![Album Review: Oddisee – The Iceberg [Mello Music Group, 24th February 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/a2735827702_10-335x335.jpg)
Welcome to Oddisee’s The Iceberg, where the obvious is not a third of what is not obvious: Look under cold water and you will encounter miles of commentary, innuendos, etc. His album is pleasantly loud but lacks in the originality of big-budget hip-hop, perhaps because he didn’t have the money...
Album Review
Articles![Album Review: Jupiter & Okwess – Kin Sonic [Glitterbeat Records, 7th July 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/a0517546476_10-335x335.jpg)
Fans of contemporary music from the African continent have been blessed in 2017 with releases from Zimbabwe’s Mokoomba and Mali’s Tamikrest and Songhoy Blues – illustrating that there’s a wealth of new artists and contemporary sounds emanating from the continent. Jupiter & Okwess from the Congo, cement this reputation by...
![Album Review: Populous – Azulejos [Wonderwheel Recordings // La Tempesta Dischi, 9th June 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/azulejos_artwork__front_-335x335.jpg)
If you’ve ever wandered through the streets of Lisbon, you probably came across stunning walls of blue-painted ceramic tiles, the azulejos, depicting amazingly intricate patterns and detailed paintings. The iconic tiles give name to the fifth album of the Lecce-born, Milan-based producer, Andrea Mangia, aka Populous, after his experience in...
![Album Review: Brother Ali – All The Beauty In this Whole Life [Rhymesayers Entertainment, 5th May 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/a3157084551_10-335x335.jpg)
Have you ever seen The Battle of Algiers? Released in 1966, it’s a great movie about war waged by Algerian freedom fighters, the FLN, against their colonizers, the French. The Casbah, a traditional Algerian quarter, was where the FLN was headquartered. In the film, the Casbah plays host to a...
![Album Review: Martyn Bennett – Grit [Real World Records, 28th July 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mb_grit-cover-3000pxls-335x335.jpg)
Anyone who knows the story of Martyn Bennett cannot help but be moved by Grit, his final album released in 2003. He died of cancer just over a year later at the age of 33. At the time of its release, Real World described Grit as: “arguably one of the...
![Album Review: Ariwo – Ariwo [Manana Records, June 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/a2879113004_16-335x335.jpg)
Ariwo‘s eponymous EP may only be four tracks long, but the length of the tracks gives it more of an album feel and, indeed, one on an opus level. Bridging an extraordinary cultural and global gap, this quartet is one part Iranian and three parts Cuban and explores the rich...
![Album Review: Les Amazones d’Afrique – République Amazone [Real World Records, 10th March 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/les-amazones-dafrique-335x335.jpg)
République Amazone, is a work, crafted by a supergroup of ten divas of African music – Les Amazones d’Afrique, the most well known of them being Beninese international superstar Angelique Kidjo. The album, lively from beginning to end, is primarily concerned with melding rhythm, elegance, and a message against the...
![Album Review: Quantic & Nidia Góngora – Curao [Tru–Thoughts Records, 12th May 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/a1363138718_10-335x335.jpg)
Curao brings together the mystical music traditions of the Colombian Pacific Coast with captivating modern day production to spectacular effect. Will ‘Quantic’ Holland and Nidia Góngora, who is considered one of the foremost artists of the typical marimba music of the South Pacific region, mix those unique & rich traditional...
![Album Review: Retrospective for Love – Random Activities of a Heart [Wormfood Records, 10th March 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/a2873499866_10-335x335.jpg)
Random Activities of a Heart is the debut album of Retrospective for Love, a London-based international neo-soul band active since 2010. Released on 10th March on Wormfood Records — the same label of Afriquoi, to give you a clue — the much-awaited long player follows two EPs that made them...
![Album Review: The Great Malarkey – Doghouse [Batov Records, 7th April 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/a2612631491_10-335x335.jpg)
What happens when gypsy, folk, punk and blues influences converge into the spirit of an eight-person band, after a five-year break from intense writing, listening and performing on tour? The answer might be something like a ticking bomb ready to explode and well… That is the case for The Great...