Gregory Isaacs - The African Museum + Tad's Collection Vol. I & II (Tad's Record)

After VP Records, Tad's Record is now also devoting attention to the work of the Cool Ruler.

Gregory Isaacs - Reggae Anthology: The Ruler 1972 - 1990 (17 North Parade/VP Records)

Gregory Isaacs couldn't stay without his own anthology tribute, that much is sure.

Various Artists - The Original Sound Of Cumbia: The History Of Colombian Cumbia & Porro As Told By The Phonograph 1948 - 79 (Soundway Records)

For this new Soundway Records release, a collection of Colombian cumbia and porro from the period 1948 - 1979, you'd better take your time, because listening to all of the 55 tracks (meticulously compiled over a period of several years by Will 'Quantic' Holland) will soon set you back a couple of hours.

Shazalakazoo - Karton City Boom (Eastblok Music)

We always look forward to the releases of Berlin's Eastblok Music label and this time they're presenting us Shazalakazoo or the eccentric Serbian duo Milan Djuric and Uros Petkovic who describe their club-oriented version of Balkan music as folkstep: a mix of classic Balkan melodies, Latin American rhythms, influences from the Arab world and a lot of electronics.

Phil Pratt - Dial M For Murder, In Dub Style (Pressure Sounds)

Apart from the fact 'Dial M For Murder, In Dub Style' is a classic dub production by Phil Pratt featuring a lot of good folk (Sly & Robbie, Bobby Kalphat, Ansell Collins, Tommy McCook, Herman Marquis.

Samueliko Y Los Guailers - 30 De Febrero (Kasba Music)

'30 De Febrero' is yet another release from the mestizo-stable of the Spanish Kasba Music label, even though Samueliko Y Los Guailers (a word play on The Wailers?) very resolutely opt for classic rumba catalana and prefer to describe their music as "rumba gamberra" or "hooligan rumba".

Atri N'Assouf - Akal (Self-published)

The fact the Sahara desert is far from a no man's land devoid of life, is proven by the number of Tuareg-acts that continue to sprout from the area.

The Strides - Reclamation (Record Kicks)

The Strides, a colorful bunch from Sydney, finally puts Australia on the reggae map.

Tom Fire - The Revenge (Chapter Two Records/Wagram)

The tracks on 'The Revenge' can roughly be divided into two categories: on the one hand there are the solo tracks for which Tom Fire created an instrumental poppy electro dub universe, and on the other hand, there are the songs for which he collaborated with a number of guest vocalists.

Derajah & The Donkey Jaw Bone - Paris Is Burning (Chapter Two Records/Wagram)

The debut album of Derajah - the young boboshanti always accompanying the Inna De Yard All Stars - should originally have appeared on Makasound, but the bankruptcy of the label decided otherwise and 'Paris Is Burning' remained in the racks.

Various Artists - Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura, The Search Continues (Brownswood Recordings)

Sometimes a title already says more than enough and that's definitely the case with 'Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura, The Search Continues', because for this double album Gilles Peterson continues his quest for new Cuban talent, adding a successful sequel to 2009's 'Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura, New Cuba Sound' and like on that first double album, the first disc of this compilation is reserved for the more jazzy arrangements while the second one focusses more on urban vibes (though that distinction this time is not always that clear).

The Moon Invaders - The Thin Line (Grover Records)

With 'The Thin Line' The Moon Invaders celebrate their 10th anniversary and although the brothers Hardison actually grew up in Belgium, they were born in New Orleans, a place they will probably never be able to let go.

Zion Train - State Of Mind (Universal Egg)

Yours truly is not an expert in the universe of Zion Train, but that didn't stop me from enjoying 'State Of Mind', the first full-fledged Zion Train album since 2007's 'Live As One'.

Various Artists - Steely & Clevie presents Memories (VP Records)

Above all else 'Steely & Clevie presents Memories' is a tribute from Cleveland 'Clevie' Browne to his deceased companion Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson, a project they still started working on together.

Titi Robin - Les Rives/River Banks (Naïve)

Although in France he's got almost a whole career behind him, we had actually never heard of Thierry 'Titi' Robin, multi-instrumentalist and world traveler.

Mamani Keïta - Gagner L'Argent Français (No Format!/Naïve)

Mamani Keïta's life story reads like a novel: she grew up in Bamako without a father, lost her mother when she was only thirteen years old and was eventually discovered by Salif Keita who took her to Paris.

The Liberators - The Liberators (Record Kicks)

It seems to rain afrobeat projects these days; from all over the world we continue to get releases and curiously enough there's hardly ever a bad one between them.

Various Artists - French Reggae Revolution (Soulbeats Records)

With this charmingly packaged compilation - the cover is a reggae version of the well-known image of Marianne, the French national symbol - Soulbeats Records tries to paint a picture of the current French reggae scene.

Groundation - We Dub Again (Soulbeats Records)

The release of 'Building An Ark', the upcoming album by Groundation was postponed to March 2012 and so the fans will still have to grin and bear it for a while, but to kill the time Soulbeats Records still releases 'We Dub Again', an album with dub versions of songs from 'We Free Again' and 'Dub Wars'.

Joni Haastrup - Wake Up Your Mind + Monomono - Give The Beggar A Chance & Dawn Of Awareness (Soundway Records)

Attentive readers will have spotted the name of talented Nigerian keyboardist Joni Haastrup on these pages before, because Soundway Records already used some of his songs for their Nigeria Special compilations and he was also one of the musicians who worked on the 'Black Goddess' soundtrack reissued by the same label.