A great contemporary entry in the mindblowing musical legacy of Aksak Maboul – a group who first started mixing up many different genres in the late 70s, then went on to maybe set the tone for the whole creative legacy of the Crammed Discs label! Original member Marc Hollander is still at the core – handling keyboards, reed instruments, percussion, and all sorts of sonic elements – mixing them with that creative musicality that always made his vision so unique. And singer Veronique Vincent is at the forefront of the group now, after a few previous collaborations – heading things up by co-writing the material with Hollander, and opening the door for a host of guests, who include Fred Frith on guitar and viola, and Steven Brown on vocals. The sound has evolved since the early days, but is also remarkably true to the legacy of the group – with titles that include "Retour Chez A", "The Untranslatable", "Sgraffites", "True False Fictive", "C'Est Charles", "Silhouettes", "Martial Arts For Boys", "Tout A Une Fin", and "Fatarasie Pulverisee". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite mixing of modes from the old school – a tremendous second album from the legendary Aksak Maboul! The record mixes arty playfulness with some rootsier elements – bits of Eastern instrumentation, jazz, improvisation, and even some post-punk elements – all in a way that makes for one of the most creative recordings of its time – a set that easily provides key inspiration for more recent genre-crossing acts like this! There's a bit of Y or Ze Records whimsy at times – but the end result is much deeper, and much more compelling– as you'd expect from a group that features Fred Frith on guitar, Chris Cutler on drums, Marc Hollander and Michel Berkmans on reeds, and Denis Van Hecke on a range of cool cellos! Each tune has a slightly different flavor, but there's still a really unified feel to the record too – one of those European projects that comes together like nothing you'd hear from the US. Titles include "Geistige Nacht", "A Modern Lesson", "Palmiers En Pots" and "Cinema". LP, Vinyl record album

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A really cool idea for a record – one that first features unreleased tracks recorded in Kinshasa in 1978, on a special bonus CD – then adds in vinyl versions of reworks of the original recordings done for the project! The originals are fantastic – very percussive and melodic at the same time – with a raw quality that's completely wonderful, and which really shows the special sort of vibe that was going on in the city during the period. Konono weigh in with a fantastic early cut – "Kin 78 One" – and other tracks include "Kin 78 Four" by Sankayi, "Kin 78 Three" by Orchestre Bambala, and "Kin 78 Two" by Orchestra Bana Luya. The reworks are all handled by Martin Meissonnier, and mix the original sounds with touches of contemporary elements – yet never in a way that sounds too electronic – maybe more in a spirit that tries to imagine what the originals would sound like if recorded today. Titles include "Il Ne Faut Pas Intervenir" by Sankayi, "Roots Of K" by Konono No 1, "Animation" by Orchestre Bana Luya, and "Animation Kifuti" by Orchestre Bambala. LP, Vinyl record album

A really unusual little album – one that partly embraces a globe's worth of acoustic percussion, partly expresses itself in the minimal percussion legacy after Steve Reich's Drumming, and partly embraces some of the electric/acoustic sounds of the New York downtown scene of the early 80s – in work by artists like David Van Tieghem or Peter Gordon! The group use a mix of vibes, balafon, marimbas, and other percussion instruments – then add in occasional beats or other electric elements, but usually in a subtle way – that blend of global and European modes that was also surfacing a bit on the Crammed label at the time. All tracks are instrumental – and titles include "Black Africa", "Back To The Factory", "Kpanlogo", "Biologic Music", and "Adowa". LP, Vinyl record album