A cool contemporary set from Beirut producer Charif Megarbane – a set served up in a style he bills as "Lebrary" – which is a combination of Lebanese elements with a classic sound library aesthetic! The tunes here are short, funky, and colorful – and almost feel like some 70s studio take on expected Mid East musical modes – with the exotic and the groovy shaking hands in some very cool styles throughout! There's plenty of wonderful grooves on the record, with a nicely varied sense of instrumentation – and titles include "Shanklish", "Ma Ward", "Abou Boutros", "Chez Mounir", "Pas De Dialogue", "Soul El Ahad", "Tarator", "Ya Salam", "A Parking Lot By The Sea", and "Pale Baleine". (Global Grooves, Sound Library) CD

A really cool little record – one that takes an older Italian sound library mode and reworks it with some of the contemporary flavor of the Schema label – but all with live instrumentation that's mighty nice all the way through! Lorenzo Morressi handles bass, guitar, and plenty of vintage keyboards – while Luicano Cantone plays live drums throughout, which gives the record a crisp crackle that might be missing if the pair worked with too many programmed rhythms, samples, or overdubs! There's also plenty of live instrumentation on the set too – including sublime flute lines from Tenderlonious, and electric piano from Giovanni Guerretti – on titles that include "Allegro Funerario", "Slalom", "Odeon", "Savana Urban", "Beta Erotica", "Sulla Strada Della Luna", and "Poste Presente". CD