Once again digging deep into its musical treasure trove is Brighton imprint Hive Mind Records, who, after posthumously releasing a stunning vinyl ode to the late Morrocan singer and guimbri master Maalem Mahmoud Gania, now return with a 30-minute cassette tribute to fellow Moroccan legend Moulay Ahmed El Hassani.
Originally hailing from Béni-Mellal in the mid-Atlas, El Hassani went on to release more than 50 albums over the past 30 years. A master of the electric guitar he is known to produce cosmic fields of sound, psychedelic in nature and beautiful in form.
You can listen to the compilation via the SoundCloud player above and make sure to follow the Hive Mind fam, while you're at it.
AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom
After releasing his superb self-entitled debut LP on Tel Aviv's Dead Sea Recordings late last year, Gili Yalo has been on the road, including standout performances at last year's Trans Musicales in Rennes and at London's Royal Albert Hall (with Balkan Beat Box among others).
Just recently, he announced several more upcoming dates on his Facebook page, featuring shows in Israel, Portugal, Poland, France, Austria, the USA, Canada, Hungary and Turkey.
See below [...]
It's hard to image the multi-talented Israeli producer and one-man think tank Ophir Kutiel, aka Kutiman, not having his head up in the clouds. After all, he has already released such a wide array of exhilarating, intoxicating and thought-provoking compositions, that we are having trouble keeping up and permanently wondering, what's next?
Just a bit over a week ago, Kutiman hit us with his latest four-track longplayer, fittingly entitled "Don't Hold Onto The [...]
If you are not yet a fan, you will be in about five minutes, trust us. Israeli actress, model, singer and songwriter Liraz made her first appearance on Greedy back in 2016, when she first introduced her Rejoicer-produced debut single "Nozi Nozi" on Tel Aviv's Dead Sea Recordings; an enchanting nod to her Persian roots.
Continuously seeking to "provide a voice for silenced Iranian women", she recently unveiled the single's official companion music video, [...]
It has been a while since we last updated you on the current state of affairs concerning our jolly Jewish Monkeys, not since their tour support for Shantel, the Shantel remix of "Fever" and their last tour of Germany at the tail end of 2017 that is.
But the boys have not been monkeying around. Far from it: The band has been back in the studio readying new songs for album number three, the follow-up LP to their well received sophomore effort "High Words" [...]
UK-based Strut Records have gained access to the archives of one of the most prolific French Caribbean labels out of Guadeloupe, aka Henri Debs' Disques Debs. Founded in the late '50s, the imprint went on to release over 300 7" singles and 200 LPs, ranging from "early biguine and bolero to zouk and reggae", while "Debs played a pivotal role in bringing the créole music of Guadeloupe and Martinique to a wider international audience".
Volume 1 of the three-part [...]
"The concept of being a singer is very boring. It’s much more interesting for me to feel that I am a sculptor, I am a painter in sound. The space is my canvas, my voice is the paint. The letters are my buddies." –Victoria Hanna
While she is not new to our journal, we at Greedy for Best Music are more than happy to welcome the one and only Victoria Hanna to our musical family! You may have heard her on the catchy Balkan Beat Box track "Adir Adirim" or seen [...]
It's been a while since we last heard from Berlin-based Italian multi-instrumentalist Andrea Benini. Back in 2016 he released longplayer number five under his Mop Mop moniker. Now he returns with a brand new project on Agogo Records, an infectious rhythmic journey into African and Caribbean percussion, combining traditional instrumentation and analogue electronics "to create a hybrid sound in the tradition of artists like Francis Bebey".
What's even more [...]
In 2015, Polish-born record collector, DJ, music journalist and curator Kornelia Binicewicz moved to Istanbul to explore the works of Turkish female singers. Digging her way through "dusty crates and blurred memories", gaining access to forgotten music archives and old Turkish music labels and publishing stories on the Turkish female music scene, she decided to place her focus on psychedelic pop and rock, arabesk, tavern and traditional/obscure folk styles; the [...]
Following the breathtaking success of Childish Gambino's (aka Donald Glover) cutting-edge mise-en-scène of the American nations deep-seated, paradoxical and hair-raising ailments in the recently released video to "This is America", which is currently at over 270 million views and counting, Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter and actor Falz The Bahd Guy (aka Folarin Falana) dropped his very own and equally impressive spin-off.
"This is Nigeria" is Falz's take [...]
This one definitely caught us off guard because let's just say we weren't expecting Leon Michels to go 'World' on us. Better known under his El Michels Affair moniker, the New York-based artist garnered international acclaim for his 2009 Wu-Tang Clan cover project "Enter the 37th Chamber" and its 2017 follow-up "Return to the 37th Chamber".
Now, the El Michels Affair returns with a new 45 on Big Crown Records that is quite unlike his previous releases. Joining [...]
Back to the Republic of South Africa, where early last year up-and-coming Tsonga rapper, writer, poet, style icon and actress Sho Madjozi, aka Maya Wegerif, popped (and locked) into the local music scene, collaborating with the likes of fellow rapper Okmalumkoolkat and appearing in the popular youth telenovela Mzansi Magic.
"Dazzling audiences with her audacious lyrics, confidence and bright style," she is on a mission to blend her own musical heritage with a [...]
Hailing from the port city of Essaouira, the late Maalem Mahmoud Gania ranks among the most prolific and highly respected recording musicians in Morocco. A singer and master guimbri player (a three-stringed lute used mainly in traditional Gnawa music), Gania released several albums on various Moroccan labels and collaborated with international artists the likes of Pharoah Sanders (US), Peter Brötzmann (D), James Holden (UK) and Floating Points (UK).
Last year, [...]