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Mixing creole poetry, heavy-grooving cosmic synths and folk mysticism.

Martinique artist Gratien Midonet is the subject of a new compilation from Time Capsule, called A Cosmic Poet from Martinique 1979 – 1989.

A Cosmic Poet from Martinique 1979 – 1989 collects thirteen tracks taken from Midonet’s first four albums, which were recorded between 1979-1989.

“Midonet’s musical world is cosmic, mystical and he has created his own idiosyncratic style around it: not plain folk, not bélé, chouval bwa, beguine or gwoka, but rather a transcendental fusion of all these and a true reflection of his personality,” explains curator Cedric Lassonde in the liner notes.

This music was influenced by “smells and colours… subliminal noises… fruity notes, the memories of funeral wakes, the bombastic organ of the cathedral and the gasps of the drums…” from his childhood in Martinique, shares Midonet. – The Vinyl Factory

The band’s debut album is intent on dismantling the ideas western listeners have about popularized Tuareg music. This new wave of Tuareg musicians sound very different to the desert distortion that accompanies groups like Mdou Moctar or Group Inerane. Instead, it finds a calm and passionate soul, provides sumptuous slow burners, and a complexity of composition that hasn’t been demonstrated by previous music exported from the Saharan people’s musical repertoire.

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Even if the band has a direct DNA link to trail blazers Tinariwen - (Eyadou Ag Leche of Tinawiren is a cousin of frontman Sadam, and guided their evolution and produced and co-wrote several songs on this album), their poetry and flow has a more integrally urban base than the ancestral tamashek poetry and traditional rhythms of their elders, Tinawiren. Instead they offer something much more fresh and intricate; there is a lot of sensitivity and space in these jams, a lot of room for your mind to ponder and drift.

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This intimacy of Imarhan’s sound is no coincidence. In the language of the Kel Tamashek people ‘Imarhan’ means ‘the ones I care about’ - Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane aka Sadam, Tahar Khaldi, Hicham Bouhasse, Haiballah Akhamouk and Abdelkader Ourzig all grew up near each other in Tamanrasset, Southern Algeria, in a Tuareg community of Northern Malian descent. The giant divide between their spiritual home and physical home is heard in their tracks: the funkier groove of Western Africa, the emptier, subtle tones of Saharan Traditional folk music and the fire and romance of Algerian Rai music. No other Tuareg release to date has had such a variance of rhythms, tempo and feeling. – City Slang

The original band consisted of five members, three from South Africa and two from Nigeria: drummer Louis Moholo, trumpeter/flautist Mongezi Feza, alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, tenor saxophonist Bizo Mngqikana, and guitarist/bassist Fred Coker — the latter, according to Rob Fitzpatrick in The Guardian, "helped guide Assagai into position as the only real West African competition to the super-star firepower of Ghana's Osibisa" before Coker left Assagai to replace Spartacus R in Osibisa. Canterbury scene keyboardist Alan Gowen and King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir were also briefly members (1971-72). - Wiki

Assagai were one of the few (if any other) black bands signed to the Vertigo label. The band's sound was a mixture of psychedelic rock, Nigerian afro beat, and funk. Their self-titled debut is most widely known for  the track "Telephone Girl"  which is an infectious uptempo dance floor funk cut.  The beginning beat also served as an inspiration to hip hop producers like DJ Premiere.  Other tracks like the afro burners "Cocoa" and "Irin Ajolania" show they are no one trick pony, either.  – Soul Strut

Ajate is a Japanese band who plays a unique blend of afro-groove dance music mixed with Japanese traditional festival music called "Ohayashi". Formed in 2011 by the band-leader John Imaeda, Ajate consists of 10 Japanese musicians.

Another unique feature of the band is the use of hand-made bamboo instruments as well as traditional Japanese percussion. The "Jahte" is a bamboo-made xylophone or balafon with a piezo pick-up mic attached to each key, connected to a pre-amplifier to obtain a loud sound and to add some touch of dirty distortion to its warm and natural acoustic sonority. The "Piechiku" is also a bamboo-made string instrument inspired by the west-African "Ngoni" or Moroccan "Guembri" instruments. The Piechiku uses strings of the Japanese traditional "Shamisen". This instrument is also played through a pre-amplifier and John sometimes adds some wah-wah effect to it. All these bamboo instruments are designed, made and named by John Imaeda himself.

On Alo you will also be amazed by the exceptional sound of the Japanese Shinofue flute, which was not on the previous Abrada LP.

Now, add to this unique sound some well-crafted Japanese female and male singing and you get a killer mix of Afro-Funk flavored grooves with traditional Japanese music! – Bandcamp

A collection of 12 fantastic taarab songs from Yaseen Mohammed (Mac & Party) rich in exotic tone colour, full of swing and groove, compiled from the elusive Mzuri catalogue, Mombasa, Kenya 1960’s. Comes with with a large 4 page fold-out insert with extensive background story and never-before-seen pictures. - HHV

'Extremely hard-to-find Ghanaian LP from legendary musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, originally released in 1980. Tough Highlife, funk and boogie moods with added synthesizer! Ambolley is still actively touring today, keeping these vibes alive – he will be touring Europe throughout 2019.' This is the third Gyedu Blay Ambolley LP that we have reissued on Mr Bongo, following on from his seminal ‘Ambolley’ and ‘Simigwa’ recordings.' - Mr Bongo