Aziza Brahim - Sahari (Glitterbeat Records)
The message of Aziza Brahim's new album is already contained in the intriguing cover photo of 'Sahari'. A young girl poses in a snow-white tutu, but not in front of the normal privileged background you might expect, but on a dusty surface in front of a row of tents and mud shacks in a refugee camp.
King Lagoon's Flying Swordfish Dance Band - The Golden Lagoon (Kin-Aesthetic Recordings)
The eight-piece King Lagoon's Flying Swordfish Dance Band is the brainchild of Brighton-based vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Rodrigo Kerr. Instead of an ordinary biography of the band, on their website King Lagoon's Flying Swordfish Dance Band posted the legend of King Lagoon, ruler of a tropical paradise in a parallel dimension.
Radio Barbă - Soviet Macho EP (Self-published)
Apparently the members of Radio Barbă, a seven-piece band around guitarist/vocalist Thomas Baert, have carefully listened to the example of big brother Gogol Bordello, as like that American band, Radio Barbă mixes gypsy sounds and Balkan grooves with strong punk influences.
Soultry Dubs - Soultry Sound (Zojak World Wide)
'Soultry Sound' is the production debut of Cynthya 'Soultry Dubs' from Long Beach, California, who started her musical career as a keyboard player with reggae soul band The Divine Crime.
SMAD - Indépendant (Label LACAZ)
Still founded under the name S.I.S. Vibrations, SMAD is the alter ego of Thomas Ben Ita, a singer-songwriter from the French city of Clermont-Ferrand. At first SMAD still performed solo - like on the 2014 album 'Généalogiquement Roots' or 2018's 'Demain' EP - these days Thomas is joined by brothers Simon 'Slim' and Alexis 'Selecta Z' Raynaud and graphic designer and photographer Yoan 'Yok's' Delannoy, together turning the SMAD's live sets into real audiovisual experiences.
Ismaila Sané Saïsba - Ekiinafrik (Eclipse Music)
Ismaila Sané Saïsba is a Senegalese percussionist, vocalist, dancer and choreographer from Coubalan, a small village in the southern Casamance region of the country, who began his career with traditional dance companies like Les Ballets Bougarabou, Les Ballets Africains and Ballet Mansour Gueye.
Pressure - Rebel With A Cause (I Grade Records)
Five years after the well-received 'The Sound', Pressure Busspipe and I Grade's Laurent 'Tippy I' Alfred took back to the studio for 'Rebel With A Cause'.
Various Artists - Radikal Vibration: Abaddown (Evidence Music)
Last year Radikal Vibration, a collective of four beat makers from Geneva, was already responsible for the music of Brother Culture's 'Jump Pon It' from his successful 'Code Name' album released on Evidence Music. The unmistakable chemistry between Radikal Vibration and Brother Culture was reason enough for the Swiss label to give the green light for an album produced entirely by Radikal Vibration and the result is 'Abaddown'.
Erik Aliana - Ancestors (Buda Musique)
If Cameroonian singer-songwriter Erik Aliana for 'Just My Soul' still collaborated work with bass player Francis 'Picket' Dschoutezo, then for 'Ancestors' he decided on a solo approach.
Mystical Faya - Born Again EP (Khanti Records/Pias)
Even though Mystical Faya already released two long players, and with last year's 'Chill Sessions', an album full of soul, funk, electro and jazz, even sidestepped from reggae altogether, we only got to know the band from Besançon in the east of France thanks to the contribution of front man Mystic Loïc on 'Together', Faygo's second long-player released earlier this year and now this 'Born Again' EP.
Jewish Monkeys - Catastrophic Life (Greedy For Best Music)
Yours truly got to know the Israeli Jewish Monkeys thanks to the release of their 'High Words' album in 2017. On 'Catastrophic Life' the eight-piece band once again serves up its quirky mix of typical Jewish humor, socio-critical lyrics and punk attitude.
Greg Roy - Tomorrow (Self-published)
Greg Roy is a Jamaican artist, originally from Montego Bay, who moved to Boston in the United States. Before focusing on a solo career, for a while Greg fronted Duppy Conquerors, an American Bob Marley tribute band. Meanwhile, two previous solo albums have been released and now there's 'Tomorrow', a long-player we would describe as a straightforward new roots album.
The Young Tree - Borderline (Self-published)
For the production of 'Borderline', the successor to their 2016 long-player debut 'Seed', the members of The Young Tree, a six-piece reggae band founded in 2015 in Udine, Italy, joined forces with Africa Unite veteran Madaski.
Saime and The Cool Rulers - High Volume (Redgoldgreen Label)
'High Volume' may be the first album Saime, born as Andrea Saitta in Enna, a town in central Sicily, has recorded with the aid of backing band The Cool Rulers, the man has already been active for quite some time.
Invisible System - Dance To The Full Moon (ARC Music)
We first got acquainted with Dan Harper's Invisible System project thanks to last year's 'Bamako Sessions', an album for which the English producer quit the Ethio-fusion he made a name for himself with, to return to Mali where he was active as a relief worker in the late nineties of the last century.
Charlie P - From Mi Born (Dubquake Records)
After Nazamba's impressive dub poetry debut earlier this year, the Duquake Records label of French O.B.F. once again surprises with 'From Mi Born', taking us back to the early years of English MC Charlie P.
London Afrobeat Collective - Humans (Self-published)
'Humans' is our first introduction to the nine-piece London Afrobeat Collective, a band counting members from the United Kingdom, Congo, Italy, France, Argentina and New Zealand, who apart from Fela also mention Frank Zappa and Parliament/Funkadelic as sources of inspiration.
Adrian Raso - Gypsybilly King (Asphalt Tango Records)
Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso first appeared on these pages on the occasion of the release of 'Devil's Tale', his 2014 album recorded in collaboration with Romanian brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia. On this new long-player, Raso crowned himself 'Gyspsybilly King', a reference to his unique guitar style in which influences from Django Reinhardt's gypsy jazz or "jazz manouche" as well as Brian Setzer's rockabilly riffs can be heard, and the spirit of Johnny Cash's "deep south voodoo" weighs in as well.
Juana Molina - Forfun EP (Crammed Discs)
As far as the genesis of the four tracks on this 'Forfun' EP is concerned, the proverb "to make a virtue out of necessity" certainly applies, because when Juana Molina and her band had to play at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in July 2018, their entire backline proved missing upon arrival. Only armed with Juana's guitar, an already present keyboard and a drum kit, they decided to take their chances and finally performed a wild, largely improvised, set of Juana's songs.
Professor Wouassa - Yobale Ma! (Matasuna Records)
Yours truly got acquainted with Swiss band Professor Wouassa in 2017 thanks to 'Grow Yes Yes!', their first release for the Matasuna Records label. On that album, the eleven-piece band from Lausanne served a highly catchy mix of afrobeat and highlife, and successor 'Yobale Ma!' certainly sounds no different.