Sessa Harnesses Soulful Sparks on Gorgeous LP
Sessa makes magic. Refreshing musical subtleties and emotional complexities make Peqeuna Vertigem de Amor worth repeat listens.
Adriane Pontecorvo
Adriane Pontecorvo is a native San Franciscan with a penchant for global beats. She is a music programmer for community radio station WFHB and studies ethnomusicology at Indiana University.
Yalla Miku Pack a Cosmopolitan Punch on ‘2’
The music fascinates and scintillates. 2 is an exciting new step for Yalla Miku as the group harness their collective chemistry and finds ways to elevate it.
Los Cinco Cardones’ Debut Shows Their Versatility
Los Cinco Cardones’ El Quinto Cardón is an impressive show of the jazz quartet’s range, and the musicianship throughout is unquestionable.
Coco Maria Curates in Full Color on New Compilation
Coco Maria is a genuine selector: knowledgeable and curious. Her Club Coco series has long offered a soundscape going beyond smooth background beats.
Mulatu Astatke Amplifies His Ethio-Jazz Legacy on Tremendous LP
Mulatu Astatke takes all he has learned and accomplished in more than half a century of professional music-making and uses those resources to realize a grand vision.
Bongo Joe Celebrates 10 Years of Eclectic Releases
Bongo Joe’s compilation is worth listening to from start to finish, a thrilling way to traverse the cosmopolitan scenes of Geneva and, by extension, a world of sonic style.
Guedra Guedra’s ‘Mutant’ Is Breathtaking and Scintillating
Guedra Guedra’s new LP is filled with thoughtful assemblages of field recordings, digital and analog beats, and some of the year’s most luscious dancefloor melodies.
Mádé Kuti Discovers New Clarity with ‘Chapter 1’
Mádé Kuti’s Chapter 1 shows that he’s here to make his own sonorous mark on the world, and it’s going to be a worthwhile one.
Svetlana Highlights Female Artists with Cinematic Classics
With Reel to Remix, Svetlana takes the chance to use her talents and the power of nostalgia to uplift other women in music, and that’s admirable.
Algerian Freh Khodja’s Brilliant, Funky Debut Is Reissued
Freh Khodja’s story is one of mobilities and frictions, complex power structures, and lived realities that underlie and challenge utopian notions of cosmopolitanism.
Hamid Al-Saadi’s ‘Maqam Al-Iraq’ Is Beautiful and Meaningful
This is an opportunity for the world to behold a master of Iraqi maqām, Hamid Al-Saadi, the likes of whom are nearly impossible to find these days.
Brìghde Chaimbeul Expands the Smallpipes Realm
Brìghde Chaimbeul honors the power of bagpipes not with staid repetition but with an appreciation for tradition’s dynamism and outstanding technical skills.