Carmen Souza - Creology (Galileo Music Communication)
The definition of creology is actually "the study of Creole Languages", but on 'Creology' Cape Verdean singer-songwriter Carmen Souza and Portuguese bassist/composer Theo Pascal rather take the listener on a musical journey through the history of Creole music.
Burnt - Majestic Walrus (Self-published)
For the financing of this eighth long player, Californian band Burnt mounted a successful Kickstarter campaign resulting in a double album with a track list of no less than 20 (!) new songs.
Rico Rodriguez - Unreleased Early Recordings: Shuffle & Boogie 1960 (Dub Store Records)
If you're a fan of obscure releases, you should definitely check out 'Unreleased Early Recordings: Shuffle & Boogie 1960', a collection of early recordings by Jamaican trombonist Rico Rodriguez, recorded at Ken Khouri's Federal Recording Studio in Jamaica.
Prezident Brown - Journeyman Pilgrimage (Tower Production/Zojak World Wide)
Prezident Brown already announced this new album with the release of his 'The Journeyman' EP back in 2015, and 'Journeyman Pilgrimage', for which Fitz Cotterell surrounded himself prroduction-wise with old stalwarts like Barry O'Hare (the former CEO of X-rated and these days W.
La Dinamitaaa - ¡Ay Ay Ay! (Vlad Productions/Socadisc)
The members of the French band La Dinamitaa (multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, DJ and producer Captain Cumbia, Colombian singer Eleonora, klezmer clarinetist El Samuel and ex-Jim Murple Memorial bassist Monsieur Jonjon) describe their sound as cumbia fusion: an eclectic mix of cumbia with influences from hip-hop ('Ramène Ta Ganesh', 'Prende La Vela', 'Que Calor'), reggae/dub ('Playa Negra', our personal favorite on '¡Ay Ay Ay!') and soundtracks from spaghetti westerns (opener '¿Que Paso Capitan?', the slow 'Long Way From Home').
The High Reeds - Brother Jones EP (Blue Mountain/Dibyz Music)
In the spirit of equality - the four members of The High Exchange Reeds constantly swap places behind the microphone - and to indicate this project is not about a singer with a backing band, but a tight-knit group of musicians, for this 6 track 'Brother Jones' EP, Christophe Rigaud & The High Reeds was simply abbreviated to The High Reeds.
EarthKry - Survival (Self-published)
The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts has slowly grown into a talent factory for upcoming Jamaican bands, and after No-Maddz, Pentateuch and Raging Fyah, there's now EarthKry who are presenting their long player debut 'Survival'.
Ruben Gonzalez - Introducing... Ruben Gonzalez (World Circuit)
20 years after the release of 'Introducing.
Sizzla - Fought For Dis (AL.TA.FA.AN. Records/Dibyz Music)
'Fought For Dis' may be presented as a "new" Sizzla album, a collaborative project that Kalonji and AL.
Negritage - Guetto Roots Of Dub Vol. 1 + Greetings From Planet Dub: Guetto Roots Of Dub Vol. 2 (Dub-O-Phonic)
Negritage is a project around Argentine producer, graphic designer and multi-instrumentalist William 'Willy' Baterola.
Dirty Undies - We'll See But First We'll Wait (Timber Mill Records/Self-published)
After the break-up of the Neerpelt-based ska band Sun To Sheeva in 2012, a number of musicians from the band, supplemented by members of Dr.
Jupiter & Okwess - Kin Sonic (Glitterbeat Records)
Four years after the release of the excellent 'Hotel Univers', Jean-Pierre Bokondi, better known as Jupiter, returns with 'Kin Sonic' (loosely translated: "the sound of Kinshasa"), produced by Marc-Antoine Moreau (see also Amadou & Mariam and Songhoy Blues) and François Gouverneur.
Nomade Orquestra - Entremundos (Far Out Recordings)
With 'Entremundos', Nomade Orquestra presents a successor for the untitled debut they released last year.
Sabrina Malheiros - Clareia (Far Out Recordings)
Yours truly got to know Sabrina Malheiros, daughter of Azymuth bassist Alex Malheiros, two years ago, when, on the occasion of her debut album's tenth anniversary, Far Out Recordings presented a deluxe reissue.
Professor Wouassa - Grow Yes Yes! (Matasuna Records)
The afrobeat genre slowly seems to have conquered every corner of the world… With 'Grow Yes Yes!' we end up in the Swiss city of Lausanne, home to Professor Wouassa, an eleven-piece band on this album combining afrobeat ('Doumadem', 'Touki'.
Sväng - Hauptbahnhof (Galileo Music Communication)
On a musical level Finland already surprised us more than once, and Sväng is certainly no different.
Quantic & Nidia Gongora - Curao (Tru Thoughts)
For 'Curao' ("medicine") musical jack-of-all-trades Will 'Quantic' Holland (The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Combo Barbaro, Flowering Inferno, Ondatropica.
Various Artists - Oté Maloya: The Birth Of Electric Maloya On Réunion Island 1975-1986 (Strut Records)
With 'Oté Maloya', the first international compilation focusing on nineteen seventies electric maloya, Reunion DJ duo La Basse Tropicalen presents a successor for last year's 'Soul Sok Séga'.
Lolomis - Boukane (Buda Musique)
When listening to 'Boukane', the second album by Lolomis, a quartet with roots in both Brussels and Paris, the one moment we were reminded of Zap Mama ('Hababa'), the next of Amina Annabi ('Pourquoi Tu N'es Pas Là?'), and every now and again also of Finnish folk sensation Värttinä ('Margaret').
Elijah Prophet - New Chapter Of My Life (Arise)
About a decade ago we still put forward Elijah Prophet's 'King Of Kings' album as a serious contender for "new roots album of the year!", but after the release of the PowPow production things around the singer from Westmoreland quieted down again.