World music
New Track/video: Soundway announce landmark compilation of 80’s Argentinian electro-pop, ‘Sintesis Moderna’, with stomping single ‘A Ver, A Ver’.
Things are getting mighty crowded in the global beats compilation racks at the moment. Every week seems to bring on another collection of lost gems, quirky genres, tantilising back stories or classy kitsch and here’s one more that might tempt you. Except Síntesis Moderna: An Alternative Vision Of Argentinian Music 1980-1990, set for release via …
Track/Video: Direct from Benin, Star Feminine Band beam out more authentic teen pop with new single ‘Le Mariage Forcé’ and soon come album ‘In Paris’.
If you didn’t catch onto the joyous West African pop of Star Feminine Band when their self-titled debut burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, then you really missed something. The all-girl, teenage group from Natitingou village Benin, make music forged in friendship, sparkling with youthful energy and powered by commitment. Delivering upbeat …
Album Review: BKO – Djine Bora : explosive rock with Malian roots – magic direct from Bamako
BKO are a band with stamina and staying power who have been needling for attention on the global beat circuit for getting on ten years. Formed in Bamako in 2012 by master percussionist Ibrahima Sarr and his then drum pupil, Frenchman Aymeric Krol, the band soon expanded to a five piece with the introduction of …
EP Review: Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers – Ayiti Kongo Dub #1: Fusing Haitian Voodou rhythms with techno intensity.
It was around this time a couple of years ago that the pairing of ceremonial drummers Chouk Bwa and techno extenders The Ångströmers’ first rumbled attention with their potent blend of Voodou rhythms and heavy bass currents. Their joint album ‘Vodou Ale’, released in 2020, stepped out way beyond any Haitian roots meets Belgian minimalism …
Album Review: Noori & His Dorpa Band – Beja Power ! : a desert rock, ethio-jazz, surf guitar scorcher from Port Sudan.
Unearthing ‘what the truth sounds like’ is Ostinato Records’ enduring mission. This year we’ve already been introduced to the raw beauty of Capo Verde’s creole soul with the release from the Ano Nobo Quartet and now comes the label’s latest reveal direct from Port Sudan, Noori & His Dorpa Band with the release of Beja …
Album Review: Sessa – ‘Estrela Acesa’ : re-imagining Tropicalia with seductive Brazilian pop.
You would be wrong to lazily pass off Sessa’s music as laid back or simply chilled. For sure his sound-world is luxurious and something to recline into but drifting off is not what’s intended here. As Sessa, Sergio Sayeg entwines the pulse and poetry of classic Brazilian pop with psychedelic fluidity and tight-hipped acoustic funk. …
Album Review: Madalitso Band – Musakayike : joyful, jumping urban folk from Malawi
Big in Europe, unknown in Malawi…It’s not often that you can use that strapline about a band but that’s the trajectory so far for Madalitso Band, the enduringly upbeat partnership of Yosefe Kalekeni and Yobu Maligwa. The pair’s distinctive raw Malawian folk sound, bonded through years of busking in Lilongwe’s shopping malls, may have first …
Album Review: Maga Bo – Amor (É Revolução) : turntable-ready Afro-Brazilian energy.
There’s more to Maga Bo than sought after DJ, re-mixer, engineer and album maker. He is a true global beat innovator, a sonic explorer, not just absorbing sounds in the studio but constantly on the move, travelling to and living with the music, people and rhythms that intrigue him. His de-camping from Seattle to now …
New Track: Haitian rhythms/Techno intensity -Chouk Bwa & The Angstromers preview ‘Agwetaroyo’ from new EP
It was around this time a couple of years ago that the pairing of Chouk Bwa’s potent Vodou rhythms and The Angstromers’ electronic beat reductions first rumbled sound systems far and wide. Their album ‘Vodou Ale’ stepped out way beyond any Haitian roots meets Belgian minimalism tag, this was more than fusion it was a …
Premiere: Dave Manington releases new video for collaborative track with Lara Eidi, the bewitching ’Fones’
Celebrated Composer and Bassist Dave Manington is someone we’ve featured before on Backseat Mafia, and we’re delighted to be able to premiere the video for his new track ’Fones’, a collaboration with our very own Athens – London based jazz and folk singer Lara Eidi. Using words by the revered Greek poet Constantine P Cavafys, …