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
Articles![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...
![Album Review: Nubya Garcia – SOURCE [Concord Jazz; August 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/nubya-garcia-source-335x335.jpg)
SOURCE is the first long player by tenor saxophonist and one of London’s young jazz luminaries Nubya Garcia. London has been the campus for what has been happening in jazz lately, and the hothouse of Tomorrow’s Warriors and Trinity Laban Conservatoire along with nights like Jazz Re:freshed and Church of...
![Album Review: Ghetto Kumbé – Ghetto Kumbé [ZZK Records; July 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ghetto-kumbe-album-cover-335x335.jpg)
Ghetto Kumbé is an example of an act that dares to lead with striking visuals, and doesn’t disappoint with striking music to match. Formed in Colombia by three seasoned performers – singer El Guajiro and percussionists Chongo and Doctor Keyta – they have cultivated an enticing Afrofuturistic sound and image...
![Album Review: Ammar 808 – Global Control / Invisible Invasion [Glitterbeat Records; September 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ammar-808-invisible-invasion-cover-335x335.jpg)
Electronic music has always been a soft target for the purists. To use an ex-colleague (jazz guitarist, quelle surprise)’s metaphor, the fundamental difference between a handcrafted armchair and a cheap mass-produced imitation is the latter’s lack of the most universal characteristic known as ‘human element’. Or a human error –...
![Album Review: Duma – Duma [Nyege Nyege Tapes; August 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/dum-cover-335x335.jpg)
When Venom’s legendary album Black Metal came out in 1982, ‘black’ meant two things: a vague reference to Old Nick himself and a fashion statement. Not one metalhead could have foreseen that it would be in – of all places – Nairobi where the mosh pits would be heaving with headbangers...
![Album Review: Soom T – The Arch [X-Ray Production; September 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/soom-t-the-arch-cover-335x335.jpg)
Sumati Bhardwa, better known as Soom T, is a Glasgow rapper/MC of Indian origin. Justice is important to her and she feels passionate that everyone should reach their potential in life. This informs all she does as an artist. Asian Dub Foundation, The Orb, King Creosote and fellow Glaswegians Mungo’s...
![Album Review: Asian Dub Foundation – Access Denied [X-Ray Production; September 2020]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/adb-access-denied-cover-335x335.jpg)
Access Denied, the ninth album from Asian Dub Foundation will be released on 19th September 2020. ‘Can’t Pay Won’t Pay’, the first single from the album has a refrain that references the Poll Tax riots which was part of the late 80s/early 90s milieu of political activity and government-funded youth...