Duane Stephenson - Dangerously Roots, Journey From August Town (VP Records)
Like Etana, Duane Stephenson also joined forces with Clive Hunt for the production of 'Dangerously Roots, Journey From August Town', his third long player.
Etana - I Rise (VP Records)
Gone are the bright vibrant colors from her previous album covers, and instead we get to see a soberly dressed Etana wrapped in a simple white Ethiopian scarf or netela.
Aziz Sahmaoui & University Of Gnawa - Mazal (World Village/Harmonia Mundi)
The flourishing raï scene of the end of the nineteen nineties seems to have completely disappeared, but amateurs of North African rhythms can still get their fill with the growing number of gnawa-projects out there.
Namvula - Shiwezwa (Self-published)
Namvula Muntemba-Rennie is a young singer-songwriter who, with her debut album 'Shiwezwa', has already caused a bit of a stir in the English world music scene.
Shanty - Leave Me Out EP (Self-published)
Shanty, a seven piece band from the British capital, presents its debut effort 'Leave Me Out, an EP consisting of four tracks.
Heartwash - Tesitoo/Ready To Work (Self-published)
With 'Tesitoo/Ready To Work' Antwerp based band Heartwash offers up a delicious slice of afro-reggae.
Marockin' Brass feat. Byron Wallen - Tout Droit (Music & Words/A-Shams/Met-X)
For 'Tout Droit', Marockin' Brass, the gnawa-jazz project around saxophonist Luc Mishalle, joined forces with British trumpeter Byron Wallen.
Hernán Reinaudo Trio - Kuko (Self-published)
Guitarist Hernán Reinaudo belongs to the top of contemporary Argentinian tango musicians.
Papa Touwtjie - Gangster En Andere Poku's (Top-Notch Music/Universal)
In their Sranan Gowtu ("Surinamese gold") series, the Dutch Top-Notch label is now also releasing 'Gangster En Andere Poku's', a compilation of the work of Johan Edward Touwslager aka Papa Touwtjie, Suriname's best known reggae artist.
Addys Mercedes - Locomotora A Cuba (Medialuna)
Addys Mercedes was born in Moa, an industrial town in the east of Cuba, but after a lot of traveling (Gelsenkirchen, Dusseldorf, Tenerife) ended up settling with her family in the German town of Essen.
O.B.F. - Wild (Dubquake Records)
Original Bass Foundation, in dub circles better known as O.
Various Artists - Full Up: Bunny 'Striker' Lee's Early Reggae Productions 1968-72 (Pressure Sounds)
Now a label like Jamaican Recordings/Kingston Sounds has dedicated itself to rereleasing Bunny Lee's entire back catalogue, the question rises whether there's still a need for this Pressure Sounds-compilation.
Tony Allen - Film Of Life (Jazz Village/Harmonia Mundi)
Even though Tony Allen will probably be identified with afrobeat for the rest of his career, he already proved his versatility as a musician on several occasions in the past.
Amariszi - Nine Balkans Nights (Music & Words/I-C-U-B4-T)
Like Klavan Gadje, Amariszi is also a Dutch band putting its own largely Dutch-speaking spin (besides in the Dutch, Merel Simons also sings in French and English on 'Nine Balkans Nights') on the gypsy genre.
Bongo Botrako - Punk Parranda: Live 2014 + La Sra. Tomasa - Corazon, Bombo Y Son (Kasba Music)
The fact a concert by mestizo-sensation Bongo Botrako has little in common with their studio recordings, the Tarragona-based band proves with 'Punk Parranda' ("parranda" is Spanish for party), a live recording of a concert at the Viña Rock festival in Villarrobledo in May of 2014.
Saimn-I - More To The Universe Than Meets The Mind (Deaf People Audio)
The fact multi-instrumentalist/DJ/MC/producer Saimn-I returns here with the successor to 'More To The Picture Than Meets The Eye', his 2013 long player debut, leaves little doubt, because the titles of both albums are very similar to one another.
Bipolarbass - Music For Loud Ears (Taruja Recordings)
All the way from faraway New Zealand we received 'Music For Loud Ears' by Bipolarbass, the alter ego of Tom Cadillac (bass and organ) and Ed Salik (drums, sampler), two do-it-yourselfers from Auckland.
Tour De Force - Battle Cry + Battle Cry Remixed (Dub Stuy Records)
Contrary to what their band name suggests, Tour De Force isn't a French band, but the alter ego of Jay Spaker aka.
Various Artists - More Jammy's From The Roots (Greensleeves/VP Records)
In 2010 the Greensleeves/VP Records label released a compilation titled 'Jammy's From The Roots 1977-1985', focusing on the early years of Prince Jammy's production work.
Don Carlos - Wipe The Wicked Clean (Kingston Sounds)
Containing songs like 'Johnny Big Mouth', 'Lazer Beam' or 'Ababa John I' you could consider 'Wipe The Wicked Clean' a kind of 'Best Of' compilation of the work of Don Carlos.