{"id":41093,"date":"2019-12-23T12:44:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T11:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/the-80-best-albums-of-the-2010s\/"},"modified":"2021-04-21T11:17:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T10:17:50","slug":"80-best-albums-2010s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/80-best-albums-2010s\/","title":{"rendered":"The 80 best albums of the 2010s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h3>\n

2020 is here. An occasion for PAM to revisit the last decade\u2019s best albums. From 2010 to 2019, here are our 80 essential albums of the decade.<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

It was abundantly clear at the top of the decade that the music ecosystem had changed. What was unclear was how those changes would impact the music industry at large. The old guard was tasked with negotiating a territory of streaming that didn’t play according to their rules. Record labels exerted muscle over streaming giants Spotify and Apple Music in a quest to maintain some semblance of control. Artists, on the other hand, suffered the most.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, in a post-2008 crisis economy, and deep into the paradox of a Fourth Industrial revolution, sublime bodies of work continued to be made \u2013 both on the continent, and throughout the African diaspora.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nAli & Toumani<\/em>\u00a0(2010)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Ali Farka Tour\u00e9 & Toumani Diabat\u00e9<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
\n

It would be a crime if Ali Farka Tour\u00e9 didn\u2019t appear on the list of Top Albums of the 2010s. The Malian multi-instrumentalist released his 20th project on the cusp of the decade only to be awarded the 2011 Grammy for \u201cBest Traditional World Music Album\u201d. Ali and Toumani features Ali on the guitar and Toumani Diabat\u00e9 on the kora (a 21 string West African lute). The album was released posthumously after Tour\u00e9\u2019s death in 2006 and shows Ali at the top of his game. The two musicians intertwine musical dialectics with the fluid nature of a refined waltz. Tour\u00e9 forever harvesting the seeds of American blues, and Diabat\u00e9 pulling water from the well of traditional Malian music, creates a luscious sound that sprouts eagerly from the intergenerational collaboration. Ali and Toumani creates an authentic and original sound-space supported by\u00a0<\/span>some of the world\u2019s best studio musicians<\/span>\u00a0for a true masterpiece worthy of Tour\u00e9\u2019s musical legacy.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(2010)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Kanye West\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

With a bruised ego following\u00a0808s and Heartbreak<\/i>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0an album that intrigued its audience yet mostly disappointed its fans\u00a0\u2013 Kanye returned from his Hawaii-based studio in full force, with\u00a0My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy<\/i>, a 13-hit album. This album perfectly illustrates, from a clinical point of view, the producer\u2019s megalomania and desire for omnipotence. This tendency would however worsen over the next decade.\u00a0My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy<\/i>\u00a0required nearly forty songwriters, from M.I.A. to Jay-Z via Q-Tip, RZA, DJ Premier, Common and T.I. The song \u201cAll Of The Lights<\/a>\u201d alone is co-signed by six authors and contains 14 vocal parts (among them Fergie, Elton John and Alicia Keys). An artistic accumulation typical of ultra-capitalistic logic \u2013\u00a0for a total amount of more than three million in production costs, a rather uncommon sum \u2013 that marked the return of Kanye at the top of his game and his bipolarity in 2010. –\u00a0Th\u00e9ophile Pillault<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nLove and Death\u00a0 (2010)
\n<\/em>
\n<\/b><\/span>Ebo Taylor<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

With the afrobeat and psych-funk revivals, Ghanaian guitarist and composer Ebo Taylor eventually re-appeared on the European scene after more than half a century, via compilations where his songs dramatically stood out, and reissues of original albums including\u00a0Twer Nyame<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0My Love and Music<\/i>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0two highlife-infused records which illustrated his abilities as \u201cthe master of groove\u201d and \u201cthe father of funk\u201d (whichever way you want it). Two nicknames further imprinted by the album in its resurrection, for which he teamed up with the Afrobeat Academy and one of the two Whitefield Brothers, for a pioneering label when it comes to these genres revivals. Not necessarily the most outstanding of his efforts, but an important step in the recognition of the artist born in 1936 from Cape Coast. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nFlockaveli<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(2010)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Waka Flocka Flame\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Waka Flocka Flame is to Gucci Mane what Wez, the Mohawk-haired biker, is to Lord Humungus in\u00a0Mad Max II<\/i>: the crazy henchman, the rabid persecutor, the right-hand more violent than his own mentor. Now retired from the game, Waka brutalized Atlanta like no one else between 2010 and 2013. He left behind a legacy of a million and one incredible stories of beef, clashes and reconciliations around himself, the cartoonesque trap star, and his infamous crew, the Brick Squad, a label\u00a0\/\u00a0incubator that would create, among others, Young Thug, Future, Fetty Wap, Young Dolph, Mike Will, Migos, Young Scooter, 808 Mafia (a great team of producers founded by Waka), Peewee and even\u00a0Nicki Minaj. To understand the importance of this quarterback on the trap scene,\u00a0watch the subtle humiliation<\/a>\u00a0of a Vice reporter by Waka \u2013\u00a0and Gucci, also\u00a0\u2013 listen to the incredible mixtape by LeBron Flocka James 3,\u00a0listen to Waka rap on the instrumental<\/a>\u00a0of Booba\u2019s \u201cQue le Hip Hop Fran\u00e7ais Repose en Paix\u201d (\u201cMay French Hip Hop Rest In Peace\u201d) and most importantly, choose Waka Flocka Flame\u2019s debut studio album,\u00a0Flockaveli<\/i>, as your new alarm clock\u2019s ringtone. –\u00a0Th\u00e9ophile Pillault<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nEarthology<\/em>\u00a0(2010)
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/span>The Whitefield Brothers<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

Nine years after vintage funk and soul album\u00a0In The Raw<\/i>, the two Munich-based brothers Jan and Max Weissenfeldt kick-started the new decade with a record that takes you on a tour of planet Music. Or, rather, a scavenger hunt, consisting of oriental flutes to Native American percussions, from afrobeat to hip-hop, from psychedelic arabesque to Ethiopian groove… All are fused together in this nomadic object, revealing aleatory geography and temporary orchestral formulas (Quantic, Antibalas, Dap Kings, etc.)… And despite the rich diversity of sources and guests (from Mr. Lif to Bajka, just to name a few), the project easily creates an irresistible slice of funk and soul with sonic unity. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nJamm<\/em>\u00a0(2010)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Cheikh L\u00f4<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

Jamm<\/em>\u00a0is the first new album in five years from one of Africa’s great musical mavericks, Senegalese sufi troubadour Cheikh L\u00f4. This is his most distinctive and personal album since his groundbreaking, Youssou N’Dour-produced debut\u00a0Ne la Thiass<\/em>\u00a0in 1996. The dreadlocked singer’s signature blend of semi-acoustic flavours – West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco – has been distilled into his most mature, focused, yet diverse statement to date. And his husky, sensual voice is sounding better than ever. “It’s a melting pot!” says Lo of the album. “It’s like a big basket, with some cheese here, some bread there, some chocolate and a cocktail on the side. There’s something for everyone.” –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nNew Amerykah Part 2<\/em>\u00a0(2010)
\n<\/span>
\nErykah Badu<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

Part two of the diptych \u201cNew Amerykah\u201d sounds like a peaceful homecoming for the mystical diva of neo soul. She leaves aside the esoteric allusions and other political and identity concepts \u2013\u00a0that served as the back-bone of the first opus\u00a0\u2013 to refocus on a more personal, sentimental and stripped-down dimension of her music. A dimension rightly served by the best producers on the soulful side of hip hop: the late J Dilla \u2013\u00a0miraculously resuscitated for a few tracks\u00a0\u2013 Karriem Riggins, Madlib\u2026 It is however Erykah who took the lead on these ten songs, with an artistic vision almost as sharp as she applied to her classic album\u00a0<\/span>Baduizm.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0–<\/b>\u00a0Simon Da Silva\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nAgadez\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/em>(2011)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Bombino<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

Widely regarded today as one of the leaders of Tuareg music and also as one of the best guitarists in the world, Omara \u201cBombino\u201d Moctar is a child of Agadez, Northern Niger\u2019s most important city. It\u2019s there, he started a band to celebrate life and to perform at weddings. It\u2019s where, upon his return to the country in 2010 after yet another exile, he gave a historic performance in front of the Grand Mosque, celebrating the end of a cycle of rebellion. Lastly, it\u2019s where he recorded, in front of a live audience, parts of his first international album. The next would be produced in the US, with North American musicians. The desert blues is rather sparse by nature, yet Bombino manages to play an even more refined version here, piercing his hypnotic songs with subtle yet powerful electric guitar riffs. Two years later, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys produced\u00a0<\/span>Nomad<\/span><\/i>, now a contemporary classic.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Hortense Volle<\/em><\/p>\n


\nSuperstar<\/em>\u00a0<\/b>(2011)
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nWizkid<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

The force of Wizkid\u2019s entry was unprecedented. With his baby looks and voice, the teenager stole hearts of many, singing his way to what would be called greatness.
\n<\/span>It is on his first album, \u2018Superstar\u2019 where his immense potential is recognized. In a time when older Afro Pop artistes like P\u2019Square and D\u2019banj ruled the scene, Wizkid proclaimed himself a superstar. A leap of faith, the album would later go on to be both commercially and critically acclaimed, with all its songs turning hits, and Wizkid being hailed as Nigeria\u2019s next big thing. –\u00a0Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n

Komba<\/em>\u00a0(2011)
\n<\/span>
\nBuraka Som Sistema<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

More accessible than its predecessor\u00a0Black Diamond<\/i>, the mad Lisbon-based crew Buraka Som Sistema\u2019s second album is no less wild and galvanizing.\u00a0Komba<\/i>\u00a0draws its inspiration from an Angolan funeral ceremony bearing the same name, the purpose of which is to honor the deceased through a seven-day intensive celebration following their death. The exacerbated celebration of life, movement and festivity creates the essence and intrigue of this album blending kuduro, techno, breakbeat and hip hop in an almost uncontrolled gesture. Featuring the insanely contagious singles \u201cHangover (BaBaBa)\u201d and \u201c(We Stay) Up All Night\u201d,\u00a0Komba<\/i>\u00a0has enabled \u201cBSS\u201d to make a lasting impression on music history, exported worldwide. –\u00a0Simon Da Silva<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nSuper Nova Samba Funk<\/em>\u00a0(2011)
\n<\/span>
\nBanda Black Rio<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

The mythical Rio de Janeiro-based band then led by William Magalh\u00e3es (the son of the group\u2019s first leader, Oberdan Magalh\u00e3es) breathes a new air of funk and soul into Brazilian music territories with\u00a0Super Nova Samba Funk<\/i>. A major agent of the 1970s\u00a0\u201cMovimento Black Rio\u201d<\/i>, the band served justice to the samba-funk fusion and more broadly to Rio\u2019s Afro-Brazilian music on this sixth feel-good album. Connecting Rio, New York and Paris together, BBR serve up hip-hop by inviting Flame Killer and GOD PT3, affiliated members of the legendary Queens-based duo Mobb Deep, while reconnecting with its samba and bossa nova roots with the additions of national icons Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Elza Soares and Seu Jorge to create bold and impressive pieces.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Simon Da Silva\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lost in Time<\/em>\u00a0(2012)
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\nKhuli Chana<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

Khuli Chana made history with his\u00a0<\/span>Album of the Year<\/span><\/i>\u00a0win at the South African Music Awards in 2013, the first South African hip hop album to achieve that feat. This in turn heralded a mighty, four-year run during which the entire scene stretched itself further than it had before. It wouldn\u2019t be talking out of turn to say that Khuli\u2019s win, and the soaring moments which surrounded the album, his sophomore attempt following an uncharacteristically victorious form with his crew Morafe during the 2000s, were pivotal for that to happen.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nBatida<\/em>\u00a0(2012)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Batida<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

The alter ego of the Luso-Angolan Pedro Coquen\u00e3o, Batida dug deep into \u201970s Angolan music and extracted samples to offer a modern reinterpretation \u2013\u00a0the frenzied kuduro version. The man who defines himself neither as an artist, nor as a musician, nor as an activist but above all as a citizen of Angola and Portugal, combines the best of traditional and tribal Angolan music revised, re-edited and updated for Lisbon\u2019s electronic music era today, a city where he has long been a resident of now. You just have to let yourself be carried away by the transcendent \u201cAlegria\u201d and \u201cBazuka\u201d to feel the pulse of this relentless album that builds bridges between Lisbon and Luanda.\u00a0–\u00a0Simon Da Silva<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nNoir D\u00e9sir<\/em>\u00a0(2012)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Youssoupha\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
\n

Youssoupha challenged the racist, separatist establishment in France and still maintained his razor-sharp flow. His third release,\u00a0which\u00a0<\/span><\/span>some called<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u201cthe most impressive French hip hop record of the year\u201d when it got released in 2012<\/span>, is as region-specific as it is universal.\u00a0<\/span>Noir Desir<\/span><\/i>\u00a0has it all \u2013 from bops, to genre-transcending chops, to earth-shattering flows delivered like a critical attack upon a system determined to keep oppressed people worldwide displaced and silenced. Songs like \u201cVienne\u201d display his ability to ride a beat with ultimate swagger, while \u201cLes Disques de Mon P\u00e8re\u201d (featuring his father Tabu Ley Rochereau) are a victorious re-imagining of past sounds, and a regal demonstration on how cross-generational collaboration works when one\u2019s heart is in the right place.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nMars<\/em>\u00a0(2012)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Sinkane<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

The genesis of this album dates back to 2007, a time when Sinkane experimented with toys that allowed him to record albums on his own. It was not until the end of 2011 and this third opus that the Brooklyn-based Sudanese refugee dared to send one of his high-energy hits to 200 people. \u201cJeeper Creeper\u201d went viral and opened the doors to the label that would release\u00a0Mars<\/i>. Sinkane invented Caparundi, an imaginary land of refuge for all stateless people in the modern world, dispossessed of their own cultural identity. Seven years and a few albums later, he has become one of the ambassadors of his country, shaking up the worlds of jazz, pop, afrofunk, world and hip hop. An extraterrestrial voyage! –\u00a0Elodie Maillot<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nAfrican Time (2012)<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n
Herbie Tsoaeli\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Bra Herbie T\u0161oaeli is a gift and a treasure. After tunneling his distinctive bass tones on many a jazz recording of the 2000s, he released his maiden take on the sound in 2012, with a line-up that consisted of the then-emerging voices of Nduduzo Makhathini on piano, Ayanda Sikade on drums, and the crippling melodies of South African jazz\u2019s secret weapon, Mthunzi Mvumbu, on alto saxophone.\u00a0<\/span>African Time<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is a philosophy for the future, a tribute to the past, and an urgent call to be present in the present. It transcends space and time; it lives in its own head while maintaining a close relationship to its roots \u2013 from church-inspired melodies, to songs of the mountain, to polyrhythmic patterns of the Easter Cape province. The 2013 South African Music Awards-winning offering remains one of the best albums to have emerged in recent times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe\u00a0Tel-Aviv Session\u00a0<\/em>(2012)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
The Tour\u00e9-Raichel Collective<\/span><\/h5>\n

Israeli superstar Idan Raichel and Malian guitar virtuoso Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9 first met at an airport in Germany in 2008 while both were on tour. From this chance encounter an artistic kinship was born, culminating in an unscripted recording session that took place one afternoon in November 2010 in a small Tel Aviv studio. Joined by Israeli bassist Yossi Fine and Malian calabash player Souleymane Kane, Idan and Vieux improvised a masterful selection of songs that capture the unbridled creativity and inspired collaboration of these four brilliant musicians. The Tour\u00e9-Raichel Collective was formed and the songs they recorded are the foundation of the album\u00a0The Tel Aviv Session – PAM Team<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nGood Kid, M.A.A.D. City<\/em>\u00a0(2012)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Kendrick Lamar<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

2012. All eyes were on the kid of Compton who has been climbing the popularity charts rapidly. Even though Kendrick Lamar released two other excellent records during the decade,\u00a0Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City<\/i>\u00a0\u200b\u200bis definitely the one that opened the doors to hip-hop\u2019s wall of fame. The multi-atmospheric album casts aside the West Coast\u2019s stereotypes and restores the image of a scene then in need of rejuvenation. Kendrick Lamar speaks of his adolescence in the Compton district and settles down into a comfortable soulful and jazzy universe to deliver his flow, today instantly recognizable among thousands, propelling him into the coveted circle of contemporary rap\u2019s greatest voices. –\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Renoncourt<\/em><\/span>
<\/span>
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\nChatma (2013)
\n<\/em><\/span>
\nTamikrest<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Chatma<\/em>\u00a0is Tamikrest’s third album, and also the band’s first album to be wholly written around a defined theme.\u00a0In Tamashek \u201cChatma\u201d means \u201cSisters\u201d and the band has dedicated the album in their own words to: \u201cthe courage of the Tuareg women, who have ensured both their children’s survival and the morals of their fathers and brothers.\u00a0Chatma deftly navigates these experiences and fashions them into a fully\u00a0persuasive and poetic musical document. The album is filled with sober reflection, moral indignation, musical experimentation, cultural celebration and the kick of rock and roll. Fittingly for an album so lyrically evocative,\u00a0Chatma<\/em>\u00a0also delivers Tamikrest’s most wide-screen and wide-ranging sonic statement to date.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>
\nDouble Cup<\/em>\u00a0(2013)
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nDJ Rashad\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Released in 2013,\u00a0Double Cup<\/i>\u00a0is the first studio album by footwork musician DJ Rashad, and the sole full-length released during his lifetime. It features collaborations with DJ Spinn, Taso, DJ Phil, Manny, Earl and Addison Groove.\u00a0Double Cup<\/i>\u00a0is a landmark Footwork album that sees traditional 808 footwork workouts throwns into collision with more recent mutations of the sound, presenting Dj Rashad most comprehensive showcase of the diversity and scene of the footwork scene.
\nBetween rap, jungle, house, hardcore techno, and R&B, Rashad crashed down the austere barriers of genres. –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n

\nH\u00f4tel Univers\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(2013)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Jupiter & Okwess<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

Jupiter & Okwess international debut album Hotel Univers takes you right into the heart and onto the streets of modern day Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a politically and economically troubled country. Band leader Jupiter Bokondji is the charismatic and outstanding representative of the innovative scene of street musicians in Kinshasa. His idea is to reactivate the forgotten rhythms and melodies of Congo, by injecting the urban groove of the city.\u00a0Through his music Jupiter tries to encourage people to take the future into their own hands. Instead of seeking a better future and immediate wealth by emigrating to the west, common expectations shown in many local pop music video clips, he wants people to draw from the talents they already have. \u201cI saw how immigrants struggled in Europe and didn\u2019t want this for my life. I wanted to make something for my country. I realized that it is my mission to bring a new sound into the Congolese music.\u201d –\u00a0Hortense Volle<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nCoin Coin Chapter Two<\/em>:\u00a0Mississippi Moochile<\/em>\u00a0(2013)
\n<\/span>
\nMatana Roberts<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

The second part to Matana Roberts\u2019 adventures in the land of \u201cCoin Coin\u201d, forming the lead character in a fresco that promises twelve chapters. The young Chicago-based saxophonist and clarinetist navigates the ghosts of American history, starting with those of her own family, to recompose a soundtrack for the future. Between the lines, she still challenges current affairs of the world in light of those past, through a resolute aesthetic. And as a solid practitioner of DIY, she signs the artwork, and of course the soundtrack,\u00a0including\u00a0three traditional and transfigured songs. Poignant, creative, radical… Words fail to testify the urgency of this prophecy in music, much like the divine songs of Jeremiah Abiah and the cosmic breath of Matana Roberts. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nJama ko<\/em>\u00a0(2013)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

Jama ko<\/em>\u00a0is the title of his new offering. It means \u2018big gathering of people\u2019. Any important event in Mali be it birth, marriage or death has been accompanied by the music of the griots and Bassekou and his family are at the heart of this tradition. Jama ko is a call for unity, peace and tolerance in a time of crisis. \u201cJama ko, c\u2019est pour tout le monde\u201d, says Bassekou Kouyate, griot and celebrated ngoni player, explaining the title of his third album, \u201cThere are over 90% Muslims in Mali, but our form of Islam here has nothing to do with a radical form of Sharia: that is not our culture. We have been singing praise songs for the Prophet for hundreds of years. If the Islamists stop people music making they will rip the heart out of Mali.\u201d No matter who you are, let us come together and enjoy life, and celebrate the true\u00a0spirit of Mali.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Vladimir Cagnolari<\/em><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nSoutak<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Aziza Ibrahim<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Born and raised in the Saharawi refugee camps lining the frontier between Algeria and Western Sahara, Aziza\u2019s\u00a0music adeptly travels the expanse between her Western Saharan roots and Barcelona, the European cosmopolis where she now lives. Aziza is both a contemporary sonic poet and a prominent and eloquent spokesperson for the Saharawi people and their ongoing struggle for recognition and justice.\u00a0Aziza\u2019s debut album\u00a0Soutak<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cYour Voice\u201d) is her first recording to predominantly focus on the cadence of her majestic voice and the soulful critique of her lyrics.The music on\u00a0Soutak<\/em>\u00a0is a powerful and nuanced mixture of musical cultures and features Malian, Spanish, Cuban and contemporary Anglo-European motifs all held together by Aziza\u2019s deeply rooted knowledge of traditional Saharawi song and sound. –\u00a0Elodie Maillot<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nProject Elo<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Tumi Mogorosi<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

British label Jazzman Records has forged a reputation for itself through releasing select reissues. This does not prevent them however from also releasing new material worthy of the same interest. This was the case with the young South African drummer who follows lineage with his great elders. With\u00a0In The Beginning<\/i>, we cannot help but think of early 1960s Max Roach, when the North American percussionist would compose his vocal suites. Mary Lou Williams\u2019\u00a0Black Christ of the Andes<\/i>, and Yusef Lateef\u2019s unique visions also come to mind. These influences are well assumed, as well as that of modal, polyphonic and spiritual jazz. It makes sense, with the title of the album that refers to Elohim. This does not mean that the young artist just falls into the \u201cgood disciple\u201d category: just listen to the cry of \u201cSlaves Emancipation\u201d for proof. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nMetaL MetaL<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Met\u00e1 Met\u00e1<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

In the Yoruba language, Met\u00e1 Met\u00e1 means \u201cthree at the same time\u201d. In the music world, it\u2019s also a trio hailing from S\u00e3o Paulo, the equally crazy and creative Brazilian megalopolis: guitarist and main composer Kiko Dinucci, singer Ju\u00e7ara Mar\u00e7al and saxophonist-flautist Thiago Fran\u00e7a formed this equilateral triangle in 2009. Between them emerged a syncretic\u00a0candombl\u00e9<\/i>\u00a0temple updated for the post-psychedelic era, with Afro-sambist roots cooked in afrobeat sauce. Put simply, they break the conventions in the great tradition of Brazilian anthropophagite artists \u2013\u00a0the so-called\u00a0Manifesto Antrop\u00f3fago<\/i>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and ride the spirits of the\u00a0orixas<\/i>, drawing from them a vital Afro-punk energy, via free jazz trance excursions. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nBlack Messiah<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 (2014)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
D’Angelo<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Pitchfork\u00a0<\/span>described<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0this album as \u201ca study in controlled chaos, and D\u2019Angelo is the rare classicist able to filter the attributes of the greats in the canon into a sound distinctly his own.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The album, which was the artiste\u2019s first since 2000\u2019s \u2018Voodoo\u2019 was a wielding of his musical skills, employing Funk, Jazz and R&B into one sound which is robustly beautiful.
\nOn songs like \u2018Ain\u2019t That Easy,\u2019 \u2018Really Love,\u2019 and \u2018Betray My Heart,\u2019 D\u2019Angelo\u2019s mastery is confirmed, as he fuses the conventional with the experimental, fashioning a sound so uniquely his. Little wonder why music critic Robert Christgau once dubbed the man the \u201cR&B Jesus\u201d. –\u00a0Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n

Anar<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Mdou Moctar<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

We already had a taste for the magic of rock\u2019n\u2019roll-fed Tamacheck guitars polished by the spirits of the desert, but Mdou Moctar pushed the genre into a new dimension! A virtuoso and bewildering left-hander, the Nigerian guitarist is also an actor (he played Prince in a \u201cPurple Rain\u201d of the dunes).\u00a0Anar<\/i>\u00a0is not his first album, but it revealed \u201cTahoultine\u201d to the world, an auto-tuned version of an mp3 file that all young people had on their phones from Niger to Gao via Kidal. The song caught the ear of Sahel Sounds\u2019 director Christophe Kirkley, who eventually found Mdou in 2012, and allowed him to travel the world! –\u00a0Elodie Maillot<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nWhere We Come From (2014)
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nPopcaan\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Vybz Kartel in 2011, his disciple, the Jamaican superstar Popcaan collaborated with American producer Dre Skull from Mixpak for his first album. Six years after his revelation comes out\u00a0<\/span>Where We Come From<\/span><\/i>, made up of tracks produced by Dre Skull himself, with the reinforcements of Dubbel Dutch, Jamie Roberts, Anju Blaxx and Adde Instrumentals. As many producers have made him instrumental at the crossroads of pop and dancehall, powered by electro and hip-hop sounds.
\n<\/span>In an way similar of reggae, Popcaan depicts society, its contradictions and inequalities, while keeping its positive and joyful side. He sings the struggles, the ghetto and the fast life with relentless real. –\u00a0PAM Team\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n


\nDa Rocinha 2<\/em>\u00a0– (2014)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Sango<\/span><\/h5>\n

Filled with Brazilian samples and named after Brazil\u2019s largest favela, the piece is far more than just a melodic appetizer to the country\u2019s upcoming highlights such as the Carnival season and the FIFA 2014 World Cup but offers an intricate, yet smooth collage of hip-hop, baile bass, electronic and chill wave elements.\u00a0Soulection quoted Sango during the release of the first\u00a0Da Rocinha<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in saying \u201cAfter spending time just searching for music outside the US, I luckily landed on some of the most influential, unique and most developed sound that has been out for quite some time. The sound I speak about is Brazil\u2019s own, baile funk or what they call it, \u201cfunk carioca\u201d.\u00a0 –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nMusique de Nuit<\/em>\u00a0(2015)<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n
Vincent Segal & Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko<\/span><\/h5>\n

Six years after\u00a0<\/span>Chamber Music<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(an entwined and haunting dialogue that sold close to 100,000 copies worldwide), kora player Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko and cellist Vincent Segal meet again in Bamako to continue their instrumental, virtuoso and poetic conversations. The first album was recorded in the coziness of Salif Keita\u2019s studio, the second is partly the result of an open-air night time session on the roof of the Sissoko family house. The result: a timeless record where the spirits of Mande, baroque, Brazilian, jazz and gypsy music meet. Delicate music made of touches and caresses, lulled by the furtive flight of a bat, the sound of a prayer mat being shaken or the peaceful bleating of sheep. –\u00a0<\/span>Hortense Volle<\/em><\/p>\n


\nIbeyi<\/em>\u00a0(2015)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Ibeyi<\/span><\/h5>\n

Named after\u00a0\u201cIbeyi, the twins who defeated the devil with music\u201d<\/i>, according to Cuban singer Daym\u00e9 Arocena, Naomi and Lisa-Kaind\u00e9 D\u00edaz immediately embraced their island\u2019s heritage with the self-titled\u00a0Ibeyi<\/i>, a debut album deeply inhabited by the sacred figures of Cuban\u00a0santer\u00eda<\/i>. Initiated at a very young age to the Yoruba cult by their mother and many trips to Cuba with their late father Miguel Anga D\u00edaz \u2013\u00a0Buena Vista Social Club\u2019s famous conguero\u00a0\u2013, the twin sisters ushered in to their music the\u00a0orishas<\/i>\u00a0Eleggu\u00e1, Chang\u00f3, Yemay\u00e1, and also Och\u00fan, the goddess of the waters, female sexuality and change, on the song \u201cRiver\u201d. Based in Paris and at just twenty years old, the sisters made their presence felt instantly with a highly mature and meticulously crafted record: with Lisa on the keyboards, Naomi on the\u00a0cajon<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0bat\u00e1<\/i>\u00a0drum, Ibeyi express themselves instinctively through the textures of hip hop and electronic music. A first attempt that received a very warm reception, immediately catching the attention of the biggest names \u2013\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9 amongst others\u00a0\u2013 and paving the way for an international careern. –\u00a0Jeanne Lacaille\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/span>From Kinshasa<\/em>\u00a0(2015)
\n<\/span>
\nMbongwana Star<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Over the last decade, Staff Benda Bilili have conquered the planet with their funky rumba and their undefeatable passion for life. Created following their split, Mbongwana (\u201cchange\u201d in Lingala) features two of Staff Benda Bilili\u2019s dissidents and main vocalists, Coco Ngambali and Th\u00e9o Nzonza, backed up by young Kinshasa-based musicians (including the talented Jean-Claude Kamina Mulodi aka R9, on the guitar). With fingers on the pulse, they soar towards new synthetic-FX-tweaked vocal paths. Audaciously twisted by the Parisian producer Liam Farrell aka Doctor L., the Congolese rumba is mightily shaken with dub waves, with notes of punk-rock and hints of trip-hop. This lunar dancefloor is addictive and offers infinite charm. –\u00a0Hortense Volle\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n


\nBig Sun<\/em>\u00a0(2015)<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n
Chassol<\/span><\/h5>\n

In full bright light. Following journeys to India and New Orleans, the talented pianist and arranger returns to Martinique, his ancestral land, to craft an object that mixes both video and music, in order to restore his own\u00a0\u201cvision of West Indies\u2019 folkloric music\u201d<\/i>. There he collected images and sounds, raw material that he edited, stretched, and looped, playing with the effects forming repetitions of a sound, onomatopoeia, or a rhythm, capturing the poignant song of a woman on Eug\u00e8ne Mona\u2019s classic track \u201cBwa Bril\u00e9\u201d, or the powerful flow of a reggae love song\u2026 Enough material to compose a long suite in three movements, with a title that is an allusion to Miles Davis\u2019\u00a0Big Fun<\/i>, the master of \u201cre-deconstruction\u201d. A staggering trip. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n

\nTerry Riley\u2019s C in Mali\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(2015)
\n<\/span>
\nAfrica Express<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Another unprecedented experience:\u00a0<\/span>In C<\/span><\/i>, the musical piece written in 1964 by the North American composer Terry Riley, takes a journey to Mali for the first time under the wings of Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, and the whole Africa Express crew. This work, which has become a classic piece of minimalist and repetitive music, creates patterns that imperceptibly evolve in an infinite cycle, creating ever-changing repetitions. Suffice to say this is a description that could fit much of African trance music. Percussion, ngonis, balafons, Peul flutes and traditional Sokou violins are invited to offer a new palette to the veteran\u2019s (Riley was born in 1935) sonic UFO textures, recorded at Bamako\u2019s youth club.\u00a0– Vladimir Cagnolari<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nTo Pimp A Butterfly<\/em>\u00a0(2015<\/b>)<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n
Kendrick Lamar<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Albums that received such a level of laudatory public and critical reception in the 2010s mainstream sphere were rare. Kendrick Lamar\u2019s monumental third album is certainly one of them. Feeling completely overwhelmed after a trip to South Africa in 2014, the Compton-based rapper returns to the North American West Coast a new man, with the firm intention of honoring his roots. Kendrick embraces the history, identity and condition of the African American community on\u00a0To Pimp A Butterfly<\/i>\u00a0by surrounding himself with the new Californian leaders of Great Black Music, with sonic architect Terrace Martin taking the lead. A sprawling production, the 78-minute album is an uncompromising immersion into the bowels of the most ambitious and gifted rapper of his generation. The trip is certainly retrospective in terms of sounds \u2013 all the genres included exist without being reinvented \u2013 it feels above all radical, urgent, and terribly obsessive.\u00a0TPAB<\/i>\u00a0is an album from which one does not emerge unscathed. The signature of a masterpiece.\u00a0–\u00a0Simon Da Silva<\/em><\/span>
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\nAk\u00f6<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Blick Bassy<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n

Some ghosts have such power that you just have to revive their presence so that they come back to haunt the works of others with their simple elegance. It was a photograph of bluesman Skip James that accompanied Northern France\u2019s harsh winter evenings \u2013\u00a0without heating systems\u00a0\u2013 and that was the fuel and the flame of this magnetic album sung in Bassa. Blick Bassy\u2019s voice invented a captivating direction, illuminated by a painful past period of his life yet remaining furiously contemporary. The ghost of Skip James summons the memories of a childhood in Cameroon, torments, doubts, Africa, America, and above all a universal beauty through these intense emotions. A remarkable shock to the system!\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Elodie Maillot<\/em><\/p>\n


\nYes Lawd<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

NXWorries<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Following\u00a0Venice<\/i>\u00a0and in particular\u00a0Malibu<\/i>, an early album in 2016 at the crossroads of deep soul music, hieratic gospel and organic rap flows, Anderson. Paak contends his outsider status. The Californian prodigy \u2013\u00a0at ease equally with drumsticks and a microphone\u00a0\u2013 who appeared on good old Dr. Dre\u2019s LP\u00a0Compton<\/i>, released an oblique album under the code name\u00a0NXWorries<\/i>, together with producer Knxwledge. At the boundaries of all genres, they brought together a set of 19 tracks, unreleased nor lifted from former EPs, to form a falsely autobiographical concept album. In their words \u2013\u00a0\u201cWhat More Can I Say?\u201d k-\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nLove & Hate<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Michael Kiwanuka<\/span><\/h5>\n

First spotted with his debut track collection which earned him the status of \u201c2012 soul music best newcomer\u201d, the young Londoner of Ugandan ancestry confirms everything that the great ballad \u201cWorry Walks Beside Me\u201d had promised. Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield and Neil Young, Otis Redding and Bill Withers… references that stick to the young artist help define the quality of his work. A pop-soul songwriter inside a Danger Mouse-designed outfit \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s the recipe for this already classic work that echoes the greatest productions of the 1970s: symphonic funk-rock, melancholic gospel-folk and stratospheric blues, everything here perfectly fits in with the retro-futuristic climate of the 2.0 world. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nBlonde<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Frank Ocean<\/span><\/h5>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Frank Ocean\u2019s\u00a0Blonde<\/em>\u00a0is a myriad of contradictions wrapped in soft electronic cashmere. It\u2019s politically infused indifference; identity and anonymity, and the demotic wordplay of a genius. It\u2019s almost too much to try and conceptualise, and that\u2019s what makes Blonde a beautiful and enduring album. Each listen bears new fruit, and every lyric, musical style, and cultural reference is blooming for interpretation.\u00a0A philosophical duality recurs throughout the album playing in the fields of love, abuse, identity, and sonic character.\u00a0It’s also pregnant with references, from the mysterious title of Seigfreid to the esoteric references of dreams within dreams which spawned a flurry of fan theory. Frank is bridging the gaps between hell and ecstasy while balancing the world on the needle of a solar flare. It’s bold and ambitious for an rnb album, but the magic is Frank makes if feel effortless. It’s heady without being heavy. It’s hard to say something that hasn’t been said about this album. Frank himself accompanied the album with a massive magazine named ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ that is full of supplemental poetry, interviews, photographs and an alternate track listing. Yet the more we know, the more the intrigue and analysis persists, and that’s truly the sign of a classic.\u00a0Blonde<\/em>\u00a0lets you superimpose your experience while pulling you just a little bit higher into the abstractions of beauty. –\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/h5>\n
Telefone<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
NoName<\/span><\/h5>\n

NoName\u2019s\u00a0Telefone<\/em>\u00a0is one of the most inspired female rap albums in recent memory. Coming fresh out of the budding Chicago hip hop scene and member of the prestige Pivot Gang, NoName exceeded expectations on this release.
\n<\/span>Her flow is unique, tempered and conversational, the choice of beats is alive with chi-town inspiration, and her choice of features is out of this world. \u201cShadow Man\u201d is an all-time personal favorite, the trio of features have gone so far as to create a super group on the coattails of this track named \u201cGhetto Sage\u201d.
\n<\/span>Other tracks like \u201cYesterday\u201d or \u201cFreedom Interlude\u201d are filled to the brim with gripping imagery and tasteful accompaniment from light melodics that match perfectly with Noname\u2019s easy-jaw flow. Expansive and touching neo-soul, jazz, and rnb,\u00a0Telefone<\/em>\u00a0is a must for fans of the modern iterations of hip-hop.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nA Mulher do Fim do Mundo<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Elza Soares<\/span><\/h5>\n

The tireless 78-year-old Elza Soares, released a dark and visceral album, an alternative samba masterpiece that caught everyone off-guard. Light years away from the genre\u2019s stereotypes, the queen of samba selected a crew of avant-garde musicians from S\u00e3o Paulo to compliment her hoarse vocals with distorted guitars, experimental rhythms and minimalist melodies. Spilling her guts out, the Brazilian spits out dismay and uses her wisdom to depict her country and its current issues: racism, domestic violence, addictions to sex and drugs. The painful episodes in her own life and her larger-than-life career sum up the album\u2019s mood, in equal parts dark, powerful, melancholic… and always with intensity! –\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Renoncourt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nArbina<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Noura Mint Seymali<\/span><\/h5>\n

Arbina<\/em>\u00a0is Noura Mint Seymali\u2019s second international release. Delving deeper into the wellspring of Moorish roots, as is after all the tried and true way of the griot, the album strengthens her core sound, applying a cohesive aesthetic approach to the reinterpretation of Moorish tradition in contemporary context.\u00a0Many of the songs on Arbina call out to the divine, asking for grace and protection. \u201cArbina\u201d is a name for God. The album carries a message about reaching beyond oneself to an infinite spiritual source, while learning to take the finite human actions to necessary to affect reality on earth. – PAM Team<\/span><\/p>\n


\nLandlord (2016)
\n<\/em>
\n<\/b>Giggs<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Giggs\u2019 presence was already firmly-established in the UK by the time he released his fourth and most successful album to date.\u00a0<\/span>Landlord<\/span><\/i>\u00a0was a spit in the face of XL Recordings, who\u2019d dropped him from its roster after releasing two of his albums \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Let Em Ave It<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(2010), and\u00a0<\/span>When Will It Stop<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(2013). Though the album featured a string of bangers, the listeners were afforded moments of clarity and introspection from the emcee who rides across forms \u2013 from grime, to gangster rap, to drill \u2013 particularly on the cold, cutting \u201cJust Swerving\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>Landlord<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is as complete a body of work Giggs has managed thus far, which says a lot for an emcee who stays on his grind, bar for bar.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nWisdom of Elders<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Shabaka & The Ancestors<\/span><\/h5>\n

Shabaka Hutchings, the UK-based saxophonist and clarinetist, is a maven connector. His undeniable presence on the British live music scene is the hallmark for how to navigate the treacherous music industry environment many have, and are, falling victim to the whims of. He\u2019s also a heavy-handed intellectual, a sonic instigator who maintains a nonchalant relationship with genre, and an innovator with his eye and ear forever connected to the ground. His cross-Atlantic sojourns resulted in a brotherhood called The Ancestors. Their debut offering\u00a0<\/span>Mzwandile<\/span><\/i>\u00a0shattered expectations and set the precedent for future sounds themed around the jazz tradition. With a 2020 sophomore forthcoming from Impulse Records, the next decade is already looking like a series of well-executed revolutions set to pentatonic scales and whirlwinds of fiery, fiercely radical intent. –\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Stillness in Wonderland<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Little Simz\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Little Simz started off the decade with the\u00a0<\/span>Age 101<\/span><\/i>\u00a0series of releases. Free-standing, experimental, and rich with content, the EPs proved vital to the emcee\u2019s growth \u2013 both in skill, and as a way for her to learn how to navigate her way around the music industry. While 2014\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>E.D.G.E<\/span><\/i>\u00a0and 2015\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>A Curious Tale\u2026<\/span><\/i>\u00a0were progress from early years, they still lacked that\u00a0<\/span>thing<\/span><\/i>\u00a0so essential to push an album\u2019s shelf life beyond first-week hype.\u00a0 Those initial efforts culminated in this outstanding full length, which continues to get better with every listen some 3 years after its release efforts.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nZaneliza:\u00a0<\/b><\/em>How The Water Moves<\/em>\u00a0(2016)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Msaki<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

This debut LP from the Eastern Cape luminary has aged so well, it\u2019s still finding a new audience some four years after it saw the light of day.\u00a0<\/span>Zaneliza<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is a body of work that grows in tandem with Msaki\u2019s public profile. Her independent journey has been great to watch. In fact, one of the\u00a0<\/span>biggest songs<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of 2019, \u201c<\/span>Fetch your Life<\/span><\/a>\u201d, couldn\u2019t have happened without her songwriting prowess. Buoyed by a terrific line-up of musicians, it remains an example of the greatness that results when the right heart and the right intentions are at the centre of all that one does. –\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Tseliso<\/span>\u00a0Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nLemonade<\/em>\u00a0(2016)
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nBeyonc\u00e9<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Bearing a density yet unseen within Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s releases, both a complete work and an Afro-feminist manifesto,\u00a0Lemonade<\/i>\u00a0struck hard when it was released in April 2016. Her difficulties in her relationship with Jay-Z was the initial narrative pretext of the album and the movie that goes with it, but Beyonc\u00e9 also asserts herself here as a real lioness at the helm of her own emancipation, as an African-American woman, magnifying insight and references with\u00a0a speech from Malcolm X, a verse by the Anglo-Somali poet Warsan Shire and Alan Lomax-recorded samples of prisoner songs. Although\u00a0Lemonade<\/i>\u00a0was much written about when it first came out, this blockbuster release also gave birth to many children\u2026 Like Ibeyi with\u00a0Ash<\/i>\u00a0the following year, whose subject is very much the same at heart, inviting in their turn an XXL casting of African-American artists, as well including speeches of Frida Khalo and Michelle Obama against violence on women.\u00a0 –\u00a0Jeanne Lacaille\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
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\nSimisola<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Simi<\/span><\/h5>\n

Simi\u2019s sophomore effort was her first true album. The artiste\u2019s debut, \u2018Ogaju\u2019, was gospel-rooted, and is largely unavailable today, as it fails to capture the essence of Simi\u2019s present music.\u00a0<\/span>That music is founded on emotive power, and honesty. \u201cRemind Me,\u201d Simisola\u2019s opener, is one of such tracks. Over a somber piano, she laments her inability to show love to strangers. It is possibly a letter to her father, to whom her third album is dedicated.\u00a0Simisola<\/em>\u00a0relies on that emotional power of its opener throughout its fourteen songs. Simi\u2019s voice, soft yet powerful, is only matched by her dexterous songwriting which forces you to laugh, cry and act all Simi-like with her. No wonder it won the Album of the Year category at the Headies, Nigeria\u2019s biggest music award. –\u00a0Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n


\nOpen Letter to Adoniah<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Sibusile Xaba<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Open Letter to Adoniah<\/em>\u00a0is an album reverent of life and its connectedness to a higher source. The music emanates from dreams revealed to Xaba over consecutive days and most of the album was recorded live in the mountains of Magaliesberg outside Johannesburg in the winter of 2016. With percussionists Thabang Tabane and Dennis Moanganei Magagula, the trio coalesces both geographic and\u00a0spiritual influences, hinting at Maskandi (a music style dominant in Xaba\u2019s native KwaZulu-Natal) and the improvisational culture of South Africa’s jazz avant garde. Collectively, the musicians remold these influences, situating them within rhythms that span the African Continent. Thabang Tabane\u2019s influence over the project gives it a spiritual sensibility allusive to the Malombo Music his father, the legendary Dr Philip Tabane, originated in the early 1960s.<\/span>\u00a0 –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nThuto\u00a0<\/em>(2017)<\/span><\/h5>\n
Cassper Nyovest<\/span><\/h5>\n

In dedication to his elder sister Thuto Phoolo, Cassper Nyovest once called the album his best. Supported by the smash single \u201cTito Mboweni,\u201d Thuto would later \u2013 like Cassper\u2019s first two albums \u2013 go on to be certified Platinum.
\n<\/span>A work rallied to classic status by critical acclaim, El Broide rated it four stars out of five, going on to call\u00a0Thuto<\/em>\u00a0\u201ca solid, calculated, interesting and entertaining release\u201d.
\nCassper Nyovest, with his fine lyricism, backed by quality production, drops jewels on each track. With each song, his place in African Hip Hop is cemented; the album\u2019s commercial success still pushes the creator to mythical stature, a rapper with the traction of a pop artiste. And in the future, when his legacy is discussed, Thuto would be at the fore of such talks.. –\u00a0Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n


\nArise<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Zara McFarlane<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Arise is Zara\u2019s third album on Gilles Peterson\u2019s Bronswood label. It\u2019s the one she feels reverberates the most with her Caribbean roots. As she says\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in an interview<\/span><\/a><\/span>: \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in exploring a fusion of reggae music \u2014 or Jamaican music, I<\/span>\u00a0prefer to say \u2014 and jazz music. And I think here we\u2019re getting closer to hearing a sound that is kind of equally between the two.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>No more does is this evident than on \u201cFisherman\u201d, the album\u2019s pen-ultimate song which updates The Congos\u2019 classic. It rounds up a compelling listen, brimming large with a line-up of the brightest minds in the UK jazz scene at the moment.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nCulture<\/i><\/b><\/span>\u00a0(2017)
\n<\/span>
\nMigos<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

Let\u2019s be honest: the current trap 3.0 scene is made up of 80% idiots, specializing in making stupid sounds. When not busy OD\u2019ing or sitting down with the FBI, the mumble rappers main aim is to blow up YouTube view counts. The scandals break out one after another, the music does not really improve and, even in Atlanta \u2013\u00a0the homeland of the genre\u00a0\u2013 the movement is troubled. Luckily, a handful of milestones were laid before trap self-destructed. Like Migos\u2019 LP\u00a0Culture<\/i>\u00a0released in 2017. In thirteen tracks, the three (a)Migos reorganized the entire geography of the United States, and placed the South back at the top of the music industry: body paralyzing instrumentals, falsely simplistic lyrics yet highly referenced, a science for vocal arrangements pushed to its limits \u2013\u00a0the Migos ad-libs sometimes compose the whole melody, an absolutely surreal technical feat. From \u201cT-Shirt\u201d to \u201cBad and Boujee\u201d(which blew up Lil Uzi Vert) and \u201cSlippery\u201d, featuring mogul Gucci Mane… This album literally stands out from the whole crowd, and is the perfect gateway to the vast Atlanta scene, with all generations combined. –\u00a0Th\u00e9ophile Pillault<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nBlack Origami<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Jlin<\/span><\/h5>\n

American producer Jerilynn Patton, aka Jlin, already shaken the footwork scene in 2015 with her first album,\u00a0<\/span>Dark Energy<\/span><\/i>. Even one of her tracks was played by Aphex Twin in 2016 while his big comeback. This is not surprising as Aphex is a close friend to Planet Mu\u2019s boss, Mike Paradinas.\u00a0<\/span>With\u00a0<\/span>Black Origami<\/span><\/i>, Jlin takes footwork \u2014 electronic music style as well as street dance from Chicago \u2014 to new lands :\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI view footwork as an African based modern dance music that fits this era in time. The music itself is based out of Chicago, but the root is based out Africa.\u201d Her explosive and hostile percussions, sometimes inspired by those of West Africa, blows you away as if we were at the middle of a frenetic ritual\u2026 in the year 3019.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0–\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\nProcess (2017)
\n<\/em>
\nSampha<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
After having worked with some of the greatest \u2013 Drake, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, SBTRKT and Solange \u2013 British musician Sampha finally unveiled his first studio album,\u00a0<\/span>Process<\/span><\/i>. The result is a radiant and meditative record that burns brighter over its 43-minute tracklist. The artist rises to an emotional world of sadness, beautifully mastering the piano \u2013 an instrument he\u2019s played since he was 3 years old.
\n<\/span>Playing the ivories has become the key foundation of Sampha\u2019s personal development. In his own world, the piano is one of the few things that has always been around.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cNo one knows me like the piano in my mother\u2019s home \/ You would show me I had something some people call a soul\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0he sings on \u201c(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano\u201d.
\n<\/span>The loss of his mother, who died of cancer, left deep emotional wounds in him, and can be clearly heard.<\/span>–\u00a0\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\nMogoya\u00a0<\/em>(2017)<\/span><\/h5>\n
Oumou Sangar\u00e9<\/span><\/h5>\n

Mogoya<\/i>, marks the awaited comeback of diva Oumou Sangar\u00e9 since her last album in 2009. The Malian singer tackles issues she\u2019s known best for years, human relations \u2013 \u201cmogoya\u201d could translate as \u201ctoday\u2019s human relations\u201d. The lyrics cover the issues African women encounter in their daily lies, and the generally tense situations they have deal with when being in a man\u2019s world.
\nYet, Mogoya is also a true turning point: it\u2019s a modern and new path for the traditional artist, as the album also flirts with electronic music. The message it transmits and its desire to talk to various generations is a strong show of commitment.
\n\u201cElectronic music is what makes Africa dance\u201d<\/i>, says Oumou.\u00a0\u201cWe need to maintain music from the past. But as I was using these old grooves, the youth were telling me: \u2018when are we gonna dance to Oumou\u2019s tracks in the clubs?\u2019 Then I started to think of what I could do for them, without altering my music. And when I heard A.L.B.E.R.T.\u2019s arrangements, I knew this was it! I was responding to the youth\u2019s desires. And this is just beautiful!\u201d<\/i>\u00a0–\u00a0Vladimir Cagnolari<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nChronology<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Chronixx\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Following his towering debut offering\u00a0<\/span>Dread and Terrible<\/span><\/i>, which was the logical step after a couple of years building a buzz through mixtapes and collaborations,\u00a0<\/span>Chronology<\/span><\/i>\u00a0arrives like a prophecy fulfilled. On the album, the striving vocal tones of reggae music\u2019s rebel, whose philosophy closely resembles that of the late, great Peter Tosh, lilts atop riddims that range from straight-ahead roots reggae (\u201cSkankin\u2019 Sweet\u201d), to hip hop (\u201cSelassie Children\u201d), to ska (\u201cMajesty\u201d), and hints of gospel, electronic music, and much more. His art is an inspiration to ghetto youths worldwide to keep moving, keep fighting, and keep striving.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/p>\n


\nLadilikan<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/span><\/h5>\n
Trio Da Kali & Kronos Quartet<\/span><\/h5>\n

Ladilikan<\/i>\u00a0is the unique collaboration between a famously reckless string quartet and a Malian trio, birthed from the tradition of the griots. Author of around fifty albums featuring renowned artists such as Rokia Traor\u00e9 or Taraf de Ha\u00efdouks, it\u2019s no surprise the Kronos Quartet came together with Trio Da Kali\u2019s delicate chant, balafon and n’goni, for an ephemeral project. Together, the seven artists managed to find an almost spiritual balance between Mande and classical music. On this disconcertingly beautiful album, the two universes coexist and the combination reaches its climax when the voice of Hawa Diabat\u00e9 (Kass\u00e9 Mady\u2019s daughter) floats over the lyrical flights of the North American quartet\u2019s violins and cellos. An essential one-take release.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span>Fran\u00e7ois Renoncourt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nGulu city anthems<\/em>\u00a0(2017)<\/span><\/h5>\n
Otim Alpha<\/span><\/h5>\n

At first glance, Otim Alpha\u2019s music may come across like the compulsive delirium of a wedding singer who discovered a drum machine in the attic. Upon closer inspection, the former boxer turned musician appropriates and brilliantly distorts the\u00a0acholi<\/i>\u00a0songs played by the larakaraka wedding orchestras. Supported by the producer Leo Palayeng, the representative for the city of Gulu puts the Ugandan traditions into an electronic turbine to produce club-crafted bangers. Once again, Nyege Nyege Tapes, a label with endless horizons and creativity, put East Africa at the center of the world\u2019s attention with this 11-track compilation that makes you lose your mind and leads you into an irresistible trance. –\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Renoncourt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nYour Queen Is A Reptile<\/em>\u00a0(2017)
\n
\n<\/i>Sons Of Kemet<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

After the release of\u00a0<\/span>Wisdom of the Elders<\/span><\/i>, a stellar album that shakes up the codes of jazz, Shabaka is back, this time with his first-ever band, Sons Of Kemet: two drums, one sax and one snorkel. In this new album, they decided to revisit history in order to pay a tribute to its\u00a0<\/span>Queens<\/span><\/i>, its Black Queens (Angela Davis, Harriet Tubman, Nanny of the Marroon from Jamaica, Yaa Asantewa from Ghana, Albertina Sisulu\u2026) as opposed to the Queen of England, a symbol of oppression\u2026 Shabaka still flouts the conventions of jazz, oscillating between rap, calypso, dub or even spoken word. We travel between the New Orleans, the Caribbean and the Middle East. With\u00a0<\/span>Your Queen Is A Reptile<\/span><\/i>, Shabaka offers his own way of looking at the past and history.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nIIII\u00a0+ IIII (2017)
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/em><\/strong>\u00ccF\u00c9<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Ife is a city located in the south-west of Nigeria. It stands for \u201clove\u201d or \u201caffection\u201d in the Yoruba language. \u00ccF\u00c9 is also a Puerto Rico-based band that was founded by Otura Mun, mixing Cuban rumba, electronic sounds and Yoruba traditional music.
\nTexas-born Otura Mun is an African-American professional musician and musicologist who decided to settle in Puerto Rico in 1999. He quickly became a key figure in the local scene, and produced singer Mima and the band Cultura Prof\u00e9tica. He was trained in\u00a0<\/span>santer\u00eda<\/span><\/i>, the cult of the\u00a0orishas<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 saints \u2013 originating from Africa and brought and maintained by the slaves communities in Cuba and Brazil.
\n<\/span>The beauty of \u00ccF\u00c9\u2019s music lies in the details, as heard on \u201cHouse Of Love\u201d. The groove is based on a traditional Afro-Cuban rumba rhythmic pattern, blended with Jamaican dancehall rhythm signature, thus creating a unique and subtle sound.
\n<\/span>III + III\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is an album that takes root in tradition, to which \u00ccF\u00c9 brings a unique touch, creating a futuristic sound that seems to have propelled the band into an unlimited creativity source.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nDakhla Sahara Session\u00a0(2017)
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/em><\/strong>Group Doueh & Cheveu<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/h5>\n

Dakhla Sahara Session<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is the unvarnished anti-\u201dworld music\u201d account of a rough, complex and laborious encounter between two very different bands: Group Doueh and Cheveu. The latter perform along the routes of the European punk, the French prisons and the rehearsal basements of Paris\u2019 suburbs, while the former travel in the Mauritanian desert, the Sahrawi weddings and the music room of the family house. This very encounter was meant to give a hard time to the producer of the album, JB, whose label Born Bad is more used to releasing pop-formatted records, though generally sounding very punk, post punk or unclassifiable \u2013 as Cheveu are. This album takes the listener right into a 10-day human epic odyssey, passing through its attempts, failures and moments of grace. This album speaks for the musicians and says: \u201cwe spilled our guts out, we reached complete exhaustion and total freedom in this illogical, unprepared and expectation-free encounter. We made it, both happy and tired, and we provide as evidence this 42-minute long musical trance, free of pretension but full of emotion.\u201d\u00a0– Kino Sousa<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n<\/em><\/span>Poaa<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/b>Bamba Pana<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Bamba Pana is one of the leading producers of Sisso Records \u2013 a central hub for MC and Singeli Stage producers in the Mburahati Ghetto on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. An exciting scene carried by the prolific collective Nyege Nyege, spearhead of a music that disrupts established codes. With her peers, Jumanne Ramadhani Zegge aka. Bamba Pana revisits the singeli (local music in Tanzania) using her laptop and software introducing uptempo rhythms (usually at 150 bpm) and catchy synth melodies. Difficult to describe, it could be akin to kuduro or a Tanzanian grime. It\u2019s addictive: nine titles that shouldn\u2019t let you sit on your chair. Fire! –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\n137 Avenue Kaniama<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Baloji<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Baloji arranged and infused his fourth album with agitation sometimes sensitive, sometimes raging. The strings of the violin meet rumba, trap blends with bikutsi and afrobeat and electronic music is fused to create the palette for the artist\u2019s flow. A singer-songwriter, the \u201coverseas Congolese\u201d is, primarily, a poet as well as a rapper and sample lover, with a unique talent for storytelling, who continues to take a critical view of his country\u2019s politics and more broadly on those of his continent of origin. A special mention for\u00a0<\/span>\u201cPeau de Chagrin – Bleu de Nuit<\/a>”\u00a0a magnificent text on carnal pleasure which also evokes this turning moment \u2013\u00a0climax\u00a0\u2013 they call \u201clittle death\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Hortense Volle<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/span><\/b>
\nEveryone\u2019s Just Winging It And Other Fly Tales<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Blinky Bill<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

It is primarily in his Nairobi studio that this influential man of the Kenyan underground, and pillar of the\u00a0<\/span>Just A Band<\/span><\/a>\u00a0collective recorded his first opus: twelve groovy tracks (falling somewhere between rap, funk, nu soul and electro) which give prominence to the exuberant Kenyan urban scene (<\/span>Muthoni Drummer Queen<\/span><\/a>, Sage\u2026) and more broadly afrocentric (Petite Noir,\u00a0<\/span>Sampa the Great<\/span><\/a>, Nneka). A feel good album sung in English and Swahili which owes its consistency to the haunting flow of this prolific experimenter and to its impeccable production. A special mention goes out to the songs \u201cAtenshan\u201d,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t Worry\u201d<\/span><\/a>, \u201cMungu Halili\u201d (\u201cGod does not sleep\u201d) and\u00a0<\/span>\u201cShowdown\u201d<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Hortense Volle\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nDowntown Castles Can Never Block The Sun<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Ben Lamar Gay<\/span><\/h5>\n

The result of a selection of seven records published on the internet since 2010, this album offered everything that underpins \u201cGreat Black Music\u201d, an expression coined by Chicago\u2019s avant-garde communities of the 1960s. A rather logical sound palette, completed by Ben Lamar Gay, gifted instrumentalist \u2013\u00a0cornetist, singer, keyboardist, flautist, who plays the ngoni too\u00a0\u2013 born in 1978 on the South Side, then the creative epicenter of \u201cthe Windy City\u201d, where his singularity first expressed itself within graffiti crews, then to the electronic music field. \u201cBut blues music is behind everything!\u201d Even when he goes to Brazil, this sound hunter tracks down this spirit\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the original sound that creates days that swing in a new way. –\u00a0Jacques Denis<\/em><\/p>\n


\nKhonnar (2018)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n
Deena Abdelwahed<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Following her 2017 debut EP, the producer and DJ member of the Arabstazy collective has continued the adventure with French label InFin\u00e9 for her album titled \u201cKhonnar\u201d. Pronounced \u201cRonnar\u201d, it is\u00a0<\/span>an untranslatable Tunisian word that evokes the dark, shameful and disturbing side of things, is a kick in the anthill of the morbid consensus, a tidal wave through the murky waters of obscurantism, which highlights what we usually seek, on the contrary, to hide. With application and determination, Deena sticks our noses in what we naively believed was under rug swept: that is the\u00a0<\/span>Khonnar<\/span><\/i>. –\u00a0<\/span>PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nTomorrow Comes the Harvest<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n
Tony Allen & Jeff Mills<\/span><\/h5>\n

Tony Allen and Jeff Mills\u2019 collaboration on Tomorrow Comes the Harvest is an afro-electro fanboy\u2019s dream come true. The 10 track album clocking in at just over an hour is nothing short of extraordinary. The percussions are insanely clean, the production is immersive, and the groove is something that can only be refined for years of dedication to songwriting; not surprising for Fela Kuti\u2019s former drummer and procreator of afrobeat alongside the future facing electro magician Jeff Mills.
\n<\/span>There is a profundity in the poetry interlaced throughout, the choice of harmonics and musical associations. Jeff Mills and Tony Allen are known for their audacious yet realistic musical reach, and here you feel that stretch deep in your ears and down into your spinal-chord. While the virtuosos may leave us wanting more, and struggling with the compromise they reached to achieve the collaboration, tracks like \u201cLocked and Loaded\u201d are pure bliss, sure to go on repeat with maximum pleasure. –\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nCARE FOR ME<\/b><\/em>\u00a0(<\/span>2018)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Saba<\/span><\/h5>\n

Saba\u2019s 2018 album\u00a0CARE FOR ME<\/em>\u00a0is a powerful meditation on loss, grief, and urban violence. The album\u00a0recounts the inspiring life and tragic death of Saba\u2019s cousin, friend, mentor, and co-collaborator Walter Long Jr..
\n<\/span>The album is immersive and cerebral and allows listeners directly into Saba\u2019s headspace as he wrestles with the demons of depression and anger.
\n<\/span>On \u201cLIFE\u201d is perhaps the most raw and disturbing track on the album, Saba sings,
\n<\/span>“I got angels runnin’ ‘way, I got demons huntin’ me
\n<\/span>I know ‘Pac was 25, I know Jesus 33
\n<\/span><\/em>I tell Death to keep a distance, I think he obsessed with me.”<\/em>
\n<\/span>Talking about the track Saba notes\u00a0<\/span>that\u2019s a theme throughout the song, and throughout the album even, just trying to do as much as possible in as little amount of time\u2026
\n<\/span>It\u2019s safe to say that Saba has accomplished that on his ten-track album, taking a Shakespearean tour of human emotion and experience.<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/p>\n


\nThe Electro Maloya Experiments of Jako Maron<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Jako Maron\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Born in 1968 in Saint Denis, La Reunion, Jako Maron developed an interest in electronic music composition from the late 90\u2019s and for the last 15 years began experimenting with the tertiary and binary beats of Maloya music via modular synthesis and drum machines. The album\u00a0The electro Maloya experiments of Jako Maron\u00a0<\/em>compiles for the first time his electro-Maloya experiments.\u00a0Traditional Maloya described the songs, music and dances of slaves of sugar plantations of R\u00e9union Island in the 17th Century \u2013 Maloya ceremonies paid tribute to ancestors and mediated between the living and the dead. The music and culture began to be more widely accepted by R\u00e9unionese society from the 1930s as folklorist Georges Fourcade began to play Maloya songs. By the \u201850s, Maloya tracks were appearing on 78rpm releases and, in the \u201860s, it was used as a form of cultural protest music. In the mid-\u201870s, a new generation began exploring new directions in the music, using Cr\u00e9ole language and may different styles of Maloya music emerged. Jako Maron explores the full spectrum of these styles through his electronic re-interpretations of his native lands music.<\/p>\n


\nYou Will Not Die<\/em>\u00a0(2018)
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>Nakhane\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

\u201cYou Will Not Die is a stand-off with death. Staring at something that I know I am deeply afraid of. And I know that it\u2019s ridiculous to fear death because what can be done? Absolutely nothing,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>said<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Sou<\/span>th Africa-born, London-based musician, actor and novelist Nakhane of his sophomore full length. The album peeled off layers of doubt and cast knowing stares in the face of trepidation and fear. Sonically, it soared; the product of Ben Christophers\u2019 (Bat For Lashes, Tory Amos) well-attuned ear. Compositionally, Nakhane stretched himself past what he\u2019d hitherto managed to excavate from his experiences on his previous efforts \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Brave Confusion<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(2013), and the EP\u00a0<\/span>Violent Measures<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(2015). –\u00a0Tseliso Monaheng<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nWe Out Here<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
Various Artists<\/span><\/h5>\n

We Out Here<\/i>\u00a0captures a moment where genre markers matter less than raw, focused energy. Surveying the album\u2019s running order, it could easily serve as a name-checking exercise for some of London\u2019s most-tipped and hardworking bands of the past couple of years. Recorded across three long, fruitful days in a North West London studio, the results speak for themselves: they\u2019re a window into the wide-eyed future of London\u2019s musical underground.
\nThe album bottles up some of the vital ideas emanating from that burgeoning movement. A reflection of how London\u2019s jazz-influenced music has reached outward into new spaces, the sound of the record draws from a wide pool. There\u2019s plenty of crossover between each of the groups, too, speaking to the close-knit circles which make up the scene. –\u00a0PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nOrquesta Akokan<\/em>\u00a0(2018)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Orquesta Akokan<\/span><\/h5>\n

Recorded in the Cuban capital, in the legendary Areito Studio, it brings together, in addition to the trio, pianist Cesar \u201cPupy\u201d Pedrosa (Los Van Van), the saxophone section of the famous Irakere and the percussionists of NG La Banda. In short, it\u2019s the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me, but that does not necessarily guarantee a good record. But\u00a0Orquesta Akok\u00e1n<\/i>, also the name of the album, proves to be a magnificent tribute to a musical color and to an era whose music had seemingly disappeared without a trace following the death of its shining stars like Arsenio Rodriguez, Prado Perez, Benny Mor\u00e9, and Israel Lopez Cachao\u2026 The Orquesta Akok\u00e1n dabbles in the Cuban repertoire, with rumba and bolero, and also pays tribute to\u00a0Elegua<\/a>\u00a0t<\/span>he deity of\u00a0caminos,\u00a0<\/i>who opens or closes all roads and paths. Throughout the different styles, there is always special care given to the sound\u00a0–\u00a0<\/span>Vladimir Cagnolari<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n

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\nAfrican Giant<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Burna Boy<\/span><\/h5>\n

Burna Boy\u2019s 2019 album wasn\u2019t planned. In an interview, the Port Harcourt-born Nigerian artiste said that after the Coachella incident (he protested against the small font used to display his name), he scrapped an album he was making (Reckless & Sweet<\/em>) and began recording\u00a0African Giant<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span>The album was bolstered by Burna Boy\u2019s growing influence in political issues, as some of the songs on the album (“Another Story” and “Collateral Damage”) dabble in. More especially, it was a return to Africa, as Burna flexes his ability to own the Afrobeats sound, incorporating Fela-esque adlibs and brashly authoritative songwriting to vividly portray strong emotions.\u00a0African Giant<\/em>\u00a0is being hailed as a potential classic. It is easy to see why: it is Burna Boy (arguably the greatest talent of his generation) at his artistic and calculative best, putting out a quality album so rooted in the present, but serving itself up as a potential history reference for listeners of the future. –\u00a0Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n


\nFongola<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n
KOKOKO!<\/span><\/h5>\n

KOKOKO! is the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s breakout group of the year with their hit album Fongola. Fongola is a chaotic collision of creative energy spilling forth with traditional Congolese rhythm and lo-fi electronics. The group uses scraps from the city streets to meld instruments with crude yet hypnotic sounds, fused together by makeshift synthesisers and the shouting chorus of the group members. Tracks like \u201cBuka Dansa\u201d blend seamlessly the grit of African street performance with the spellbinding waves of deep synths. \u201cZala Mayele\u201d languors with iridescent flavour while \u201cAzo Toke\u201d takes minimalist dance into the chaos of the Kinshasa underground. The whole work is bubbling with frustration, release and hypnotism. KOKOKO! has even created new terms to define their genre bending rhythm, calling their work \u201ctekno kintueni\u201d or \u201czagu\u00e9\u201d in Lingala. A must listen for the soundtrack of tomorrow\u2019s African alternative scene.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cEverything has a sound and many you can recognize, the varnish street sellers bouncing the little bottles with their own rhythms, the cigarette sellers with the elastics sounds, Kinshasa is a city you listen to.\u201d KOKOKO!\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span>Christian Askin<\/em><\/p>\n


\nAll My Relations<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Cocheama\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

For American saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum, it seems that the world today needs unity, peace, love and harmony between all forms of life. This is what can be heard in\u00a0<\/span>All My Relations<\/span><\/i>, his second solo album released in 2019 on Daptone Records, and whose title quotes a Lakota prayer \u2013 from a Native American tribe. After playing with Sharon Jones, Public Enemy, Archie Shepp, David Byrne and Amy Winehouse, Cochemea decided to reconnect with his spirituality, his roots and his Native American ancestors \u2013\u00a0the Yaqui people of today\u2019s Northern Mexico. Cochemea, the man whose name literally means \u201cthey were killed in their sleep\u201d, grew up with his mother, surrounded by the music of Alice Coltrane and Charlie Parker. When he finally reconnected with his father\u2019s side, he discovered a family of urban Native Americans living in Southern California! Cochemea then entered the world of\u00a0<\/span>pow wows<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Native American gatherings), and came to learn that he descends from a long line of musicians and began to devour the texts of Vine Deloria and has since shaped a strong taste for Native political concepts. –<\/span>\u00a0Jeanne Lacaille<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\nManga<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Mayra Andrade<\/span><\/h5>\n

Mayra Andrade\u2019s third album is her smoothest and most coherent piece of work to date. While Navega and Storia, storia were raw expressions of her diverse musical roots, Manga is an effortless fusion of afrobeat, urban music, and traditional Cape Verdean rhythms. After growing up in Cuba, Cap Verde, Senegal, France, and Portugal, Manga is Mayra\u2019s modern exploration of these diverse influences. Incorporating popular production techniques like autotune and synthesisers not found in her earlier works, Mayra is able to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201ccolor (her) voice the way we color the sound of a guitar.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Tracks like the opener \u201cAfeto\u201d embody this new artistic direction, while \u201cPlena\u201d is a soft<\/span>er meditation on the frontiers of her new sound. In all, the result is flawless; sweet as mangos sitting perfectly in time; an ideal listen for those delicious warm summer moments.<\/span>–\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/p>\n


\nDiaspora<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n
Goldlink<\/span><\/h5>\n

The infectious and innovative Goldlink released Diaspora in June of 2019 to finish off the decade of growing interest in African and world music. Goldlink has always been ahead of the curve with his unique flow and R&B fused hip-hop, but here he has taken a leap into the blooming world of acrobats. He isn\u2019t alone, featuring an Allstar and jam-packed selection of features including Pusha T, Tyler, the Creator, Khalid, Wizkid, Jay Prince, Bibi Bourelly, WSTRN, Jackson Wang, Maleek Berry, Ari PenSmith, Lil Nei and WaveIQ. His pre-release single \u201cZulu Screams\u201d is a track that could\u2019ve been pulled straight off Burna Boy\u2019s African Giant. \u201cNo Lie\u201d featuring the Nigerian pop star WizKid, is a sweet blend of Southern trap and African resonance. Goldlink finds a way to blend his hometown inspirations with the growing Afro phenomenon without appropriating, instead bringing more to the conversation and making one killer album. –\u00a0Christian Askin<\/em><\/p>\n


\nCartas Na Manga<\/em>\u00a0(2019)
\n<\/strong>
\nDJ Nigga Fox<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

It is difficult to choose a single release from the prolific catalogue of Lisbon-based label Pr\u00edncipe Discos has set out to conquer international dancefloors with an irresistible sound signature: the \u201cbatida\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>One of the most striking is undoubtedly the last of piece from DJ Nigga Fox released in 2019. As announced in the title, Cartas Na Manga (\u201cAn ace up my sleeve\u201d), the Afro-Portuguese producer tricks us with new assets, making cohabited concrete music and acidulous melodies within quirky rhythmic foundations. An organized mess that plunges us like never before into the psychedelic universe of mad magician Nigga Fox, a laboratory in which the elements clash and make gush grooves as paradoxical as unpredictable. –\u00a0<\/span>PAM Team<\/em><\/p>\n


\nIGOR<\/em>\u00a0(2019)
\n<\/span>
\nTyler, The Creator<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/h5>\n

Tyler, the Creator is known to be a provocateur. His music reflects this core of his person: the irrepressible desire to challenge what is considered normal.
\n<\/span>His latest album, \u2018IGOR,\u2019 has been hailed as his best yet. The project, which takes on an alter ego (Igor) is Tyler being as emotionally sensitive as he could be. An album that has been described as \u201can impressionistic romp through a fog of stylistic references,\u201d it plays to Tyler\u2019s strength to put a finger on the elusive, and on the flip side, make the simple more complex. –\u00a0<\/span>Wale Owoade<\/em><\/p>\n

Legacy! Legacy! (2019)<\/i><\/span><\/h5>\n
Jamila Woods<\/span><\/h5>\n

Legacy! Legacy!<\/span><\/i>\u00a0sounds like an insistent cry from the heart, pleading us to delve into our personal history and origins. The second album by the Chicago-based poet, singer and activist cleverly combines incisive political comments with deep introspection. Throughout the eleven songs, Jamila reinvests the legacy left by non-White pioneering artists such as Frida Khalo and James Baldwin, and creates a voice for Afro-feminist self-love, whose sublime character grows throughout the tracklist.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not your typical girl,\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0she proclaims with strength before the lyrical flight of \u201cBetty\u201d\u2019s chorus, in the remarkable opening of the album. The musical heritage of her city, Chicago, reveals itself in every single composition courtesy of her executive producer, Slot-A. From footwork to radiant soul, via urgently contemporary R&B,\u00a0<\/span>Legacy! Legacy!<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is no doubt a model album where commitment, love and anger are blended with and refined<\/span>. –\u00a0Simon Da Silva<\/em><\/p>\n

RWANDA, you should be loved (2019)<\/i><\/span><\/h5>\n
The Good Ones<\/span><\/h5>\n

One of 2019\u2019s emotional highlights comes from three Rwandan farmers who offer the most stripped down of albums based on vocals, guitars and percussion, alongside a handful of Western artists. It may be their third album, however their music exudes the innocence of a first attempt recorded on the fly, as if they just picked up their guitars and hit \u201crecord\u201d without prior rehearsal. Recorded live, without any additional processing on their leader Adrien\u2019s family farm,\u00a0<\/span>RWANDA, you should be loved<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is a life lesson made up of tragedies, suffering and love. The \u201cGood Ones\u201d are certainly survivors: the trees surrounding this very farm served as a hiding place for their escape of the genocide. And this terrifying experience gave birth to a positive and authentic music, capable of bringing tears to the most hardened of souls\u2026 – Fran\u00e7ois Renoncourt<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2020 is here. An occasion for PAM to revisit the last decade\u2019s best albums. From 2010 to 2019, here are our 80 essential albums of the decade. It was abundantly clear at the top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9400],"tags":[4493,10672,4773,4096,5104,5712,10635,6221,37474,10636],"location":[7934,7984,7994,7844,7976],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41093"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=41093"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=41093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}