Kamasi Washington

“…a titan of the jazz scene” (NME, 4/5) Kamasi Washington’s sixth studio album, Fearless Movement, lands on shelves and streaming libraries across the country today (May 3rd). The multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader calls his latest record his dance album, though not in a literal sense. As he puts it “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.” Fearless Movement arrives on a Standard Black and Limited Red & Blue Indie Double-LP, along with a 2 CD set. 

“…plentiful, mesmerising, and resilient. Fearless Movement shows Washington as not only one of the most creative artists making music but also one of the most innovative. “

Excerpt from Northern Transmissions 9.3/10 Review

Mdou Moctar

Funeral For Justice, the blistering new album from Nigerien quartet Mdou Moctar also arrives today, via Matador Records. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019’s breakout, Afrique Victime, it captures the band in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild; the guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political; nothing is held back or toned down.

Funeral For Justice speaks unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and the Tuareg people. “This album is really different for me,” explains Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist. “Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. when the U.S. and Europe came here, they said they’re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.”

“The grandeur is all-enveloping here; a minor epic built from a surfeit of dissident spirit and Van Halen fanaticism. Don’t let Mdou Moctar be the close-kept secret of suburban shamans the world over — this is pure Tuareg delight, palatable for all”

Excerpt from Exclaim’s 8/10 Review

That’s all folks!