General Roots - Showcase EP + Showcase In Dub EP (Self-Published)
Anyone who has already attended a Hollie Cook concert will undoubtedly have seen General Roots at work, but the band also stands its ground on its own as they prove with last year's 'Showcase' EP, of which a dub version is now also released.
Spellbreakers - Well Runs Dry EP (Bonafi Records)
Just over six months after the release of their debut EP 'Who Feels It Knows It', Spellbreakers return with a new maxi-single. The four track EP is titled 'Well Runs Dry' and once again counts 2 vocal cuts and as many dubs.
Alborosie meets Roots Radics - Dub For The Radicals (Greensleeves)
For a number of years now, Alborosie always provided us with a dub version of his most recent album, but for last year's release of 'Unbreakable', an album for which he collaborated with The Wailers United, he breaks with this tradition.
Various Artists - Nostalgique Congo: Rumbas Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo & Douala 1950-1960 (Buda Musique)
In our review of the Ry-Co Jazz compilation released on the Belgian Radio Martiko label at the end of last year, we briefly sketched out the history and evolution of Congolese rumba, and 'Nostalgique Kongo' delves even deeper into that history.
Kenny B - Hoe Dan Ook (Top Notch Music/Universal)
Hopefully we won't have to introduce Dutch-Surinamese singer Kenny B anymore. In 2015 the man scored a great radio hit with 'Parijs', a song everyone between Amsterdam and Paris should have heard at least once in the meantime.
Panache Culture - Way Down The Road (Self-published)
If we ignore 'Mozart Vibration', their 2016 reggae experiment with the oeuvre of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this appropriately titled 'Way Down The Road' is the first new Panache Culture album since 2003's 'Le Discours'!
Kel Assouf - Black Tenere (Glitterbeat Records)
For 'Black Tenere', Belgian-Algerian-Nigerian band Kel Assouf was reduced to a power trio featuring Anana Ag Haroun on vocals and signature Gibson Flying V guitar, producer and keyboard genius Sofyann Ben Youssef on keyboards and Oliver Penu on drums.
Gentleman's Dub Club - Lost In Space (Easy Star Records)
No idea if the members of Gentleman's Dub Club were influenced by the new Netflix-reboot of the classic sci-fi television series 'Lost In Space', but looking at the cover design of the album, that might well have been the case.
Mister Kali & Dub Gideon - Hungry (Rebel Sound Records)
Mister Kali, a household name in New Mexico's reggae scene for years now, for the occasion joined forces with Texan production company Dub Gideon, and also called on local buddies Dre Estrada aka Dre Z Melodi and Ras Elijah Tafari for some vocal support.
Buddahfly - Ancient Fire EP (Roots Musician Records)
Roots Musician Records starts the year with 'Ancient Fire', the debut EP of Buddahfly, a seven-piece band from Boston, Massachusetts, on the east coast of the United States.
Omar Perry - Living In The Jungle (Roots Renegade Records)
Omar Perry's 'New Dawn' may be barely six months old, but with 'Living In The Jungle' he's already providing us with a successor!
SistaSara - Space Stepper EP (Dub-O-Phonic)
Yours truly got to know Italian-Nigerian Sarah Fugue aka SistaSara back in 2017 thanks to her self-released 'Creation' album. For 'Space Stepper' she joined forces with the Cypriot Dub-O-Phonic label, and this 5 track EP is meant as a foretaste for her soon to be released 'Universal' album.
Gingermon - Baked To Perfection (Self-published)
For our first American reggae release of the New Year, we're heading to Cleveland, Ohio, home of Gingermon, the alter-ego of singer-songwriter Tim Gandee, presenting his second album with 'Baked To Perfection'.
Ustad Saami - God Is Not A Terrorist (Glitterbeat Records)
For this fifth part in their Hidden Musics series, Glitterbeat Records this time travelled to Karachi, where they met up with seventy-five year old musician Ustad Saami.
Echoes Of Zoo - First Provocations EP (Self-published)
Echoes Of Zoo is the new project around saxophonist Nathan Daems, for the occasion flanked by jazz guitarist Bart Vervaeck, bassist Lieven Van Pée and drummer Falk Schrauwen.
Electric Circus - Canicola (New Model Label)
'Canicola' (Italian for 'heatwave') is the third album by Electric Circus, a band from Trentino, in Italy, which started as a trio back in 2013, but has since expanded into a quintet.
Julio Montoro Y Alma Latina - Black Roots (Tumi Music)
Julio Montoro is a Cuban multi-instrumentalist who in the past toured, among others, with Orchesta Reve and La Charanga Habanera, and for a while worked with Afro-Cuban All Stars voice Felix Baloy. In 2014 Julio already presented his solo debut 'Alma Latina' and on successor 'Black Roots' that album title seems to have evolved into the name of Montoro's band as well as his personal studio in Havana.
Jaune Toujours - Europeana (Choux De Bruxelles)
In the current sociopolitical climate, some bands and artists have almost become an anachronism and that both musically and in terms of content. Take Brussels based Jaune Toujours for example, which for more than twenty years has been steering its own course and after more than five years is presenting a new album with 'Europeana'.
Jahbar I - Jahbar I Dehya (Wizkilful Productions)
Our last album review for this year is for 'Jahbar I Dehya', the long-playing debut of Jahbar I.
Various Artists - Step Forward Youth: Roots Masters From The 'Punky Reggae Party' (Greensleeves)
For once, their 'Strictly The Best' compilation will only be released in the new year, so Greensleeves/VP Records ends 2018 with 'Step Forward Youth', zooming in on the relationship between punk and reggae.