• 
  Alkibar Gignor : La Paix
  
  Malian garage-rock group Alkibar Gignor deliver gloriously rough album.
• 
  Brownout : Oozy
  
  Latin-Funk group Brownout get down with some seriously laid-back swagger.
• 
  Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars: Radio Salone
  
  Sixteen great new tracks from Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.
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  Funk Ark : High Noon
  
  Group from DC brings the Afrobeat fire.
• 
  , Amadou et Mariam: Folila
  
  Amadou and Mariam continue their foray into fusing their Malian styles with the sounds of western artists.
• 
  Nneka: Soul Is Heavy
  
  Nigerian-German soulstress channels her inner neo-soul star on her latest release
• 
  Sauti Sol: Sol Filosofia
  
  Kenyan, Afro-fusion outfit Sauti Sol continue their exploration of all things "pop."
• 
  KG Omulo: Ayah Ye!: Moving Train
  
  A synergy of funk, rock, reggae and traditional African sounds from this inventive, young singer/songwriter.
• 
  Various Artists: Chief Boima Presents: Lone Stars - Hipco and Gbema
  
  
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  Various Artists: The Kankobela of the Batonga, Vol. 2
  
  Mysterious melodies from a disappearing thumb piano tradition of Southern Africa.
• 
  Kiran Ahluwalia: Aam Zameen: Common Ground
  
  Indo-Canadian Songwriter Combines Folk Poetry with African Rock, Jazz and more
• 
  M.anifest: Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America
  
  
• 
  Sona Jobarteh: FASIYA
  
  West African female kora virtuoso releases an album full of grace, warmth, and passion.
• 
  Sia Tolno: My Life
  
  Kissi singer releases a strong second album full of pop-infused star power over songs of strife and triumph.

All Reviews >>

This one-of-a-kind set samples instrumental works by arranger Mulatu Astatqé, a key creator of Addis’s golden age pop. Educated in music in London and New York , Astatqé returned to Addis with an awareness of American jazz, and equally importantly, Latin music. Jazz harmony and arranging applied to the dark modalities of Ethiopian traditional melodies result in the rebirth of the cool as grand melancholy, and tunes sinister enough to animate the darkest of film noir nightmares. From “Yèkèrmo Sèw,” with its echoes of Horace Silver, to the swinging 6/8 flute feature “Asmarina,” and “Mètché Dershé” with its heavy, Latinesque piano vamp, and lugubrious tenor sax, this volume is a treasure—14 tracks filled with organ drones, wah-wah and fuzz-tone guitars, and some of the most inventive and memorable horn arranging you’ll ever hear.