Natacha Atlas
Mounqaliba
(Six Degrees)
Natacha Atlas steeps her sound with traditional Arabic instrumentation on Mounqaliba. Gone are any electronica or pop-inklings but what is left is a delicate album with Atlas’ voice mesmerizingly beautiful. It isn't a radical shift in sound as much as a refining of style using acoustic instruments and the occasional studio treatments to enhance the experience. ... read more

Thunderball
12 Mile High
(Eighteenth Street Lounge Music)
It's been a few years but Thunderball have stepped back on the scene in style with their new album 12 Mile High. I think they've spent these past years living in clandestine seclusion throughout India and Harlem, pulling the strings of covert operations and completing impossible missions, while practicing the art-fu of being musicians, because there is such a matured swagger to the tunes on this album, you certainly can't say they've been out of action. Of course, anyone who knows about the forces behind Thunderball knows, they have been anything but sitting around. ... read more

Various (!K7)
F*>k Dance, Let's Art
(!K7 Records)
Chillwave? Really? To !K7's credit, they never mention the genre, not even in their press release for F*>k Dance, Let's Art, which ask anyone who listens to it, it's chillwave. What about never rans like Re-wave or Emo-Space-Funk-Pop? The sound borrows as liberally from the cosmos as from the 80s, but for some reason, the genre as a whole can't get it's mind off making references to water. ... read more

Various (!K7)
DJ-Kicks: Apparat
(!K7 Records)
!K7's DJ Kicks series are basically legendary. Even from way back when this series was just getting started, you just knew that when you listened to a DJ Kicks mix, you were listening to a slice of the best. That reputation has never been lost and Apparat does not disappoint. ... read more

Kaya Project
Desert Phase
(Interchill Records)
I have always enjoyed listening to Kaya Project's music. They blend heavy Middle Eastern rhythms and instrumentation with just enough Western percussion and other elements, so that each song is a perfectly prepared dish of fusion cuisine. If you have friends who are into the West coast phenom of Tribal styled bellydance, you won't be hearing this for the first time here. As with nearly every album out there, you have strong songs and weak, but one thing I can say with certainty is that Kaya Project's album Desert Phase is easily their best orchestrated and most powerful to date. The thing that really draws me into their music isn't really the music at all, it's the energy. ... read more

Carmen Rizzo
Looking Through Leaves
(Electrofone Music)
When you compare Carmen Rizzo's latest album Looking Through Leaves with his debut, Lost Art of the Idle Moment, you'll immediately notice there is really no comparison. Well not really, until you listen closely. Rizzo's Idle Moment came out in 2005 and it featured a lot of singers who were blossoming at the time, from Esthero and Jem to Digable Planets' Ladybug Mecca. As a work, it was laid back and plugged very much into the soft, feminine, chilled out style of the time. So what makes Looking Through Leaves so different, besides five years of an artists growth? Really, how different could it be? ... read more

Various (Rhythm & Culture)
The Sound of Rhythm & Culture
(Rhythm & Culture Music)
Rhythm & Culture is a label that has never really claimed its full potential. It's origins are steeped in the same brew that gave the world Thievery Corporation and ESL Music, though I'm not sure how closely related most people know the two labels are. It goes way beyond just being based in the same city of Washington, DC. Rhythm & Culture was founded by Thomas Blondet and Farid Nouri, co-founder alongside Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation fame), of the famous Eighteenth Street Lounge. Hilton regards Farid as one of the best DJs he's ever been exposed to, while Thomas Blondet is also a regular DJ at Eighteenth Street Lounge, and in fact, you'll find ESL Music's imprint is on this release. Literally. So you see, there are more than just convenient similarities between Rhythm & Culture and ESL Music, and yet, the former has carried on an almost invisible existence in comparison to the latter. I think this compilation should change a lot in that regard. ... read more