Four killer tracks from Narg Funk Machine – a group whose first name stands for Nigerian Army Rhythm Group! Despite that name, though, there's nothing military about the set – as the grooves have this loose, fluid quality that's totally wonderful – as skittish as rootsier styles on the West African scene, but served up with an instrumental tightness that's great, especially on the horns and guitar lines! And despite the title, the set's not disco at all – much more raw, funky, and earthy – with titles that include "Orimi", "Akiti", "Eko Ile", and "Mo Gbayo De". LP, Vinyl record album

Four long tracks from Nigerian singer Helen Nkume – set to grooves that almost have a psychedelic approach to funk! It may be the production as much as the instrumentation, but the basslines and percussion have this way of muddily mixing together, which creates a brooding vibe that's then topped with offbeat guitar and occasional horns – all also very much bubbling together in a musical brew! Then, when Helen's vocals come into the mix, they stand out with a sharpness that's really striking, maybe even spooky – as the whole thing moves together with a nicely hypnotic vibe. Titles include "Music", "Onye Ije", "Ndi Uwa Enyi Ego", and "Umo Imo Special". LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure Nigerian set from the mid 70s – and a record that's got a sound that's as lean as the image on the cover! The group aren't super-huge, and instead have a core of percussion and bass, mixed with a few guitars, and sewn together by some mighty nice keyboard lines – all used in ways that are very cyclical and pretty darn hypnotic – so that the tunes have this ebb and flow, bubble and rise quality that's really unique! The whole thing is still pretty darn funky, but in ways that are very different than the group's more famous contemporaries on the Lagos scene – and titles include "Uchuluchu", "The Chant", "Sound Of The People", "Nne", and "New Bride Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A funky Nigerian gem from this lost 70s group – a combo who have a way of folding Afro Funk styles with some of the leaner West African styles of the time! There's horns in the group, and lots of bold percussion – but the guitars are really the key to the whole set – mixing together and ringing out with all sorts of cool chromatic elements alongside the vocals! The approach hints at highlife, but has a vibe that's all its own – and a nicely rough around the edges sort of quality that really keeps things spontaneous! Side one features the long "Drunkard" – and side two features "Matine Yanzoni" and "Herve". LP, Vinyl record album

The title gets it perfectly right on this sweet little set – as the grooves are raw and stripped down – often just to the core elements of Afro Funk! The music may be the most hard-hitting we've ever heard from this legendary combo – and it's served up beautifully in this well-selected compilation, right down to the detailed notes on the group and their long journey in sound! There's a core groove here that goes way beyond the boundaries of nation or culture – and which is plenty appealing to ears that have only ever been trained on American funk – and even more so on those who dig the great African sounds of the 70s. Plenty of heavy drums and ultra-cool guitar – and titles include "Adjro Mi", "A O O Ida", "Pourquoi Pas", "Ecoute Ma Melodie", "Min We Tun So", "Ai Gabani", and "Aku We Non Houme". CD

An Afro Funk band, but one with a difference – a difference that's maybe a bit hard to put in words, but which is definitely there when you dig their grooves! These guys have all the familiar elements – percussion, guitars, horns, and keyboards – but they've got a rhythmic approach that's a bit unusual, and which takes things in a way that's sometimes a bit more laidback than other groups of this nature – sometimes almost as if they're borrowing a bit of East African styles to weave into a Nigerian-inspired music. The keyboards are especially nice, and almost feel like Greg Foat's cooked up an Afro Funk project – and titles include "Last Leap", "Control Per Capita", "Bad Dog", "Xoomba", and "Yetunde" – plus remixes "Bad Dog (Tigerbalm rmx)" and "Last Leap (Taj rmx)". LP, Vinyl record album

A great combination of Congo grooves and Nigerian 70s – served up here by vocalist Ondigui and his Bota Tabansi ensemble! Ondigui already has a fantastic sound himself – this vocal range and ability to inflect his notes that has the singer cascading up and down the spectrum – in ways that really explode when the lively rhythms of the group come into play – lots of romping percussion, often influenced by Cuban modes – colored in with these bright guitar lines that bubble and glisten throughout the tunes! Titles include "Longe La Wenge", "Wonderful For Ashawo", "Meveg", "Mude Dzam", and "Beza Bakili Ma Nyon". LP, Vinyl record album

A great combination of Congo grooves and Nigerian 70s – served up here by vocalist Ondigui and his Bota Tabansi ensemble! Ondigui already has a fantastic sound himself – this vocal range and ability to inflect his notes that has the singer cascading up and down the spectrum – in ways that really explode when the lively rhythms of the group come into play – lots of romping percussion, often influenced by Cuban modes – colored in with these bright guitar lines that bubble and glisten throughout the tunes! Titles include "Longe La Wenge", "Wonderful For Ashawo", "Meveg", "Mude Dzam", and "Beza Bakili Ma Nyon". CD

Dust To Digital moves across the Atlantic Ocean – and brings the same great skill to African music they've already brought to blues, folk, and gospel! This package is amazing – 100 rare 78rpm recordings, appearing here on CD for the first time ever – not just wonderful music, but music that's wonderfully put together – with detailed notes that really blow us away as much as the sounds on the discs! The beautiful thing is that these guys not only know how to pick the best tracks, but that they also know what the music is about – and can prove it with a lavish 112 page book that features very rich information on all the obscure recordings – an archival feat that's a real bargain at this price. Heck, some guys would spend an entire career just to excavate and annotate this much great music – yet it's all in a day's work for this legendary label. And we haven't even told you about the actual music yet – but trust us, it's wonderful – the kind of mindblowing 78-era tracks that will really open up your understanding of global sounds! CD

Nice one – a nice batch of funky sountrack material, culled from classic Indian "brownsploitation" action films from the 1970s – and the music's every bit as wild and funky as you'd imagine. The bottom groove is classic 70's funk, as you might hear in an American action film from the time, but then there's also some fantastic elements of Indian music thrown in – like funky sitar, extra percussion, and cool synthesizers. Plus, some of the tracks have additional production work by The Automator, and extra beats by DJ Shadow, to extend the funkiness of the originals. The whole thing's very lavishly packaged, with great graphics, and a nice book that has lots of images from the films. Some of the titles (which were added recently, since this is incidental music) are a bit weak – like "Punjabis, Pimps, & Players", "Fear Of A Brown Planet", "Fists Of Curry", and "The Good, The Bad, & The Chutney" – but believe us, the music is stone cold funky, and very very nice! Some good breaks, and lots of groovy funky sounds that you'd never hear on this side of the Pacific. CD

A really wonderful collaboration – one that features famous South African singer Vusi Mahlasela working with the Jive Connection combo – a funky Swedish group who backed Mahlasela on many live dates over the years, and who really help his music come across with a lean, classic sort of vibe! This isn't the mainstream music from the SA scene at the start of the 70s – as the instrumentation is live and spontaneous, and never overproduced – a great accompaniment to the raspy charms of Vusi's vocals, which are also delivered in a way that's nicely unfettered too! Norman Zulu also sings a bit on the record – and although the tracks were recorded in 2002, this is the first release of the music – titles that include "Face To Face", "Inkomo", "Umzala", "Prodigal Son", "Push", "Intombi Y Mbali", and "Thulualele". CD

An amazing world of music – rare funk, soul, reggae, and other grooves from Belize – all beautifully compiled in the rich Numero Music style! We're really stunned by the set – as we had no idea at all that Belize had anything going on at this level – and the collection is an amazing surprise to our ears, filled with new delights at each turn, and clearly marking Belize as a new funky capitol on our ever-expanding map of musical understanding. Numero really outdid themselves with this package – going far beyond their already-great collections of work from the Bandit and Capsoul labels – to dig up a range of tracks that have never really made it out to the world at large, but which bubble over with influences from American funk and soul at the time. The notes are great, and the booklet's got plenty of excellent images to back up the writings – but the music is the real star of the set, and is presented on 16 tracks that include "More Love Reggae" and "Boogaloo A La Chuck" by Lord Rhaburn, "Theme From The Godfather" and "Backstabbers" by The Professionals, "Can't Go Halfway" and "Shame Shame Shame" by The Harmonettes, "Things Are Going To Work Out Right" and "Rated G" by The Web, "Funky Jive (parts 1& 2)" by Soul Creations, and "Long Time Boy" by Nadia Cattouse. CD

A vivid portrait of a rich legacy in jazz – the wonderful sounds that have come from the South African scene from the early 60s onwards – served up nicely in this well-chosen set! The collection mixes underground work with well-known artists, older tracks with more contemporary ones – yet the whole thing comes together with a relatively unified feel – and a strong focus on the kinds of unusual rhythmic impulses that have always made South African jazz so unique. Titles include "Ntyilo Ntyilo" by Thandiswa, "Clarinet Kwela" by Kippie Moeketsi, "Dembese" by Brian Thusi, "Emampondweni" by Batsumi, "Vuvuzela" by Bokani Dyer, "Seven Days Ago" by Allen Kwela, "Dindela" by Errol Dyers, "Kwabulawayo" by African Echoes, and "Tlhapi Ke Noga" by Dolly Rathebe. CD

A full plate of funky freakout grooves from the Turkish scene – compiled one and all from 7-inch records made from the end of the 60s to the dawn of the 80s! It's a mix of psych folk, funk, more traditional buzzing strings and hypnotic melodies – pretty wonderful all the way! Turkey's been a fertile wonderland of psych era sounds for deep diggers the past few years, but the quality level varies. This is one of the great ones, both for the music and for thick booklet of notes with info on each track. A far reaching set stylistically, with western jazz influences played with Turkish instruments, dreamy folkish melodies, rawer garage style grooves, heavy rhythms and spacier gems! Titles include "Dokuz Sekiz" by Okay Temiz, "Cokertme" by Kardaslar, "Sevdigim" by Erkin Koray, "Hal Hal" by Baris Manco, "Iciyorum" by Ajda Pekkan, "Osman Whlivan" by Arif Sag, "Gunese Don Cicegim" by Ersen and more. (Funky Compilations, Global Grooves) CD

A really mind-bending collection of African grooves – one that digs deep into the West African scene of the early 70s – and comes up with a massive batch of tunes that really opens up our understanding of the music! The sound here isn't just 70s Afro Funk – as the tunes include a range of tripped-out styles that make the best use of electric instrumentation, psychedelic production, and important influences from American soul artists at the time. There's some amazing guitar on some of the best tracks – ringing out with a sound that's chromatically complex while also being tripped-out and funky – in a way that complicates the rhythms without totally taking them apart. If you've dug the tunes on previous sets like Africa Funk or Ghana Soundz, this is one to take that sound to the next level – and really open up your ears! Titles include "Keleya" by Moussa Doumbia, "Love's A Real Thing" by The Super Eagles, "Minsato Le Mi Dyihome" by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Dahomey, "Porry" by Sorry Bamba, "Allah Wakbarr" by Ofo & The Black Company, "Sanjina" by Orchestre Regional De Kayes, "Ifa" by Tunji Oyelana & The Benders, "Zinabu" by Bunzu Sounds, and "Awon-Ojise-Oluwa" by Gasper Lawal. CD

Mid 70s Afro Funk from the great Manu Dibango – adding in a bit more of a full production sound than on his earlier albums, but still sounding pretty darn nice! There's definitely more of an uptempo club groove going on – and the band has a lot more players than ever before – but the funk component is still high, and Manu's work on funky sax solos is as great as ever. Very much in Manu's "Big Blow" mode – and with the tracks "Mimbo", "Angola", "Bokilo's Boogie", and "Mouvement Ewondo", plus the slow spacey "Besoka On Salsa". In a way, this is the kind of record that would be rated high if it was the first effort by an unknown player – but often tends to get passed up because it's not as hard as the artist's more famous work. LP, Vinyl record album

A gorgeous collection of music – brought together in an equally gorgeous package! We'll rave about the latter in a minute – but first onto the music, which is the most important part! The sounds were all recorded by Paul Bowles in Morocco at the end of the 50s – at a time when Bowles and other key counter culture figure were drawn to the nation, and began richly extrapolating its various cultures in ways that went onto have a huge global impact. Bowles' fascination with the music of Morocco led to some of the first wider exposure of the unique vocal strains and hypnotic qualities of Moroccan sounds – and in a way, his efforts with this project were almost as important to the Saharan scene as the previous field recordings by Alan Lomax were to the south of the United States. Some of these recordings have been issued in the past, but this is the most complete set we've ever seen of Bowles' recordings – served up in a lavish fabric-covered box, along with a leather-bound book that feels like one of Paul's journals from the trip – complete with photos, notes on the music, and even writings on the overall project and its legacy. Very much in the best Dust-To-Digital presentation – and stunning throughout! CD

Way more than just the rock and roll promised in the title – as the music here is surprisingly heartfelt, surprisingly moving, and surprisingly effective – even if we don't know the language! There's definitely a rock style on most tunes, but the music is hardly the kind of knockoff psych or garage from the Vietnam era of Southeast Asia – and instead often has this really organic, well put-together quality that makes these tunes stand strongly on their own! The package is designed to accompany the film of the same name – about the lost history of Cambodian rock at the time – but there's such a great array of notes in the package, the whole CD set is more than visually stunning on its own – and packed with great cuts that include "Crazy Loving You" by Drakkar, "Dance A Go Go" by Sinn Sisamouth, "Don't Be Angry" by Ros Serey Sother, "Unique Child" by Huoy Meas, "The Story Of My Love" by Chhoun Malay, "BCK" by Baksey Cham Krong, "Console Me" by Sieng Fannthy, and "Cyclo" by Yol Aularong. CD

A second volume from one of our favorite compilation series of 70s African music ever – Nigeria Special Volume 2 from the rare Afrobeat treasure diggers at Soundway Records! This deeper delve into the well of hard-to-find early to mid 70s material sticks is just as wonderful – chronicling rare singles, A-sides and B-sides, as well as lesser known album tracks that wonderful fuse styles of African funk, soul & jazz, highlife and more. Heavy rhythms and passionate sounds galore, from the first half dozen years of the decade in this second, and purportedly final installment of the flagship Nigerian Special series! It's very exciting that researcher and compiler Miles Cleret puts together compilations of such top caliber material, on a level that it's mindboggling that so much has languished largely unheard for so many years! 19 tracks : "Psychedelic Baby" by Fubura Sekibo, "Shango Oba Onina" by Black's Zenith, "Omohupa" by The Otarus, "The Lord's Prayer"m by The Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination, "Jeka Subu" by Bola Johnson & His Easy Life Top Beats", "Motako" by Fidel Sax Bateke & The Voices Of Darkness and more. CD

A really mind-bending collection of African grooves – one that digs deep into the West African scene of the early 70s – and comes up with a massive batch of tunes that really opens up our understanding of the music! The sound here isn't just 70s Afro Funk – as the tunes include a range of tripped-out styles that make the best use of electric instrumentation, psychedelic production, and important influences from American soul artists at the time. There's some amazing guitar on some of the best tracks – ringing out with a sound that's chromatically complex while also being tripped-out and funky – in a way that complicates the rhythms without totally taking them apart. If you've dug the tunes on previous sets like Africa Funk or Ghana Soundz, this is one to take that sound to the next level – and really open up your ears! Titles include "Keleya" by Moussa Doumbia, "Love's A Real Thing" by The Super Eagles, "Minsato Le Mi Dyihome" by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Dahomey, "Porry" by Sorry Bamba, "Allah Wakbarr" by Ofo & The Black Company, "Sanjina" by Orchestre Regional De Kayes, "Ifa" by Tunji Oyelana & The Benders, and "Zinabu" by Bunzu Sounds. LP, Vinyl record album

A really mind-bending collection of African grooves – one that digs deep into the West African scene of the early 70s – and comes up with a massive batch of tunes that really opens up our understanding of the music! The sound here isn't just 70s Afro Funk – as the tunes include a range of tripped-out styles that make the best use of electric instrumentation, psychedelic production, and important influences from American soul artists at the time. There's some amazing guitar on some of the best tracks – ringing out with a sound that's chromatically complex while also being tripped-out and funky – in a way that complicates the rhythms without totally taking them apart. If you've dug the tunes on previous sets like Africa Funk or Ghana Soundz, this is one to take that sound to the next level – and really open up your ears! Titles include "Keleya" by Moussa Doumbia, "Love's A Real Thing" by The Super Eagles, "Minsato Le Mi Dyihome" by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Dahomey, "Porry" by Sorry Bamba, "Allah Wakbarr" by Ofo & The Black Company, "Sanjina" by Orchestre Regional De Kayes, "Ifa" by Tunji Oyelana & The Benders, and "Zinabu" by Bunzu Sounds. LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderful collaboration – one that features famous South African singer Vusi Mahlasela working with the Jive Connection combo – a funky Swedish group who backed Mahlasela on many live dates over the years, and who really help his music come across with a lean, classic sort of vibe! This isn't the mainstream music from the SA scene at the start of the 70s – as the instrumentation is live and spontaneous, and never overproduced – a great accompaniment to the raspy charms of Vusi's vocals, which are also delivered in a way that's nicely unfettered too! Norman Zulu also sings a bit on the record – and although the tracks were recorded in 2002, this is the first release of the music – titles that include "Face To Face", "Inkomo", "Umzala", "Prodigal Son", "Push", "Intombi Y Mbali", and "Thulualele". LP, Vinyl record album