There are planets where life would be worse. One without the music of Ali Farka Touré, for example. The fact that it exists on Earth is partly thanks to Ahl Nana. The »Orchestre National Mauritanien« is regarded as a pioneer of »modern« music from the Sahel, and in 1971 it recorded the music that Radio Martiko has compiled and released here for the first time. This is a belated tribute to the music of these pioneers and their historically significant desert trance.

The crazy work of a collector's mind, a rabbit hole of an album: Akira Umeda's »1988 2018« is an out-of-body experience. These 42 recordings can hardly be described as songs. Instead, the album is a wild juxtaposition of ambient, cartoon flickers, one beat, backyard kitchens, arcade hall, porn, and random ass voice recordings. The best book of the last six months. 

More music from the era of Arthur Russell's classic »World of Echo!« The cellist and avant-garde disco pioneer is at home with his instrument, voice and echo. When necessary, he adds guitar or barely recognisable keyboards. Once again he invites us into his very personal world, which can be delicate, desperate and raw. He doesn't sing on every song, and he doesn't have to. The recordings are less an experiment in the sense of trying things out than an open search. Everything about them is in motion.

Eight years, 20 albums: these are the dimensions that Music From Memory's biggest release in 2023 has to master. The 18 tracks by Japanese artist Dream Dolphin aka Noriko do an excellent job. Like few other compilations, this one tells a consistent story, which is to say: it is excellent listening, as long as you have two hours to spare. Whether ambient, new age, trip-hop or cautious techno, the fragility that Noriko brings to her music is present in every track.

Has anyone ever been to Melbourne? Ever since Carla Dal Forno moved back to the area and started broadcasting the best music from her homeland on NTS, I got the impression that perhaps Melbourne is the most pleasant city in the world. All that seems to be coming out of there is jaded indie pop; completely de-muscled material; music that you can just slurp through the day, and yet the greatest, most wistful emotions are still there. Hydroplane are an example of that. Doctors prescribe »Selected Songs 1997-2003« as a cure for high blood pressure.

Es war eine Sensation, als Bongo Joe 2018 zwei Stücke von Les Abranis neu auflegte. Damit ließ sich die Geschichte dieser Band jedoch noch nicht adäquat vermitteln. Sie setzt sich aus Mitgliedern der Berber-Ethnie der Kabylen zusammen, nach der Unabhängigkeitserklärung des algerischen Staates wurde sie ausgerechnet in Frankreich gegründet. »Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983« dokumentiert die erste Iteration der hocheklektischen Gruppe. Die leichtfüßigen Grooves von Les Abranis sind gleichzeitig selbstbewusstes Statement einer unterdrückten Minderheit, wie sie von einer Zukunft zu erzählen scheinen, in der sich auf dem Dancefloor versöhnt wird.

The title is intimidating, but the cover dispels it in an instant: For »Free Music Part 1«, Habibi Funk has compiled what is probably the first instalment of favourite songs from the extensive discography of Najib Alhoush & The Free Music: Lebanese disco, driving bass lines, funky licks, and vocals that create expansiveness. The shirt unbuttons itself; it’s certified dance music for the best bar in town. 

Jamie Tiller starb am 15. Oktober, knapp zwei Monate vor Erscheinen dieser Compilation auf dem von ihm vor zehn Jahren mitbegründeten Label Music From Memory. Kaum ein anderes Label diggte dermaßen tief. Es holte mit Dip In The Pool, Gigi Masin und Suzo Sáiz alte Held*innen wieder ins Rampenlicht und bot genauso aber einen jungen Generation – Philipp Otterbach, RAMZi und Yu Su – Raum zur Entfaltung an den Grenzen von Ambient, Fourth-Welt-Fantasien und dem Dancefloor. »10« bietet Beiträge von Label-Freund:innen, wunderbar überraschend ist ein Klassiker der Ströer-Brüder mit Howard Fine. Alle Abschiede fühlen sich ungenügend an, dieser hier war aber nie so gemeint.

Lange Zeit war Bollywood die führende indische Filmindustrie – ja, es gibt mehrere, und ja, sie alle heißen irgendwas mit »-wood« am Ende – und damit auch immer der treibende Motor indischer Musikkultur. »​​Awaaz Series 1: Original Soundtracks Recordings From The Archives Of Cbs Gramophone Records & Tapes India 1982-1986« dokumentiert die irrsinnige stilistische Bandbreite der Musik für Filme aus Mumbai. Wunderbar schlonziger Funk, psychedelischer Disco, ein fucking »Rockit«-Cover und roughe Drummachine-Workouts – alles hier ist komplett surrealistisch, überfordernd, innovativ. Bollywood halt.

Weird and contemporary from Germany, that alone is enough to pile on the excitement and put it on your best-of list: Finally, you don't have to go to Belgium or Sweden to enjoy a new musical experience. Finally, something new is coming out of this cold country again... Bureau B has dedicated a compilation to a new German scene—which naturally doesn't want to be one. »Gespensterland« smells of health food shops from the very first beat, »Pfisters Mühle« greets darkly on the horizon. Germanness is used here as a cipher, exaggerated and integrated into a hard-to-classify wave-folk ambient.

There are planets where life would be worse. One without the music of Ali Farka Touré, for example. The fact that it exists on Earth is partly thanks to Ahl Nana. The »Orchestre National Mauritanien« is regarded as a pioneer of »modern« music from the Sahel, and in 1971 it recorded the music that Radio Martiko has compiled and released here for the first time. This is a belated tribute to the music of these pioneers and their historically significant desert trance.

Kevin Griffiths still puts together compilations as DJ tools, with ambient textures and sound effects at the end. At least that's the case on the third edition of his »Transmission« series on the Isle of Jura label, which he runs under his pseudonym Jura Soundsystem. The first track alone—»Lotus Position« by The Irresistible Force, a.k.a. Mixmaster Morris—is worth it all and followed by a lot of dub music in different shades, the obligatory Café del Mar vibes, panpipe noodling, airy breaks and ... the sounds of bleating sheep. If all of this doesn’t make sense to you, you have to make sense of it yourself. Kristoffer Cornils

Elaine Tierney and Jack Rollo's »Ballads« mix tape is legendary. »Searchlight Moonbeam« is not only a successor to that compilation, but also follows in the footsteps of the excellent »Sky Girl« compilation, which also appeared on Efficient Space. Big shoes to fill. And they have been filled. In no uncertain terms. One revelation after another, folk, post-punk, classical, all immersed in that special time-is-away atmosphere, that full-on sentimentality. It gets better every time listen you listen to it, so much so, you may never ever need another record.

The music in the »Spiritual Jazz« series has always been good – and more recently new. The Jazzman label made a name for itself with this series of reissues and compilations of old spiritual jazz, and has now turned its attention to the present day. After two years in the same vein, they've had enough and are going back. The pieces compiled here all come from the USA; the performers recorded them between 1964 and 1987, and then released them on their own, without a label. This makes »Spiritual Jazz 14: PRIVATE« a collection of the rarest pieces of modal and spiritual jazz.