Funk

Review: Mr Bongo present a staunch retro vision of Cuban-born violinist Alfredo De La Fe, one of whose sonographic creams was the debut salsa-and-more fusion album, Alfredo. Based between New York and Colombia, Alfredo worked with many of the greats in Latin music, including Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon and Roberto Roena, as well as disco and soul icons Sylvester and Aquarian Dream. For a debut solo record, Alfredo is a real charm offensive, and a valiant experiment at that, mixing Latin dancefloor crunches with De La Fe's own, unusually additive violin, placed centre stage as he solos. The record - a favourite of legendary New York club The Paradise Garage - tonally shifts past the halfway mark, eschewing the A-side's chroma-jazzy clavier discombobulations for an early four-to-the-floor, daresay proto deep house excursion, 'Hot To Trot'.

Review: The liberation of Mali from French rule in 1960 led to an explosive musical renaissance, and on this latest 2xLP compilation, Mr Bongo seek to remonstrate the nation's excellence in the face of much strife. After 1970, amid revived drives to document many national and regional music productions from the West African nation, Malian culture underwent a fertile transformation, with state-sponsored bands and orchestras able to record with sound engineers for the first time. Compiled by French writer and journalist Florent Mazzoleni and Mr Bongo's own David Buttle, we hear here the likes of Ousmane Kouyate & Ambassadeurs Internationaux, Rail Band, Les Messagers du Mali, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou and many more, where bright, fuzz-packed tones whirl about our ears in serene squalls of balafon-driven funk, rumba, wassoulou, jeli and blues.