#3788 Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha

4/5 wonderfully jazzy jaunts through African forms and beyond. Half the songs are downright dancable, and the other half still do sway, all balancing artsy improvisation against irresistible throughlines

#3466 Wells Fargo - Watch Out!

3.5/5 rough edges all the way down, budget Hendrix and maybe more charming for it. tight enough to get by, loose enough to charm. kids had heart and chops, feel that cry from The Crowd and try to stay on the ground

#3356a Fela Kuti - Unknown Soldier

3.5/5
A smoldering, hypnotic jam that gets your head bobbing good and slow before it snaps the trap closed with its harrowing message. Powerful, complicated stuff

#2801 Sampa the Great - Birds and the BEE9

Warm tones, all breath and wind and sun, full of something more than your day to day. Sampa taps into it, in word and sound. Inflected phrasing dripping backstory and personality. A salve 4/5

#2723 VA - Agrim Agadez

So much good listening falls under unfamiliar (but interesting) and familiar (but pleasant).

Ten people // ten guitars // ten field recordings from Niger. Nary a word of English, only the barest flirtations with anything Western, except those guitars: strummed, plucked, slammed electric, over shuffling, circular beats - unfamiliar but intimate, welcoming, every string tied to a tincan. There's sincerity and humanity to spare, and you're invited to use your brain as much as you see fit, to ruminate on guitars and the people behind them, or to just slip into the web of rhythm 4/5

#2098 Bombino - Azel

I enjoyed Bomino's breakout a lot, and this is richer, subtler, and the one I'd want on a desert island - but strangely hookless. After listening to it I just had Nomad tracks running through my head all day 3.5/5