentary film about the group on an all regions dvd.
MPEG Stream: "Tahult In"
MPEG Stream: "Lulla"
MPEG Stream: "Kel Tamashek"

TOUMAST Ishumar (Real World / Ryko) cd 16.98
We are huge fans of Tinarwien, that amazing ensemble out of the Saharan desert who so effortlessly integrate electric guitars into their West African hypnotic blues. So we were super excited to check out Toumast when we learned that its leader, Ag Keyna, was not only once a freedom fighter in North Africa but also spent time as a member of Tinariwen. It's no surprise that musically this shares a lot in common with Tinariwen, which is not a bad thing at all! From impassioned foot stompers to entrancing and spacious songs full of soul, the music of Toumast is rich with a survival spirit that one can hear and latch onto even when you don't understand the language.
Keyna was severely wounded by military fire in the early '90s, and was airlifted out of Africa to France for medical care. He began to channel his fighting spirit into music making with the aid of his niece who is a great percussionist, along with the amazing vocal styling of Aminatou Goumar. And thus Toumast was born.
The songs on Ishumar all catch such tasty grooves and make for a listen that is both immediately satisfying and constantly growing on us with each repeated listen. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Ikalane Walegh"
MPEG Stream: "Maraou Oran"

TOURE, ALI FARKA & TOUMANI DIABATE Ali And Toumani (World Circut / Nonesuch) cd 17.98
What a moving set of songs! Ali Farka Toure recorded this record shortly before he passed away, along with the immensely talented and soulful kora master Toumani Diabate. There is a mournful and graceful feeling to this record for sure, Ali Farka knew he was near the end of his life and these songs are filled with such patient, beautiful, and trance inducing sounds. Toure's classic guitar stylings touch on such tender and raw emotions while Diabate adds a warm bed of sound to flesh it all out, yet there is a stark and stripped down approach to these songs that really makes them that much more powerful. With such intricate, delicate and purposeful playing, along with Toure's emotional presence felt so strongly throughout the record, you are reminded what true blues really sounds like. Diabate has the special gift of being capable of making music that is totally therapuetic and healing and soothing, and that matched with Toure laying down his last songs to tape, makes this such a moving, entrancing and completely beautiful album. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Ruby"
MPEG Stream: "Sabu Yerkoy"
MPEG Stream: "Samba Geladio"

TOURE, VIEUX FARKA Fondo (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
Vieux Farka Toure's music resonates with a strength, power and wisdom well beyond his years. While the shoes he's had to fill being the son of the late great Ali Farka Toure are quite enormous he's done so with an equally gifted ability to create songs that ring with a universal truth and strength that anyone can understand no matter what language you speak. We were instant believers in after hearing his debut a couple years ago and our appreciation of him grew when we saw him live opening for Tinariwen at the Palace Of Fine Arts shortly after that record came out. There was no doubt that this was a man filled with passion, remarkable guitar playing skills and a voice that is both peaceful and commanding of attention. Fondo is further proof that we will be hearing great music from Vieux for many years to come. While continuing the great tradition of Mali music that his dad helped bring to the ears of many across the globe, he is carrying on that legacy with a richness all his own.
MPEG Stream: "Fafa"
MPEG Stream: "Mali"
MPEG Stream: "Sarama"

TOURE, VIEUX FARKA Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako (Mobida) cd 14.98
Cheesy remixes, unfortunately.

TRAORE, ROKIA Tchamantche (Tama / Nonesuch) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Dounia"
MPEG Stream: "Aimer"
MPEG Stream: "Koronoko"

TURNER, OTHA & THE AFROSSIPPI ALLSTARS From Senegal To Senatobia (Birdman) cd 14.98
'Mystical goat dancer' is an apt describer of Otha Turner, an ageless creation of the Mississippi earth whose musical mastery is over a simple fife carved out of a bamboo cane fishing pole. Together with his Rising Star Fife & Drum band, Turner has for years fashioned shrill whistles around the militant snare march of the drum core, reconstituting the rhythmic hypnotism of lost slave songs. This album is a much more sedate outing for Turner as he has been joined by a handful of Senegalese musicians, beautifully linking the two divergant African sounds. Turner's domineering presence is neccessary for the success of these fusions, but at times, he seems to wander off (to feed the chickens? after all this was recorded at his farm) on two tracks which snap back to traditional Senegalese rhythms. Regardless, an excellent document.

UWAIFO, SIR VICTOR Guitar-Boy Superstar (Sound Way) cd 17.98
The mighty Sound Way label (the fine folks who brought us the killer Nigeria Special compilations) is back with another fantastic reissue of classic West African popular music, this time documenting the mid-1970s output of the enigmatic and flamboyant Sir Victor Uwaifo, the guitar-boy superstar! You might recognize Uwaifo from his appearance on the Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump compilation where his track "Dododo (Ekassa 1)" was a real skirt blower. These days, when most of us have access to this kind of music only through curated compilations featuring dozens of performers, it's a rare treat to get a more well-rounded picture of a single artist; big ups to Sound Way for delivering the goods!
The majority of tracks on this collection are based around Uwaifo's unique hybrid of the traditional rhythm of the 'ekassa' coronation dance with highlife instrumentation. The result is something joyous, funky, and soulful that manages to maintain a laid-back, upbeat feel that is distinct from the frenetic rush of Afrobeat and the other scenes happening in mid-'70s Lagos. In fact, there's a sweet, classic pop element to Uwaifo's songwriting that has more in common with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens than it does with the American funk, soul and disco that inspired his contemporaries. Valens is actually a pretty good jumping off point for comparison, as the electrified version of the ekassa rhythm lends a Latin flourish to the music that recalls Valens' Chicano rock styles saturated with fuzz, wah and a distinctly Nigerian rhythmic sensibility.
Unsurprisingly, it's Uwaifo's guitar playing that stand out as the real centerpiece of the record as it skips from traditional highlife accompaniment to psych-tinged, fuzzed-out solos to primitive delay and wah-wah experimentalism, sometimes all within the same song! Uwaifo's jangling open-string solos, jarringly nimble riffing, and ability to switch effortlessly between rhythm and lead again recall Buddy Holly and also classic US surf rock (in fact, the track "Agho" goes so far as to quote parts of "Tequila" - weird, but fantastic!), but there's a lot more going on than that. Check out "Igboroho (Ekassa 24)" to hear Uwaifo pushing his guitar into fractured, no-wave territory; given that it still sounds completely freaked out now, it must've been thoroughly mind-expanding at the time.
As with all things from Sound Ways, this disc comes with lavish packaging; meticulously researched and compiled liner notes replete with archival photographs, album art; and song-by-song gloss by Uwaifo himself. It's a fantastic package highly recommended for anyone who's been enjoying the goldmine of reissues of African popular musics we've been seeing over the past year. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Igboroho (Ekassa 5)"
MPEG Stream: "Egbe Natete"
MPEG Stream: "Agho"

UWAIFO, SIR VICTOR Guitar-Boy Superstar (Sound Way) 2lp 23.00
Now available on vinyl!!
The mighty Sound Way label (the fine folks who brought us the killer Nigeria Special compilations) is back with another fantastic reissue of classic West African popular music, this time documenting the mid-1970s output of the enigmatic and flamboyant Sir Victor Uwaifo, the guitar-boy superstar! You might recognize Uwaifo from his appearance on the Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump compilation where his track "Dododo (Ekassa 1)" was a real skirt blower. These days, when most of us have access to this kind of music only through curated compilations featuring dozens of performers, it's a rare treat to get a more well-rounded picture of a single artist; big ups to Sound Way for delivering the goods!
The majority of tracks on this collection are based around Uwaifo's unique hybrid of the traditional rhythm of the 'ekassa' coronation dance with highlife instrumentation. The result is something joyous, funky, and soulful that manages to maintain a laid-back, upbeat feel that is distinct from the frenetic rush of Afrobeat and the other scenes happening in mid-'70s Lagos. In fact, there's a sweet, classic pop element to Uwaifo's songwriting that has more in common with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens than it does with the American funk, soul and disco that inspired his contemporaries. Valens is actually a pretty good jumping off point for comparison, as the electrified version of the ekassa rhythm lends a Latin flourish to the music that recalls Valens' Chicano rock styles saturated with fuzz, wah and a distinctly Nigerian rhythmic sensibility.
Unsurprisingly, it's Uwaifo's guitar playing that stand out as the real centerpiece of the record as it skips from traditional highlife accompaniment to psych-tinged, fuzzed-out solos to primitive delay and wah-wah experimentalism, sometimes all within the same song! Uwaifo's jangling open-string solos, jarringly nimble riffing, and ability to switch effortlessly between rhythm and lead again recall Buddy Holly and also classic US surf rock (in fact, the track "Agho" goes so far as to quote parts of "Tequila" - weird, but fantastic!), but there's a lot more going on than that. Check out "Igboroho (Ekassa 24)" to hear Uwaifo pushing his guitar into fractured, no-wave territory; given that it still sounds completely freaked out now, it must've been thoroughly mind-expanding at the time.
As with all things from Sound Ways, this disc comes with lavish packaging; meticulously researched and compiled liner notes replete with archival photographs, album art; and song-by-song gloss by Uwaifo himself. It's a fantastic package highly recommended for anyone who's been enjoying the goldmine of reissues of African popular musics we've been seeing over the past year. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Igboroho (Ekassa 5)"
MPEG Stream: "Egbe Natete"
MPEG Stream: "Agho"

V/A 1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
Another out of print, previously vinyl only Sublime Frequencies gem gets a long overdue cd reissue. We wanted to make this a Record Of The Week when the lp first came out, but there are still so many folks out there sans turntable, we figured we oughta just wait for the cd, and now it's here, so we can indeed finally lavish this record with the Record Of The Week honors it so totally deserves.
Yet another winner from Sublime Frequencies (have they ever released a loser? We think not). And like many of the Sublime Frequencies before it, we find it hard to not think that maybe folks don't need to be making so much music, releasing so many records, when so much amazing outrageously creative music is already being and has been made all over the world, for so long, much of it never heard outside of a very few people. Maybe we should have some sort of national policy, where bands can turn in their instruments, and in exchange get a recorder, a plane ticket, and an expense account, with which they can roam the world bringing back some of that unheard and lost music. Heck, sign us up right now!
Anyway, this new release is a collection of Rai music from the early seventies, from Algeria, and these particular cuts are samples of some of the sort of "outlaw" Rai performers, a modern strain that has been neglected and ignored, and takes this classic Algerian music form, and adds electric guitar, trumpets, wah wah pedal, and whips it all up into an infectious brew equal parts Ethiopiques, Bollywood and garage rock. Or something close to that. This stuff is truly hard to describe, and the liner notes, while informative, are printed on an eye popping blue on red old school 3-D colored background which makes the text swim and sway before your eyes. And offer more on the history and the players than what Rai music actually is (there's a good description on Wikipedia). But for the purpose of this review, as it should be, we'll just focus on the sound. And what a sound!
Warm whirring organ drones, trumpets EVERYWHERE, really the defining sound, wild chaotic tribal drumming, crooned dramatic vocals, groovy, soulful, funky, raw and lo-fi, like a garage rock Ethiopiques, but with a strangely raw Bollywood vibe, the trumpets peppering the murky grooves with strange fanfares and jazzy melodies, here and there distorted guitars surface, wrapped in wah wah, reverb and echo all over the place, some songs super frenzied, others laid back and dreamy, Indian melodies draped over almost surfy grooves, really pretty fantastic. Hard to imagine that folks who have been digging all the Sublime Frequencies releases, or the Yaala Yaala reissues won't go crazy for this stuff.
Group Doueh, Group Inerane, and now this, a pretty mind blowing, near perfect, far out world music three-fer, and that's not even counting the 30+ release that came before. ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED.
MPEG Stream: BELLEMOU & BENFISSA "Li Maandouche L'Auto"
MPEG Stream: GROUPE EL AZHAR "Mazal Nesker Mazal"
MPEG Stream: GROUPE EL AZHAR "Touedar Aakli"

V/A 1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground (Sublime Frequencies) lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another winner from Sublime Frequencies. And while we made sure to stress that past "vinyl-only" were indeed vinyl only, lately, those vinyl releases have been slowly making it to cd. BUT, for the vinyl folks out there, these do disappear fast, and fetch big bucks on eBay once they're gone, so you're not gonna want to snooze on this one. Listening to this again, now, for maybe the 20th time in 2 days, it's becoming clear we'll probably have to make this a Record Of The Week as soon as it comes out on cd, but for now, even though it's only a highlight, it really couldn't be more of a MUST OWN.
And like many of the Sublime Frequencies before it, we find it hard to not think that maybe folks don't need to be making so much music, releasing so many records, when so much amazing outrageously creative music is already being and has been made all over the world, for so long, much of it never heard outside of a very few people. Maybe we should have some sort of national policy, where bands can turn in their instruments, and in exchange get a recorder, a plane ticket, and an expense account, with which they can roam the world bringing back some of that unheard and lost music. Heck, sign us up right now!
Anyway, this new release is a collection of Rai music from the early seventies, from Algeria, and these particular cuts are samples of some of the sort of "outlaw" Rai performers, a modern strain that has been neglected and ignored, and takes this classic Algerian music form, and adds electric guitar, trumpets, wah wah pedal, and whips it all up into an infectious brew equal parts Ethiopiques, Bollywood and garage rock. Or something close to that. This stuff is truly hard to describe, and the liner notes, while informative, are printed on an eye popping blue on red old school 3-D colored background which makes the text swim and sway before your eyes. And offer more on the history and the players than what Rai music actually is (there's a good description on Wikipedia). But for the purpose of this review, as it should be, we'll just focus on the sound. And what a sound!
Warm whirring organ drones, trumpets EVERYWHERE, really the defining sound, wild chaotic tribal drumming, crooned dramatic vocals, groovy, soulful, funky, raw and lo-fi, like a garage rock Ethiopiques, but with a strangely raw Bollywood vibe, the trumpets peppering the murky grooves with strange fanfares and jazzy melodies, here and there distorted guitars surface, wrapped in wah wah, reverb and echo all over the place, some songs super frenzied, others laid back and dreamy, Indian melodies draped over almost surfy grooves, really pretty fantastic. Hard to imagine that folks who have been digging all the Sublime Frequencies releases, or the Yaala Yaala reissues won't go crazy for this stuff.
Group Doueh, Group Inerane, and now this, a pretty mind blowing, near perfect, far out world music three-fer, and that's not even counting the 30+ release that came before. ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED.
LIMITED TO 1500 COPIES, 180 gram vinyl, super thick gatefold sleeve, full color, with tons of photos and liner notes inside.

V/A A Place Called Africa (Trojan) 2cd 19.98

V/A Africa Boogaloo: The Latinization Of West Africa (Honest Jons) cd 17.98
The last Honest Jon's compilation we carried focussed on the roots of Congolese Rumba through a wave of Latin influence on the region from the thirties to the fifties. The latest Honest Jon's compilation, Africa Boogaloo, expands upon that concept by tracing Latin music's influential trajectory from the fifties to the seventies all along Africa's Western Coast from the Congo to Senegal.
Culled from rare recordings by both celebrated artists as well as the little known, this compilation focuses not so much on the single artist but the bigger dance bands like Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Orchestre OK Jazz, and one of the major stars of Afro-beat, Manu Dibango (here performing the title track with Le Grand Kalle and Don Gonzalo). Boogaloo being a hybrid style of soul, R&B, mambo and various other forms of Afro-Cuban music, it makes sense that not only would it be popular in Africa whose various indigenous musical styles inspired Latin music in the first place, but that it would proliferate further into modern fusions of various African musical forms. The constant cross-cultural influence is amazingly uncanny as well as delightfully infectious!
MPEG Stream: LE GRAND KALLE, DON GONZALO, MANU DIBANGO "Africa Boogaloo"
MPEG Stream: CHARLES LEMBE "Quiero Wapacha"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "On Verra Ca"

V/A Africa Boogaloo: The Latinization Of West Africa (Honest Jons) 2lp 22.00
The last Honest Jon's compilation we carried focussed on the roots of Congolese Rumba through a wave of Latin influence on the region from the thirties to the fifties. The latest Honest Jon's compilation, Africa Boogaloo, expands upon that concept by tracing Latin music's influential trajectory from the fifties to the seventies all along Africa's Western Coast from the Congo to Senegal.
Culled from rare recordings by both celebrated artists as well as the little known, this compilation focuses not so much on the single artist but the bigger dance bands like Orchestra Baobab, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, Orchestre OK Jazz, and one of the major stars of Afro-beat, Manu Dibango (here performing the title track with Le Grand Kalle and Don Gonzalo). Boogaloo being a hybrid style of soul, R&B, mambo and various other forms of Afro-Cuban music, it makes sense that not only would it be popular in Africa whose various indigenous musical styles inspired Latin music in the first place, but that it would proliferate further into modern fusions of various African musical forms. The constant cross-cultural influence is amazingly uncanny as well as delightfully infectious!
MPEG Stream: LE GRAND KALLE, DON GONZALO, MANU DIBANGO "Africa Boogaloo"
MPEG Stream: CHARLES LEMBE "Quiero Wapacha"
MPEG Stream: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "On Verra Ca"

V/A Africa Raps (Trikont) cd 16.98
When we first ordered this, we imagined it would be a compilation of rapping in African music, or more like the roots of modern rap in Africa, but instead this is a collection of some of the most popular contemporary rap groups in Africa, and it's pretty great. It's interesting to hear how the music, while obviously reminscent of American hip hop, incorporates all sorts of traditional African musics as well as modern music (especially Mbalax or African commercial pop), as well as rapping in French and Wolof and a heavy political/religious bent as 90 percent of African rappers are Muslim. As a simple hip hop compilation, this stands up pretty well. Fans of MC Solaar and the Le Flow hip hop collection from a few years back will love this. But as a musical and sociological document, complete with Trikont's excellent liner notes, this is essential.
RealAudio clip: BMG 44 "Xam"
RealAudio clip: POSITIVE BLACK SOUL "Boul Ma Mine"
RealAudio clip: TATA POUND "Badalia"
RealAudio clip: PEE FROISS "Jalgaty"

V/A Africafunk: Return to the Original Sounds of 1970s Funky Africa (Harmless) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A Africafunk: The Original Sounds of 1970s Funky Africa (Harmless) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

V/A African Rap: Rappers, Rebels and Ragamuffins (Rough Guides) cd 14.98

V/A African Scream Contest (Analog Africa) cd 24.00
Samy Ben Redjeb, the man behind the Analog Africa label, allegedly went through some 3000 records before picking the 14 tracks that make up this amazing compilation of mid-'70s sounds from Benin and Togo - the two smaller countries that happen to be sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, two of the dominant cultural forces in African music at that time. As much as the music included on African Scream Contest shows the influence of those neighboring heavyweights, there are plenty of other elements coming into the mix. You can hear Afro-Cuban horn blasts and clave rhythms alongside samba grooves and James Brown funk. That you can hear blues and soul being filtered through highlife, Afrobeat, and even traditional choral music is one of the things that makes this period of African music so exciting: no one influence holds any more sway than any other, and the result is something totally unique that manages to be strangely familiar while sounding like nothing you've ever heard in your life.
Like the title says, this stuff is definitely raw - you can hear musicians who not only taught themselves how to play, but in doing so created their own culture, national identity and music. For every influence pulled from elsewhere in the world (be it US funk or Brazilian rhythms), there's something distinctly regional through which it gets filtered; for example, Benin is the birthplace of voodoo, and that must surely have been an influence on the sense of wild abandon and frenzy that this music manages to capture so perfectly. Simply put, this is heavy stuff!
The standard for these kinds of compilations has been set incredibly high by labels like Strut, Sound Way, Soul Jazz and the like, but if anything Analog Africa have raised the bar even higher. It took three years of research, crate digging, interviews and detective work to put this compilation together and it shows: this presentation of the music, liner notes and archival materials is meticulous, loving and borders on obsessive. This is an amazing collection of songs that once again shows the incredible depth of cultural output happening in Africa in the '60s and '70s. It's a great time to be a fan of these musics, and this stunning compilation shows us exactly why. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: GABO BROWN & ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO "It's A Vanity"
MPEG Stream: LOKONON ANDRE & LES VOLCANS "Mi Kple Dogbekpo"
MPEG Stream: LE SUPER BORGOU DE PARAKOU "Congolaise Benin Ye"

V/A African Scream Contest (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
FINALLY, this amazing comp is now available on vinyl!
Samy Ben Redjeb, the man behind the Analog Africa label, allegedly went through some 3000 records before picking the 14 tracks that make up this amazing compilation of mid-'70s sounds from Benin and Togo - the two smaller countries that happen to be sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, two of the dominant cultural forces in African music at that time. As much as the music included on African Scream Contest shows the influence of those neighboring heavyweights, there are plenty of other elements coming into the mix. You can hear Afro-Cuban horn blasts and clave rhythms alongside samba grooves and James Brown funk. That you can hear blues and soul being filtered through highlife, Afrobeat, and even traditional choral music is one of the things that makes this period of African music so exciting: no one influence holds any more sway than any other, and the result is something totally unique that manages to be strangely familiar while sounding like nothing you've ever heard in your life.
Like the title says, this stuff is definitely raw - you can hear musicians who not only taught themselves how to play, but in doing so created their own culture, national identity and music. For every influence pulled from elsewhere in the world (be it US funk or Brazilian rhythms), there's something distinctly regional through which it gets filtered; for example, Benin is the birthplace of voodoo, and that must surely have been an influence on the sense of wild abandon and frenzy that this music manages to capture so perfectly. Simply put, this is heavy stuff!
The standard for these kinds of compilations has been set incredibly high by labels like Strut, Sound Way, Soul Jazz and the like, but if anything Analog Africa have raised the bar even higher. It took three years of research, crate digging, interviews and detective work to put this compilation together and it shows: this presentation of the music, liner notes and archival materials is meticulous, loving and borders on obsessive. This is an amazing collection of songs that once again shows the incredible depth of cultural output happening in Africa in the '60s and '70s. It's a great time to be a fan of these musics, and this stunning compilation shows us exactly why. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: GABO BROWN & ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO "It's A Vanity"
MPEG Stream: LOKONON ANDRE & LES VOLCANS "Mi Kple Dogbekpo"
MPEG Stream: LE SUPER BORGOU DE PARAKOU "Congolaise Benin Ye"

V/A Afrika Underground (Counterpoint) cd 19.98
A collection that only begins to scratch the surface of the rarely heard of underground jazz scene in South Africa. Compiled by Jake Behnan, "Afrika Underground" covers "jazz funk & fusion" stuff from the mid-seventies to the early eighties, from the musicians who were instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Artists compiled: Movement in the City, Dick Khoza, Zacks Nkosi, Jabula, George Lee, Mike Makhalemele, Pacific Express, Harari and Lionel Pillay. You'll have to look elsewhere if you want to know if the anti-apartheid movement had its own version of Black Power free-jazz improv like in the USA, 'cause this is definitely on the electric, easy listening, funky side of things. "Rare groove" fans are probably fiending for the original vinyl of this stuff. Lively, danceable and fun despite the social and political circumstances under which this music was made.
RealAudio clip: MOVEMENT IN THE CITY "Lament"
RealAudio clip: DICK KHOZA "Chapita"
RealAudio clip: PACIFIC EXPRESS "The Way It Used To Be"