Cheba Wahida - Jrouli (Nashazphone)
Alexandra Spence - a veil, the sea (mappa)
Alexandra Spence is a sound artist and musician living on unceded Wangal land in Sydney, Australia. Through her practice Alex attempts to reimagine the intricate relationships between the listener, the object, and the surrounding environment as a kind of communion or conversation. Her aesthetic favours field recordings, analogue technologies and object interventions (she holds the belief that electricity might actually be magic).
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Revep (Noton)
Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's third collaborative album,
Revep, was reissued recently. The album, which was originally released by the duo via raster-noton in 2006, has been remastered, seeing the album pressed to vinyl for the first time in 16 years. The reissue includes three previously unreleased tracks by the two artists, titled 'City Radieuse', 'Veru Live' and 'Veru 2'.
Amaliya Group - Viyezgo. Vimbuza from Mzimba South (Sacral Grooves 1000HZ)
Viyezgo means
Try me. This inscription welcomes visitors at the entrance of the temple belonging to Doctor Amaliya. It constitutes a challenge to all those who doubt Maliya's abilities, and especially to the witches who wait for her mistakes. "Viyezgo" can be taken literally. Before making a diagnosis, Maliya often planned with patients: "If I do not help you, take anything you want from my house. But if my spirits solve your problem, you repay me." As a result, even though her house had no electricity, it housed several TV sets which she had won from grateful patients. Amaliya was famous in the Endindeni area. She had a reputation for fearlessly fighting evil witchcraft, even risking her life to do so. After arguing with a local politician who was supposed to be responsible for kidnapping children for their magical powers, she ended up in jail, but local residents demanded her release.
Bachir Attar With Elliott Sharp - In New York (Fortuna Records / Dikraphone Records)
Moroccan Jajouka master Bachir Attar meets American experimental musician Elliot Shrap for a live jam of drum machines and traditional Moroccan instruments in 1990.
Celestine Ukwu - No Condition Is Permanent (Mississippi Records)
Of the many great talents of the classic Nigerian highlife scene, none contained the existential depth, transcendence and grace of Celestine Ukwu. During his brief time in this world, he pursued education, music, and philosophy; first as a school teacher, then ultimately a singer, lyricist and musician, first as a member of Gentleman Mike Ejeagha's Premier Dance Band, and eventually fronting his own groups, The Music Royals and The Philosophers National.
Century Plants - Transmissions from the Outer Sun (Carbon Records)
Century Plants is a shape-shifting drone and free improv duo featuring Ray Hare and Eric Hardiman, and on this release, they check in with two long-form psych scorchers.
Cheba Wahida - Jrouli (Nashazphone)
"What is fascinating with Rai is that it has never needed media, scenes or official and sponsored festivals in order to exist, progress and reinvent itself. Rai in the 21st century sustained its evolution via social media, the 3G and 4G networks and of course, the democratization of digital recording and electronic music in general. Cheba Wahida comes from that newer, incidentally very feminized, wave of Rai artists in the Oran region. Vice remains a central theme in the lyrics of all these modern day chebbat whose strong voices and charisma are carried by electronic music and arrangements."
