Review: The resurgence of interest in vinyl has brought with it plenty of spotlight for niche acts like Tinariwen. The Mali-based desert blues specialists are now frequently found on the playlist of eclectic Das and NTS radio hosts, and so they should be. This new album is actually an old one - Kel Tinariwen is an early cassette tape recorded in the 90s that has not been released before. It hones in on the political issues of the time and is a raw sound compared to how Tinariwen went on to sound, but still has all the hypnotic guitar lines and call-and-response vocals that make it distinctly them. Add in raw drum machine rhythms and keyboard melodies and you have an alluring and Arab-tinged take on synth-pop that really gets you where it hurts.
Wartilla (feat Warren Ellis, Stephen O'Malley) (4:08)
Lalla (6:19)
Review: Malian musicians have a rich history when it comes to turning the world on to organic, mystifying, exotic sounds. A country that - even for Africa - stands out as a hotbed of aural talent, artists hailing from the desert nation never fail to immerse and intoxicate us. Here tracks grow and groove like a hypnotist at work, embracing Western influences, not least psychedelic rock, to produce what might have happened if Jim Morrison went walkabout in the Sahara looking for inspiration. As an album, "Amadjar" is everything that description might make you hope for. Opening on the delicate, spatial guitar plucks of "Tenere Maloulat", you can see the oasis shimmering in the distance through heat vapour. Evocative stuff, from there it only pulls us in deeper into an amalgamation of sounds overflowing with an adventurous atmosphere.
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