Compiled by the excellent DJ Ritu there’s tracks from James Asher, Apache Indian, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Atif, Bally Sagoo & Gunjan, Tribali, Niraj Chag, Debashish Bhattacharya, Ajoy hakrabarty, Lopa, Sonorous Star and Karen David. Recommended, a nicely balanced collection.

Graham Radley

Glorious pop music, with an equally glorious mix of styles and influences, on a bed of East European cultures, past and present. Among the many guests are clarinettist Filip Simeonov (Taraf de Haidouks) trumpeter Roy Paci (Manu Chao) reggae/dancehall queen Mantiz and singer Brenna MacCrimmon . The ex DJ knows what works an audience and uses it to great effect.

Graham Radley

Two years in the making the CD features 10 tracks based on the works of Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca plus ‘Take This Waltz’ by Leonard Cohen (adapted from ‘Little Viennese Waltz’ by Lorca). Thoughtfully put together with music that acts as a perfect foil to the evocative and passionate words. Very good.

Graham Radley

After 20 successful compilations in the last ten years Makossa’s heritage sits tight beneath this album, with hard beats and subtle tones. The collaboration here with Megablast works like some music mad conjoined twins permanently in the studio together. This is a breath of fresh air including two of the tuffest tunes so far this year – ‘Kunuaka’ and ‘Mama’. Give this release your undivided attention as its place in your collection is just.

Steve Williams

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