Should the day come when the whole world is at peace, Ali Farka Touré will resound from the loudspeakers of cargo bikes. The Malian musician has been releasing the sound that YOUNG PEOPLE might know best from the Filles de Illighadad for almost 60 years. Although they come from the neighbouring country, Niger, the vibe is, at least to Western ears, the same: trance-inducing folk music, both sedating and animating, a beautiful, balancing power that emanates from acoustic guitar, vocals and traditional accompanying instruments. The reissue of this, the green, self-titled album (there were a few of these in the 80s) comes now, digitally remastered from the OG tapes. 

Ben Webster was one of the big-three of jazz in the roaring twenties. He trumpeted his way into the limelight with Duke Ellington, later inspired Coltrane to bebop rodeo and, as a sideman, tap-danced his way from Holiday to Tatum to Fitzgerald into every role imaginable with a tenor sax in his hands. Anyone who reads his Wikipedia page will find enough material to fill twelve novels. One of them is set in Holland, which is where »In Hot House« comes from. Tidal Waves is putting out the record exclusively – for the first time since a bootleg in 1979. 

David Byrne, co-founder of Talking Heads, swam free of expectations in the early 80s. He had just presented a milestone with his band with »Remain In Light«. So what now? Solo work! And ballet! With »The Catherine Wheel« he wrote the music for a project created by choreographer Twyla Tharp. Synthesisers and effects rush over intricate rhythms, everything skewed, sure, but still danceable. It’s an album not to be underestimated in his oeuvre, every second wonderfully cerebral.  

The American-British songwriter Celeste belongs to the not-so-secret insider tips about neo-soul. Her haunting voice, her sound with influences from jazz, blues and R&B are catchy and stick in your head. »Lately«, the title track from an EP released four years ago in the US only, is a perfect example of her strengths, just like her hit »Strange«, which drifts along in a minimalist fashion against the backdrop of a really fine arrangement. Which then clears away any final doubts: Celeste is one of the most exciting and best voices in the genre at the moment.  

Now on to the really rare shit. 45 views on YouTube. Last sold: never. They called El Zigui the Dylan of Venezuela, but he never achieved fame. »Buenos Dias Juventud« is an album packed with protest songs. Classic folk-rock, in the broadest sense, US influences combine here very clearly with regional sounds – and the zither. The early 70's ooze from every pore of the album, and it still contains all the strength and desperation that a person has when they believe in something. 

»Whereas the music was dominated by fast and noisy guitars and screaming vocals, Heroin's lyrics revolved around disillusionment and pain.« Thanks to Wikipedia, everything you need to know about the screamers from the USA of the early 1990s has been said – before you shoot the collected works into your auditory canals in the form of a crisp catalogue show of a dozen tracks on Southern Lord. 

This long-lost masterpiece from the trio around Joyce Moreno (vocals), Nana Vasconcelos (percussion) and Mauricio Maestro (production machine), who plays bass here, is fascinating, hypnotic, poignant, full of clear-as-a-bell brilliance and unfortunately a far too brief insight into a Brazilian scene in complete flux. A psychedelic trip through the world of Caetano Veloso's tropicalismo with clear, as one says today, New Age references and lysergic dreams. 

Max Romeo should be known as the man who drove the devil from the world in an iron shirt. As well as released super albums, the debut or »War Ina Babylon« come to mind immediately. »Every Man Ought To Know« was released between these two LPs and is now being re-released for the first time. A safe tip not only for Romeo completists, but also for reggae fans in general. 

All awry, but straight from the heart: British indie band Porridge Radio bring out the tradition of strumming and celebrate a sound so honest it hurts. Expressed in the song »7 Seconds« with the words, »And I miss you but I'll never ever, ever, ever, ever...« and so on. Accompanied by guitar, drum and synthesiser. Loving and living are perplexing to painful activities and Porridge Radio have internalised this completely in their sound. And after those four minutes, so does everyone on the other side of the speakers.  

The duo around the charismatic Alan Vega and nerd Martin Rev is known to have not only been the stencil for DAF, but the inspiration for trillions of bands and projects. Suicide is more influential than pop history would suggest.  That's why these four rarities from the phase when the band's possibly best album was released are so essential: Not only the Springsteen cover clearly shows how Vega and Rev changed the underground scene – and consequently, logically, the big venues as well. 

The Purist and Sonnyjim, two heads from the UK, go to the festival in Croatia, come back to the studio and craft a beat that kicks like MF Doom has ... Wait a minute: »Why don't we just send him the thing?« Doom replies with a 16 inch. The champagne bubbles. The thing ends up at Jay Electronica. When MF wants to license the track for a TV station, Purist and Sonny check it out: »Barz Simpson« can be gold-plated. Two years later, Doom is dead but an album is out. And now: the limited edition 7 inch 

What happens when you put the key to the music archive in the hand of an omniscient man like Gilles Peterson? Warner wanted to find out – and had one of the coolest flute-funk-and-blaxploitation discs of the Woodstock summer lifted with »Yusef Lateef's Detroit: Latitude 42º 30' Longitude 83º«. Released in 1969, the Lateef record sounds as fresh as jazz from the cold store half a century later. No wonder MF Doom already extended the tone arm 25 years ago.