![Album Review: Various Artists – La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient & Acid Exoticism 1983-1990 [Bongo Joe Records; March 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/la-ola-interior-cover-335x335.jpeg)
Welcome to a visionary inner self odyssey, spanning the golden age of Spanish electronic music. La Ola Interior groups two generations of artists; some young such as: Miguel A. Ruiz, Victor Nubla, or Camino al Desván, and an older one gathering names such as Finis Africae, Suso Saiz and Javier...
Album Review
Articles![Album Review: University Challenged – Oh Temple! [Hive Mind Records; January 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/university-challnged-oh-temple-cover-335x335.jpeg)
An ambient and psych music to be watched! The self-made films that go along with the music create an eccentric and almost political discourse. Influenced by a melange of musical genres and styles, from kosmische musik, electronic and experimentation to indie, pastoral guitar soli, and krautrock, University Challenged have walked...
![Album Review: Farhot – Kabul Fire Vol.2 [Kabul Fire Records; January 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/kabul-fire-vol2-cover-335x335.jpeg)
Finding one’s place within a diaspora away from your motherland can be an integral part of self-discovery. This is certainly true of Hamburg-based producer Farhot, who has now followed-up his eight-year-old debut with Kabul Fire Vol. 2 (released via his own label Kabul Fire Records) which explores this part of...
![Album Review: Altin Gün – Yol [Glitterbeat Records; February 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/altin-gun-yol-cover-335x335.jpg)
Altın Gün cruise new avenues on Yol, their 80s synth-pop influenced third album. As the opening track of Altın Gün’s highly-anticipated third album Yol segues into the second-track ‘Ordunun Dereleri’, we hear the sound of traffic speeding along highways towards unknown destinations. Indeed the album documents a journey for the...
![Album Review: Gentleman’s Dub Club – Down to Earth [Easy Star Records; March 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gentlamans-dub-club-down-to-heart-cover-335x335.jpg)
Leeds’ king-sized dub ensemble Gentleman’s Dub Club are in partnership with Easy Star Records on their next album Down to Earth. The album’s defining characteristics are traditional reggae with contemporary modifications for a brighter listening experience. ‘Castle in the Sky’ serves as one of the standout performances from the album, featuring...
![Album Review: Madlib – Sound Ancestors [Madlib Invazion Records; January 2021]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/madlib-sound-ancestors-cover-335x335.jpg)
Those who tend to think of Madlib as curator will find plenty to like here, and that he’s helped along by Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet just adds to the sense of exploration- with a title like Sound Ancestors, a little sonic archaeology is to be expected. While he may...
Hard to believe that such a dire and dramatic year could inspire such an abundance of remarkable albums. Or maybe, on the contrary, the multitude of emotions sparked by the pandemic and our new life’s circumstances might have been the main reasons why musicians were able to write, record and...
![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Acoustic [No Format!; June 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/oumou-sangare-acoustic-cover-335x335.jpg)
Acoustic is a rootsy reimagining of Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s 2017 album Mogoya, but where Mogoya used a palette of beats and synths, Acoustic says more with less. Opening with ‘Kamelemba’, a song of counsel warning women away from sweet talkers and playboys, Oumou’s majestic voice converses with the jittery...
![Album Review: Songhoy Blues – Optimisme [Transgressive Records; October 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/songhoy-blues-optimisme-cover-335x335.jpg)
Songhoy Blues stay true to form with bold third LP Optimisme – released via Transgressive Records. If there is one thing the world needs right now – not least the beleaguered music industry – it is hope. Desert Blues luminaries Songhoy Blues seek to deliver just that with their third...
![Album Review: Bab L’Bluz – Nayda! [Real World Records; July 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bab-lbluz-cover-335x335.jpg)
This is a very exciting debut album by French-Moroccan band Bab L’Bluz. Lead singer Yousra Mansour and multi-instrumentalist Brice Bottin recently learned the awashi and guembri (sintir/bass lute) while exploring their love of Gnawa music and ended up in a four-piece psychedelic blues rock band. It really is much more...