Another round of forlorn songs about lost loves and other sorrows, driven by mid-tempo, wah wah guitars; this second volume tracking the Rai master into the 1990s.

The second volume in Abdou’s unmissable Nuits trio of LPs, this time featuring his Casablanca home-girl, sahrawi diva Naima Samih.

Giddy psych, funk, jazz and electronica freak-outs from Casablanca. A combination of original compositions and folk tunes, crazily blending together Abdou’s wigging organ, rough beat boxes, wayward kit-drumming and crisp north African percussion, a little Hank Marvin and some sporting sing-a-long, and plenty of unfit-to-drive reverb and tape delay. A facsimile reissue of this collectors’ item, first out in 1976. Ace.

Electrifyingly intense Chaoui music from the Aurès region of Algeria, booted into the future, with drum machines, phased gesba flute and reverbed-out vocals.

Heavy, meditative Tuareg rock.
‘If you listen long enough, and make yourself open enough, it is possible to reach a kind of holy place’ (The New Yorker).

‘Son of Maalem Mahmoud Guinia, Maalem Houssam Guinia is one of Morocco’s most exciting young Gnawa masters.
‘Dead of Night was recorded live on the night of 3rd January 2022, in a relaxed session in a Casablanca residence. It captures Houssam at his most natural, singing and playing the Gnawa songs that have been with him since his birth, completely solo and free without percussion or backing vocals. Houssam says these are the songs he knows best; the music his father would play and sing late into the night in their home when he was an infant.
‘Raw, deep, spiritual Gnawa in its purest form.’

Atmospheric, swinging Algerian soundtrack music from the 1970s, swirling together jazz, psych, funk and muzak, with tasty North African, Arab flavours. An eight-page full-size booklet contains rare photos, an interview with the artist from 1978, and a brief introduction to Algerian cinema.

James Brown and Barry White mixed in with classical Arabic and raï music, and a little house and techno…featuring a knockout version of Shaft.

A thrilling, Sudanese, seventies blend of funk and soul jazz, with hot brass and organ, breaks and beats, even a shot of highlife. Nile Waves is knockout — as if the JBs fetched up in Khartoum.

‘Bottling the raw energy of the scene in the 80s and early ‘90s; featuring its young stars Cheb Zahouani, Chaba Zohra and Abderrahmane Djalti. Newly remastered and including liner notes from Raï authority Rabah Mezouane, this compilation brings together eight cassette tracks from the electrifying period when Raï was evolving from more traditional sounds into mesmerising electro funk.’

A zinging survey of the dazzlingly diverse, thrilling, neglected releases of Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali’s Kayes region, who settled in France in 1977. He started out by selling wax, kola nuts, and other items in Paris; and in no time he was distributing cassette tapes, on his way to producing a multitude of recordings for his own label, Camara Production. A fascinating, precious insight into the modern diaspora of ancient Soninke culture, spanning out as Malian zouk, Mauritanian reggae, and a myriad of grooving, head-spinning directions. Prepared in full collaboration with Gaye Camara; with riso-printed notes.