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Review: Four Flies continue their mission to plunge Italy's funk-historical depths. The pinnacle of their search so far for the sure-to-exist pearly gems on the sands thereunder is the new Africamore compilation, which homes in like a heat-seeking torpedo on the particular Afro- ends of the funk sound prevalent in the nation, in the crucial years between 1973 and 1978. This period was notable for its facilitating fertile ground for the emerging discotheque market in Italy at the time. From psychedelic-tinged tunes like Jean Paul & Angelique's 'Africa Sound' to Afrobeat-esque club banger 'Kumbayero' by Albert Verrecchia; from groundbreaking Afro-cosmics like Chrisma's 'Amore to mind-blowing floor-fillers like Beryl Cunningham's 'Why O', this is a multivalent compilation, among the best out there to document the burblings of that crosswise stew of disco, funk, electro and world musics.

Review: A UK club culture icon for all the right reasons, Luke Unabomber has put in a helluva shift over the years bringing the best tunes to the best parties for decades upon decades. He might be just as visible these days as a social media raconteur-comedian, but his depth of knowledge is unfathomable and a compilation like this is the perfect vessel to realise just a little of what he possesses in his fabled record shelves. Away from direct dancefloor firecrackers, this is a chance for Una to show off some jaw-dropping mellow cuts spanning soul, jazz funk, spaced-out electro and scores more obscurities besides. It's a collection like no other, featuring fully fledged songs that will burrow into the soundtrack of your own life without even a shred of resistance.

Review: The good folks over at Mr Bongo have been at it again, digging deep on a record hunting trip to Latin America. They have returned across the high seas with a high quality collection of aural treasure that now makes it on to this fresh new CD, Hidden Waters: Strange & Sublime Sounds Of Rio De Janeiro.It offers just a small taster of what the msuxialyl rich city has spawned over the years from pop music to experimentalism, MPB to Tropicalia and on to neo-bossa nova. The whole thing has been put together by Joe Osborne, founder of specialist Brazilian music platform Brazilian Wax, and is a vital one to add to the collection and immediately improve it by 87%.

Review: Malian singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Fatoumata Diawara has enjoyed a highly successful career, not just as a musician but also as an actor. Even so, it has taken a string of collaborations - including an appearance on Gorillaz album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez - to bring her to a wider audience. London Ko, officially her third solo album, successfully highlights the open-minded, internationalist nature of her work, offering superb, immaculately produced songs that blend her Malian vocals, instrumentation and jangly guitar playing with nods to synth-pop, deep house, electronica, r&b and downtempo beats. Naturally, the album boasts several notable collaborations, with Damon Albarn guesting on 'Nesra', New York hip-hop-turned-soul queen Angie Stone lighting up 'Somaw', and Alberto Fomesca enhancing CD highlight 'Massa Den'.

Review: Two years on from the release of their fantastic debut album, Wolo So, Balimaya Project returns with more inspired fusions of polyrhythms, percussion, heady horns, "virtuosic kora styles", contemporary jazz and traditional Mande music. It's a uniquely sweet, deep and gently sun-soaked sound - all emotive vocals, tapped out tribal rhythms, frazzled solos, dreamy acoustic guitars, glistening highlife-influenced electric guitars and sultry, soulful intent. The London-based collective has long been hard-to-pigeonhole, and it's this impeccably realised but sonically adventurous approach - along with the quality of their musicianship - that's been the key to their success. When The Dust Settles will only enhance their rising reputation - it really is that good!

Review: The late, great Jose Padilla was a big fan of the work of Stan Getz, whose easy-going, sun-soaked and accessible take on jazz - and especially his more Latin-tinged offerings - appeared frequently in the Balearic legend's DJ sets. Jazz Samba Encore, the saxophonist's 1963 collaboration with Brazilian jazz guitarist Luiz Bonfa, remains one of the most unashamedly joyous sets in his catalogue. Reissued here in a Japanese edition, it sees Getz and Bonfa trading solos over luscious bossa-nova and samba grooves. There are plenty of standout moments, with our picks including the dreamy 'Sambalero', the sparkling breeziness of 'Samba De Duas Notas (Two-Note Samba)', the glorious 'Suadade Vem Correndo' and smoky closing cut 'Ebondy Samba'.

Review: .While Brazilian guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento and American saxophonist Sam Gendel first met and played together at the dawn of the last decade - at a Los Angeles cafe both used to frequent, fact fans - it was only last year that they decided to collaborate on a release. The Room, the resultant album, was reportedly recorded in two days in a studio in the Californian countryside. It's an undeniably magical and sun-soaked affair, with Gendel teasing fluttering, flute-esque improvisations from his soprano saxophone while Do Nascimento delivers impeccable, finger-picking meditations on his seven-string acoustic guitar. The latter is undoubtedly a virtuoso with his own distinct style - a Brazilian take on classical guitar, incorporating nods to lesser-known regional music - but instinctively knows when to step back and allow Gendel the limelight. Impressive stuff all told.

Review: With this CD edition to complement the main LP reissue, we're once again met with the beauteous multi-instrumental talents of Agustin Pereyra Lucena, Argentina's finest. His self-titled debut record from 1970 is quite literally a 'bossa nova' (direct translation, 'novel swelling', 'new upswell'), doing justice to the genre name with a dialectical, pioneering regional take on already-established styles like samba and the aforementioned, informed by his outsider status as an Argentinian looking in on Brazil. Atypical for its time, Agustin's guitar playing never quite settles into any looping riff, instead revelling in free-associative improvs and overdubs of the crispest quality, both low and high in pitch range.

Review: German DJ and producer Rainer Truby first unveiled the Glucklich series of compilations way back in the 90s, when fusions of Brazilian music, jazz, soul, funk and electronic were making their very first commercial splashes. This reissue of the sixth edition of the series, first released in 2003, hears 14 tracks of nu-Brazilian groove by the likes of Azymuth, Marcos Valle, Sabrina Malheiros and Celia Vaz. You're not likely to hear a psychedelic acid downtempo version of 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' anywhere else any time soon.