My disc of the week:
Amadou and Mariam
Welcome to Mali (Because)
Kicking off with the eerie, electronic, Damon Albarn-produced “Sabali,” this simply fantastic album continues to seduce and surprise throughout. Mariam’s voice is perfectly paired with Amadou’s jangly guitar and a range of layered instruments on an album that resists catagorization. The couple, who met in 1977 at Bamako’s school for the blind, have been making music together for over 25 years. Their Manu Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako, from 2006, was a revelation. On their own, they have now crafted an album that’s equally good and sounds overwhelmingly present. It connects the dots across the continent of Africa (Somali-Canadian K’naan guests on “Africa,” calling it the “original East-coast, West-coast collaboration”) and beyond, to the rest of the world, begging comparisons to everything from garage rock to ’70s funk to ’90s Britpop. It’s tough to stop
listening. 9/10 Trial Track: “Sabali” (Erin MacLeod)
My TV program of the week:
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