Fatou
As the days grow shorter and this year draws to a close, we find ourselves thoroughly enjoying the distinctly introspective listening experience that acclaimed Malian-born chanteuse Fatoumata Diawara's astonishing 2011 debut album "Fatou" (World Circuit Records) has to offer, her only solo full-length to date. Success was quick to follow, as Diawara toured with Damon Albarn's Africa Express supergroup, performed alongside Paul McCartney in London, collaborated with Herbie Hancock ("The Imagine Project"), Mulatu Astatke as well as Bobby Womack and joined forces with Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca, just to give you an idea.
But back to "Fatou", that absolutely "beguiling" (Pitchfork), "spellbinding" (The Guardian), "thrilling listen [...] that increases its hold with every play" (The Independent on Sunday) that instantly draws the listener in with an "air of wistful, understated beauty" (The Times). And indeed, when we returned to the album a few days ago, the overall smoothness of Fatoumata Diawara's vocals and guitar, backed by the mesmerising, repetitious nature of her emotional songs, were quick to make their mark. Beauty in simplicity.
So without further ado, we strongly recommend you (re)listen to the full album by either clicking on the clip below or heading over to Bandcamp.
More posts
Den Royal Skole
15 years in the making, 2017 has been quite the year for Danish sample gods Den Sorte Skole. After laying the groundwork at the tail end of 2015 with the release of their acclaimed longplayer "Indians & Cowboys" and subsequently reeling in a Danish Grammy, the duo delivered a mind-melting performance on the Roskilde Orange Stage in front of 60,000 people last summer and were just nominated to receive the 2018 Steppeulven Danish Critic's Award as 'Live Band Of [...]
Feverish
Shantel and Jewish Monkeys' frontman Josef Reich go way back. It may or may not come as a surprise then, that Shantel took matters into his own to hands to deliver a feverish remix of the band's single "Fever" off their latest album "High Words", just days before the Jewish Monkeys return the love and open for Shantel at four shows in Austria and Germany, starting this week. Check below for all four dates.
In any case, and because we want to share a bit of [...]
Disko Monkeys
Frankfurt's one and only 'disko partizani Shantel is currently touring Europe with his famed Bucovina Club Orkestar to celebrate "Shantology - 30 Years of Club Guerilla".
Supporting him at the last four upcoming shows in Austria and Germany are non other than our very own Jewish Monkeys:
December 14, (AT) Vienna, WUK
December 15, (AT) Innsbruck, Treibhaus
December 16, (D) Munich, Muffathalle
December 17, (D) Frankfurt, Batschkapp
It's a family affair!
Arad Sdom
Tel Aviv is on the rise, especially when it comes to its formidable electronic music scene with acts the likes of Red Axes (Garzen Records) or re-issue labels such as Fortuna Records paving the way. Earlier this year, the previously unheralded Tel Aviv-based producer Alek Lee (aka Ori Kenneth), who coincidentally also directed Malox's "Walk Like an Egyptian" video, rightfully gathered sudden worldwide recognition for his highly infectious "Sfarot" EP.
Set to [...]
Hello Africa!
Black Friday will be our downfall, that is unless we take this and every other day to celebrate and support new, upcoming and already existing releases by artists, who, let's be honest, would for the most part not be able to do what they do, without some financial backing. That being said, today marks the much-awaited release of Tel Aviv-based and Ethiopia-born artist Gili Yalo's debut solo LP on the equally promising new imprint Dead Sea Recordings.
We warned [...]
Time Bomb
In case you didn't know, this amazing find was the first cassette tape that got Brian Shimkovitz's infamous Awesome Tapes From Africa imprint rolling as well as the blog's inaugural post back in 2011. Originally released in Ghana in 1994, Ata Kak's "Obaa Sima" and its unique Afrodisco aesthetic went more or less unheard of for a rough 21 years. Of the 50 tapes produced at the time, only three actually sold, which in no way does this infectious, funkified [...]
Mali Foli Coura
Please excuse a short excourse, but this seems to be just the right place and time: We recently stumbled upon a stunning trailer, shared by the Instruments for Africa organisation for "cultural preservation, education and reconciliation in Mali". The clip features several glimpses of different Malian cultural rites and festivities, all accompanied by bold colours, chants and rhythms and is introduced with a quote by Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté, [...]
The Remixes (2008-2017)
Berlin-based Man Recordings founder Daniel Haaksman is truly a man of many hats: The prolific DJ, producer, radio show host and aforementioned label founder has spent the last decade exploring the diverse soundscapes of the Southern hemisphere and is rightly considered a pioneer of global or tropical bass, ever since his now iconic "Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats" compilation for Essay Recordings dropped in 2004. Skilfully blending Brazilian and Afro styles [...]
The Swiss Conspiracy
A mountain is a mountain is a mountain, one would think. And so a few years ago, acclaimed musicians / emigrant music producers Christoph H. Müller (Gotan Project) and Moses Iten (Cumbia Cosmonauts) came together to translate their shared Swiss origin and mutual passion for Latin American rhythms, from tango to cumbia, into a musical project dubbed The Swiss Conspiracy. The result being a unique brand of "Alpine Cumbiero" or as Müller describes: "A kind of [...]
Hermeto Pascoal
Specialising in Brazilian music, renowned UK-based imprint Far Out Recordings is making its 200th release (November 3, 2017) a big one, as it readies a previously unreleased album by the one and only Hermeto Pascoal and his Grupo Vice Versa. "Once described by Miles Davis as 'the most impressive musician in the world', there is good reason (beyond his Gandalf-like appearance) why he is known as 'O Bruxo' (the wizard)." As a matter of fact, "few musicians have [...]
Digital Zandoli Vol. 1 + 2
"That's Zouk," my friend exclaimed, when I played the first track off of "Digital Zandoli Vol. 1", a stunning, dancefloor-oriented compilation of 13 disco, boogie and [yes] Zouk tracks recorded in the French West Indies of the 1980s and released by Parisian imprint Heavenly Sweetness in 2016.
Curated by Julien Achard of Digger's Digest and Nico Skliris (formerly Superfly Records), the release "reveals a broader spectrum to the otherwise poorly defined genre" ([...]
Den Sorte Who?
A little more than a week to go before Le Guess Who? festival raises the curtain on an awe-inspiring line up of top tier international acts in Utrecht (NL). That being said, school is already in session as Danish Grammy award winners, Roskilde Orange Stage legends and flat-our sample wizards Den Sorte Skole serve up a mind-melting one-hour mixtape just ahead of their very own festival appearance. And here's what they had to say:
"Le Guess Who is like this [...]