Grooves unlike anything else you've ever heard in your life – an assortment of mid 70s tunes from Mahmoud Ahmed, the second grooviest Ethiopian artist, next to Mulatu! Ahmed's sound is a lot more out there than Mulatu's – less funky and jazz-based, and more in the mode of snakey rhythms, complicated guitar parts, and vocals that have a melancholy quality that's simply amazing. This set features tunes that recently appeared on volume 7 of the Ethiopiques CD series – but which are presented here in the format of the original 1975 LP! Titles include "Ere Mela Mela", "Ohoho Gedama", "Tezeta", "Abbay Mado", "Atawurulegn Lela", and "Endenesh Gedawo". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky African work from Fred Fisher – a Nigerian trombonist who crafted his own unique groove at the end of the 70s! Fred both sings and plays trombone – the latter with a Fred Wesley-like soulfulness – and his rhythms here are really wide-ranging, and embrace a host of new styles coming into play at the time – including a fair bit of influences from American soul! Some cuts have a rootsy groove, while others move into tighter dancefloor territory – never in a commercial style at all, but with traces of boogie and other 80s modes in the mix. Vocals are sometimes in English, which furthers the global appeal of the music – and the set brings together tracks from 4 different albums by Fisher. Titles include "Say The Truth", "Asa Sa", "Iye Ye Mu Elediamemisise", "No Way", "Let Love Free", "WTFS", "Beautiful Dancer", "Happy Blue Night", "The Beginning Ishan", "Ehimedede", "Babajoo", and "Ebi Lolo". 2LP set features 12 tracks in all. Note: The music on the whole set is great, but there are a few tracks that suffer sound-wise from some distortion in the masters used. Most of the other tracks are fine, though. LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool sounds from Baba Zula – a group who really keep the Turkish psychedelic sound strong well into the 21st Century – by working here on long, extended tracks that blend electric elements with plenty of earthy acoustic touches! The group is led by Osman Murat Ertel on electric saz – an instrument that he plays with the touches of a psychedelic guitar, but with a more open, fluid style overall – amidst other instrumentation that includes a fair bit of percussion, darbuka, davul, electronics, and even an electric oud! There's a bit of vocals on the record, but the main focus is on the long-spun instrumental passages – which stretch out nicely on tunes that include "Kucuk Kurbaga", "4 Nal", "Kelebekler Kuslar", "Tafus Havasi", "Col Aslanari", and "Sipa". LP, Vinyl record album

Totally cool, totally amazing music from the enigmatic Francis Bebey – a contemporary on the early 80s African scene of William Onyeabor, and an equally experimental artists! Bebey used a fair bit of electronics, but often with sounds that had acoustic roots – in this case, the ultra cool sansa, which is a similar thumb piano to the kalimba – amplified here in really great ways, and mixed with some moody, dark elements throughout! The music has much more of a 70s vintage than you'd guess from the dates on the record – thanks partly to the raw percussion, and very offbeat production – which sometimes is mellow, sometimes bursts out in these shocking waves of sound. Titles include "Sanza Tristesse", "Forest Nativity", "Sunny Crypt", "Ngoma Likembe", "Guinee", "Di Saegi", and "Binta Madiallo". LP, Vinyl record album

Don't think "rock", think "groove" – because oud player John Berberian takes his instrument into some very groovy territory here – mixing its Mid-East roots with a sweet array of modal rhythms and psychedelic elements – all of which make for an album that's even trippier than you'd guess from its cover! The album's one of the few "jazz meets world" sets that really gets things right – bringing together different global elements to come up with a sound that's wonderfully new and fresh – and which moves the whole thing way past its roots in Turkish, Greek, Armenian, and North African styles! Joe Beck plays some great electric guitar on the record – but the main string focus is on the oud, which Berberian uses with this exotic tinge that rivals the instrument in the hands of Ahmed Abdul-Malik on his own albums like this. The lineup also includes tenor and other reeds from Souren Baronian, plus other percussion, and nice use of electric bass to hold the whole groove together – and titles include "The Oud & The Fuzz", "Tranquility", "Chem-oo-Chem", "Iron Maiden", "Flying Hye", "3/8=5/8=8/8", and "The Magic Ground". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe one of the most authentic records ever cut by John Berberian – an American musician, but one who delivered great work on the oud during the 60s – including some projects that were often a bit psychedelic in nature! This set's a bit more straightforward, but equally great – really hard-driving and surprisingly earthy, without any attempts at all to touch up the sound with rock or pop elements – quite a surprise, given that the set was issued on Roulette Records, home to more mainstream rock and soul! Instrumentation includes lots of percussion, plus saxes and guitar – as well as a host of great oud solos from Berberian, on titles that include "Samra Ya Samra", "Dale Dale", "Chifte Telli", "Gamavor Zimfor", "Tamiko", and "Oud Solo". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album from the Black Children Sledge Funk Band – a combo who've got a sound that's a lot more lean than their name – with plenty of the funk that you might expect, mixed with some of the slightly trippy elements of the Zamrock generation too! The vocals are processed in a really cool way, and layered down next to the guitar – which often has some nice effects as well – all of which creates this swirlingly seductive sound on top of the funky rhythms at the core! Titles include "Mr Who", "Love Is Fair", "Funky Child", "Another Girl", "Hard Life", "Sledger Afro Funk", and "Feelings I've Got". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautifully heavy sounds from Black Market Brass – a group who started out with more of a global funk approach, but who emerge here with the intensity of some lost funky soundtrack – all with the sort of edge you might expect from the cover! The style here is really revolutionary – unlike anything else we've ever heard from a group with "brass" in their name – in part because the group has some very cool distortion on the keyboards and guitar, which gives those electric elements a very sinister sound next to the straight ahead fire of the horns – served up with really hard-driving rhythms throughout, in a way that seems to pull together older traditions of Afro Funk, Nola Brass, and even some of the southern college bands – but all with a very 21st Century vision. Titles include "So Who (parts 1 & 2)", "Into The Thick", "War Room", "Cheat & Start A Fight", "Undying Thirst", and "NBT". LP, Vinyl record album

A percussion record, but one with a very different twist – as the set was done both in collaboration with dancer Tonny Kennybrew, and based on his sense of motion – and it was done at the end of the 80s, and features a very cool mix of both acoustic and electric instrumentation! Percussionist Jean-Pierre Boistel handles a nice array of instruments at the core – kalimba, quinto, congas, bass tambours, bells, berimbau, shakers, and many other percussion elements – and at times, he uses computer-assisted programs to help line up the acoustic sounds, but in ways that hardly make them sound like some lame drum machine beats at all. Instead, there's a richly organic quality to the record – spare and lean, but nicely focused too. Titles include "Vas Y Peter", "C'Est A Sete", "A Capucine", "Des Perce Boys", and "Dans Le Secret & Clepsydre". LP, Vinyl record album

It's been quite a few years since Bombino's previous record – and in that time, it almost feels as if he's locked himself up somewhere and learned how to be even more amazing on guitar! His sense of sound, tone, and timing is incredible – and the record's one of those Tuareg sets that can easily stand next to Anglo greats from the years of psych and hard rock – but with that special sub-Saharan quality that also makes a player like Bombino so unique – as he spins out long lines of freedom and fuzz over plenty of driving rhythms! Titles include "Darfuq", "Alwane", "Tazidert", "Aitma", Si Chilan", "Mes Amis", "Ayes Sachen", and "Nik Sant Awanha". LP, Vinyl record album

It's been quite a few years since Bombino's previous record – and in that time, it almost feels as if he's locked himself up somewhere and learned how to be even more amazing on guitar! His sense of sound, tone, and timing is incredible – and the record's one of those Tuareg sets that can easily stand next to Anglo greats from the years of psych and hard rock – but with that special sub-Saharan quality that also makes a player like Bombino so unique – as he spins out long lines of freedom and fuzz over plenty of driving rhythms! Titles include "Darfuq", "Alwane", "Tazidert", "Aitma", Si Chilan", "Mes Amis", "Ayes Sachen", and "Nik Sant Awanha". LP, Vinyl record album

Two rare albums from Uncle Victor Chukwu – a hell of a guitarist, and the driving force behind both of these Nigerian gems from the late 70s! Akalaka is a record that's maybe higlife in outward appearance, but which has a very different quality overall – in part because the guitar work from Victor Chukwu is so sharp and searing, there's often a bit more edge on some of the tunes than the lighter, brighter notes you'd usually associate with the genre! Plus, the vocals have this nicely echoey vibe – ringing out with a quality that's equally great, whether the lyrics are in English or Igbo – on long titles that include "Akalaka", "Born Throw Away", "Ogbu Mmadu", and "Nwanne Bu Nwanne". Next up is an album that Victor Chukwu did with the Black Irokos group – a set that's even more striking, and almost experimental at times – with all these odd elements played right down near the bottom of the guitar strings, which are then echoed out with effects that make them sound very cool next to the percussion! There's a bit of horns in the mix, but the guitar and offbeat vocals are the main appeal – on the long tracks "Onwu Uwa", "Anya Ukwu", and "Oge Chukwu Ka Nma". LP, Vinyl record album