22 Letters

On Wednesday, NYC-based record label Luaka Bop shared the sad news of Nigerian electronic artist William Onyeabor's passing. In 2013 the imprint released a highly acclaimed compilation of Onyeabor's work entitled "Who is William Onyeabor?" in reference to the "elusive mystery man of music" (Mike Rubin, New York Times, 2013). The release ranked among TIME Magazines best 10 albums of 2013. However, to this day, little is known about the man behind the music.

And [...]

Misirlou, Miserlou, Miserilou? We've had our own share of discussions on how to spell it. Finally we decided it wasn't about the spelling, as much as it was about the music, the song to be exact. And yet, there seems to be a distinct meaning encapsulated in this title, possibly stemming from the Turkish word for Egyptian, mısırlı.

While the song itself was popularized by Dick Dale's 1962 American surf rock version and gained further international acclaim [...]

While we are still trying to come to terms with the brilliance of his critically acclaimed, 2015-released "Space Cassava" EP, Tel Aviv-based multi-instrumentalist Kutiman has moved on to new projects, including his 2016 LP "6am", the first official release on his own label Siyal Music.

Tirelessly working to transcend musical and artistic boundaries (if you need further proof check out his "Mix The City" series) here's his most recent feat, the analog, [...]

What an intriguing project, was the first thought that passed our mind, when watching the trailer to "Bonfires & Stars", a documentary by the Moscow-based Stereotactic collective and director Sasha Voronov. The film details the journey of equally Moscow-based, emerging electronic artist Fyodor Pereverzev, aka Moa Pillar, to the Caucasus, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic to be exact, in order to collaborate with Circassian folk musicians. There he meets his [...]

Here's another one for you diggers out there: Copenhagen's Epic Vinyls from Brazil DJs Contracapa and Sambamuffin deliver another 1-hour vinyl only treasure trove of Brazilian psych records from the late 1960s and 70s along with a tracklist and liner notes to all 22 tracks by artists the likes of Gilberto Gil, Caetano Velosa, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben, Raul Seixas, Tim Maia and many more. The mix is labeled LSD-1, a tip of the hat to the recently [...]

Happy 2017 everyone! Before we kick off a new year of excitement and extraordinary music from around the globe, we would like to take a minute to reflect on last year or rather to share our personal favourite of 2016 with you, being Den Sorte Skole's "Indians & Cowboys" LP, which was rightfully awarded a Danish Grammy for "World Album of the Year 2016" last December, while the two are also nominated as "Best Live Act 2016" for the Danish Critics Award. Well [...]

Fortuna Records' Kalbata, aka Ariel Tagar, teamed up with fellow producer Mixmonster, aka Uri Wertheim, to produce an album as well as a newly released documentary entitled "Congo Beat The Drum", retracing the origins of Jamaican music. Well actually, the story goes a little something like this:

"Ariel and Uriwent into their home studio in Tel Aviv, Israel with the purpose of recording a 100% analogue dub album in the spirit of the late King Tubby and the [...]

Wait what? Was pretty much our reaction, when we first heard Alsarah & The Nubatones perform three songs off their sophomore album "Manara" live for NPR's Tiny Desk concert series.

Based in Brooklyn and blending "a selection of Nubian 'songs of return' from the 1970s-today with original material and traditional music of central Sudan" , the Sudanese-born Alsarah and her band The Nubatones (composed of Alsarah [vocals], Nahid [additional vocals], Rami El Aasser [...]

'Tis the season for giving. And oh what a gift ShellacHead's David Murray has compiled for all us music lovers out there. Following in the footsteps of his "Lost 45s of Sudan" release earlier this year, Murray dug deep into his crates of 78 rpm records and just released "ShellacHead's Annual" year-end compilation with a selection of his favourite 2016 finds from around the globe.

This here is true black gold, featuring a diverse 20-track selection of rarities [...]

APE Records' sizzling duo Loco Hot, made up of BBB drumlord Tamir Muskat and lead vocalist Gilad Kahana, returns with its brand new single "I'm A Tribe", a collaborative effort with the mesmerising Yemenite sisters of A-Wa (watch their breakthrough single "Habib Galbi") and yet another example of top shelf production work. The official music video released towards the end of October and already collected over 135K views on YouTube. Rightfully so: Decked out [...]

Late last week The Vinyl Factory released a mix of North African 78 rpm records by ways of Parisian blog Ceints de bakélite, tracing the origins of Maghreb music. Ceints de bakélite specializes on 78s from around the world, focussing mainly on non-Western popular music and other musical curiosities.

The 52-minute mix features 12 tracks spanning "both folk and popular music recordings made in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia from the 1930s to the 1950s. It [...]

Months of protests led by the Native American Sioux Indian community, involving hefty clashes between demonstrators and federal law enforcement on behalf of a planned pipeline project in the state of North Dakota, took a decisive turn this weekend, as the US Army intervened and will now allegedly look into alternative routes.

Meanwhile, across the border in Canada, native producer and DJ crew A Tribe Called Red (est. 2008), aka Bear Witness, 2oolman and DJ [...]