![Album Review: Out of Nations – Quest [Riverboat Records; August 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/outofnationsquestcover-335x335.jpg)
To understand and fully appreciate Out of Nations’ sound, you first need to have a look at their passports and read about their backgrounds. A 7-piece ensemble based in Berlin, with members coming from the US, Egypt, Greece, Belgium and Austria with experiences in Lebanon and Norway, and collaborating with...
Album Review
Articles![Album Review: Gentleman’s Dub Club – Lost In Space [Easy Star Records; January 2019]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/optimized-lost-in-space-art-335x335.jpg)
Just as the new year has sunk in, Gentleman’s Dub Club drop Lost in Space on Easy Star Records, their latest instalment of contemporary dub rhythms and rhymes. The ten-piece collective that met in Leeds are a staple outfit in the modern dub and diaspora scene, and after five successful albums...
![Album Review: Nicola Cruz – Siku [ZZK Records; January 2019]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sikucover-335x335.jpg)
One of the most iconic and recognisable instruments from South America is probably the siku, a handmade pan-pipe made of bamboo shoots, originating from the Andes and played to this day by its indigenous peoples. Countless variations of the siku exist in South America – each with its own variation...
![Album Review: Daxuva & Nina Miranda – Le Jardin [August 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/daxuva-lejardin-335x335.jpg)
Le Jardin (The Garden) is a soft electro-pop album created in collaboration by Anglo-Brazilian singer Nina Miranda and Brazilian producer Daxuva (Pedro Ferraz) – the debut record under the Daxuva moniker. The album sets itself within a collision; on one side you see the soft, sensual aspects of a garden,...
![Album Review: Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba – Miri [Outhere Records; 25th January 2019]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/bassekoumiri-335x335.jpg)
Musical genre; the most common contention between genre labelling and the music itself. Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba really hit the nail on the head with this next album, Miri. Although not in an authentic sense but rather a sonic excursion into what is real, it is centred on issues...
![Album Review: Akua Naru – The Blackest Joy [The Urban Era; April 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/akuanarublackest-335x335.jpeg)
Akua Naru released her third album, The Blackest Joy, on 27th April 2018 on The Urban Era label. Growing up in Connecticut, Naru was originally influenced by gospel sounds from the Pentecostal church. From the age of nine, however, she was introduced to hip hop by her uncle despite secular...
![Album Review: Lokkhi Terra meets Dele Sosimi – Cubafrobeat [Funkiwala Records; June 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/cubafrobeat-cover-335x341.jpg)
The holy trinity of pleasure, music that serves mind, body and soul. Cubafrobeat simultaneously feeds them all. The new Lokkhi Terra and Dele Sosimi collaboration show off jazzy solos to power your intellect, but never detract from the chance to lose yourself to dance. Brought together by pianist Kishon Khan,...
![Album Review: Totó la Momposina – Oye Manita [Astar Music; September 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/totolamomposina-335x335.jpg)
From Colombia, one of the most musically rich countries in the world, comes a new album by Totó la Momposina, the Queen of Cumbia. A prolific year for the star, this album, Oye Manita (released by Astar Music), presents a range of songs spanning over 30 years of Totó’s career,...
![Album Review: Vaudou Game – OTODI [Hot Casa Records: 26th October 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/vaudou-game-otodi-335x335.jpg)
A sentimental fist-bump to Afro-Funk, Vaudou Game’s album OTODI (released by Hot Casa Records) mixes traditional Togolese scales with a James Brown-style rhythm section intended for ritual dance. Lead songwriter Peter Solo attempts to conjure the spirits of voodoo, the very spirits he converses with daily. The third offering from lead...
![Album Review: Alfa Mist – 7th October (Epilogue) + Antiphon [Sekito Records; 7th October 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/alfa-mist-7th-335x335.jpg)
We’ve talked quite often about the rising British nu-jazz scene, with London town being the pulsing heart of this new wave of talented musicians. Among its bright protagonists, like Kamaal Williams, Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, we couldn’t fail to mention Alfa Mist – composer, keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist hailing from Newham, London...
