This little Reggae infused dubfest glides along through all manner of guests and is more typical of Ninja Tunes than of Sonar Kollektiv releases. One of those love it or hate it albums. For my special moments try skipping to ‘Speakeasy’ and ‘Zerrdub’ for maximum effect.

Steve Williams

Somali rapper K’Naan’s debut album has never been officially released here, so it’s good to see this live set getting released, recorded on his recent World tour. K’Naan grew up in Mogadishu where he fired his first gun aged 8 and saw many of the horrors of the civil war there before thankfully escaping when he was 13, to America. His lyrics address the realities of life in Somalia in a thought provoking way, this is hip hop on the sensitive side, indeed hip-hop itself comes under close scrutiny. Rap and Somali melodies with those intelligent lyrics make for an original and compelling package. A star, no mistake.

Graham Radley

Here we get their two American releases (Island Life and President Alien) fused onto one release. Yerba Buena is the brainchild of ‘the master chef of Urban fusion’ Andres Levin whose track record (Nile Rogers, David Byrne, Chaka Khan and the Fela Kuti tribute ‘Red Hot & Riot’) speaks for itself. Here the dance party is mainly Latin based but as you’d imagine there’s a whole lot more going on there too. The guests line up is mighty impressive too, including Carlinhos Brown, Les Nubians, Joe Bataan, Gogol Bordello, Fulantion etc. Excellent.

Graham Radley

Nice little collection this which features material from RobinElla, Mulehead, The Little Willies, Robert Earl Keen, Eliza Lynn, Old Crow Medicine Show, Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, Tim O’Brien, Alison Brown, Terri Hendrix, Josh Ritter and Ruthie Foster.

Graham Radley

Alan Hull solo release in 1970 for Rocket Records reissued for the first time on CD. Here there are 10 tracks from what was his third solo album ‘Phantoms’ although, as the sleeve notes point out, six had already been released on the Radiator album ‘Isn’t It Strange’ then we get 4 tracks from the aforementioned Radiator album with the package completed by five bonus demos from 1975. A great songwriter who had the capacity to write catchy pop songs as well as address less lightweight subject matter . The albums twelve page booklet features extensive notes and previously unpublished photos.

Graham Radley

Kenyan band founded in the early 1990s and celebrating the acoustic roots of ‘benga’ and keeping the ancient traditions fresh. African dance music at its best using traditional Luo instruments like the oporo (horn) asili (flute) and orutu (one stringed fiddle) in fact the band’s name translates as ‘fusion of small, exhilarating instruments’ which sums things up rather well. Very good.

Graham Radley

A collection of lullabies from around the world put together by classical guitarist Hilary and vocalist Patrice. Material sourced from Ireland, Russia, Spain, Indonesia, Italy, France and more with the common theme being to get little ones to sleep peacefully. Well, not always little ones, it worked a treat on me as well !

Graham Radley

Second CD, from the Mozambique group from Niassa Province, who were formed in 1994 to preserve the traditional rhythms of the area. They’ve used their rise to number one band in the land to fight poverty and to bring about social change, in fact Bumping is dedicated to the memory of Massukos’ percussionist Americo Miguel who died in last year aged 32 from a preventable and curable illness. He leaves his daughter and wife who has since given birth to his second child. This is African music at its infectious best, dancing music that gives that happy glow. Don’t miss them at Womad and check out more info on www.massukos.org.

Graham Radley

This debut release is one to go straight to the top of your shopping list if you like your music deeply rooted but adventurous, when I say deeply rooted the core influence is the blues but when I tell you that Huur-Huur-Tu, the Tuvan throat singers guest on 3 tracks then you know there’s something different going on here. The band features the dueling harmonicas of front-man Wade Schuman and Randy Weinstein, the funky tuba of Joseph Daly plus Pete Smith, Michael Gomez, Rich Huntley, Pam Fleming and Steve Elson. They bring in elements of early blues, rockabilly, klezmer, reggae and Romanian brass and make it sound simply wonderful.

Graham Radley

Oh what a joy this is, West Coast American music at its best with 12 great songs and arrangements to match, to bring everything nicely together the band of Danny Sorentino, Rob Ruiz, Steve Lee and Kenny Susan enlisted Grammy Award winner David Bianco (Tom Petty, Teenage Fanclub, etc) to take control of mixing duties and it makes the package complete. Listen out for ‘Ray Davies Day’, ‘Stop Being You’, ‘Seventeen’ and more. Recommended.

Graham Radley