Search results: Voyageur

Review: Seventeen years after the death of Malian wallahidu music legend Ali Farke Toure, his label is treating us to a brand-new album - or, more accurately, a brand-new album of previously unheard songs culled from archives of recordings that, in some cases, have remained unissued for decades. 'Voyageur' is simply superb, with the included recordings sonically sparkling (the mixing and mastering is terrific) and deftly showcasing the inspiring vibrancy of the legendary artist's trademark style. That sonic hallmark- all infectious Malian rhythms, warming bass, fluttering flites, glistening guitars and his heady lead vocals - comes to the fore on a swathe of album highlights including opener 'Safari', the sun-baked, country-tinged genius of 'Cherie' and complimentary acoustic and electric versions of 'Sambadio'.

Review: Louis Philippe was quite the talent - a celebrated football journalist, a singer, songwriter, arranger and multi-instrumentalist who makes standout pop songs and an artist who had a big impact on the Japanese Shibuya sound. Now Philippe's friend and sometime musical partner Sean O'Hagan presents via the Tapete label a welcome collection of his greatest works from the tears 1994 - 2007. Many of these have been taken from records that have been long out of print and some have in fact never been on vinyl before now. O'Hagan has also written liner notes for extra context on this great album.

Review: Commonly regarded as the first official release from avant-garde prog/space rock outfit Heldon; Electronique Guerilla (also known as Heldon 1), served as a pioneering piece of studio experimentation and manipulation, utilising a myriad of guitar effects, tape delay and electronics, collated together by the genius of Richard Pinhas. Building the pieces from a Schizo (the earlier incarnation of Heldon) track together with solo guitar loops and electronic works, while warping elements from another collaborative cut with guitarist Alain Renaud, the fruitful, cosmic, proto-wave machinations are often credited as some of the earliest influences from King Crimson's Robert Fripp (who Pinhas cited as a major influence and master of the guitar) and Brian Eno, yet while in no way shying away from their inspirations, Pinhas has since specified that "Heldon 1 was released in '74 at the same time Muff Winwood released the first Fripp & Eno", so while similarities and comparisons are welcome, more attentive ears should be able to extract the nuanced differences with which Heldon crafted their hallucinatory, boundary-pushing early opus. Originally released on Pinhas' own Disjuncta Records and limited to 1000 copies, this long overdue reissue won't stick around anywhere near as long as these swelling brain-pieces.