Another round up of 2025 highlights so far, this time focusing on the electronic end of the musical spectrum.
I posted my first review in March and only one of the ten artists featured then reappears in today's selection. No surprise to find that it's 10:40 aka Jesse Fahnestock, with the flip side of his excellent Powder Wax Vol. 2 EP.
A few surprises: it was a delight to discover that Montjuïc are James Hackett and Ian Carmichael, old buddies from The Orchids, the latter also delivering era-defining music with One Dove.
Not only that, but the remix is by Cold War Cowboys, who happen to be Martin Watkins, long-time Marc Almond collaborator, and Phil Bloomberg, bass player with The Polecats.
But I've saved the best 'til last, with a beautiful dub-infused remix by Matias Aguayo of Lucrecia Dalt's Cosa Rara, with a spoken word vocal from none other than David Sylvian, who also co-wrote, played guitar and produced the song. A real "how did she do that?!" moment.
1) Dagger (Radio Edit By Charlotte Caluwaerts & Reinhard Vanbergen): Charlotte & Reinhard (Dagger EP)
2) Falling (What Time Is Love?) (Tronik Youth Remix By Neil Parnell): Blavatsky & Tolley ft. Gene Serene (Falling (What Time Is Love?) EP)
3) Field Of Dreams (Hardway Bros Cosmic Interpolation Mix By Sean Johnston): Hugo Nicolson(Field Of Dreams EP)
4) The Third Wave: Matt Gunn(Nowhere EP)
5) We're All Gonna Hurt (Extended Vocal): Le Carousel ft. Jolene O’Hara & Jess Brien (We're All Gonna Hurt EP)
6) Let's Change (Cold War Cowboys Remix By Martin Watkins & Phil Bloomberg): Montjuïc (Let's Change EP)
7) Miracle Me: 10:40 (Powder Wax Vol. 2 EP)
8) Popolina 90: Follytechnic Music Library vs. Pop Will Eat Itself (FML25 Baggy Ravers 3)
9) Like Fire (A Space Age Freak Out Remix By John Paynter & Ben Lewis): Airsine (Like Fire EP)
10) Cosa Rara (Matias Aguayo's Dopamine Dub): Lucrecia Dalt ft. David Sylvian (Cosa Rara EP)
A whistle stop post, with four songs that have grabbed my attention this month.
Marina (Diamandis, that is) releases 6th album Princess Of Power on 6th June. The third pre-release single is Cuntissimo, with a lavish video, a lyrical focus on female empowerment and hooks aplenty, even if mainstream daytime radio play is a non-starter. I've been a fan since her beginnings as Marina & The Diamonds, and this is great stuff.
SAULT dropped their latest album at the weekend, with little fanfare, although it apparently snuck out briefly on Spotify and was pulled, before officially reappearing on Saturday. In that short time, all of the song titles have also been reduced to acronyms. So, this is a smooth, Cleo Sol-fronted track called K.T.Y.W.S., previously named Know That You Will Survive.
Easter Sunday saw another very welcome new release, with Jesse Fahnestock confounding expectations with 10:40 Presents Retro Fit. The 3-track single, An Alternative History, was inspired by Swiss Adam over at Bagging Area, who wrote a brilliant and fascinating post last year, imagining a divergent timeline for The Stone Roses. Jesse took that concept and has created a song that could have been, fashioning two further versions that stretch the concept whilst remaining tantalisingly within the realms of plausibility. Read about it here. Adam and Jesse, I salute you!
Last stop is Senegal-based artist Cheikh Ibra Fam's new single Xam Xam, which is "Infused with the hypnotic pulse of Caribbean zouk and Angolan kizomba, the ethereal strings of the kora, and the soul of West Africa". Fair to say that this would also sit very comfortably on an Ibiza playlist and brought a little promise of summer to a weekend at Casa K that veered wildly from sunshine to continual rain.
Xam Xam is described as "a call to embrace knowledge as the most valuable treasure of all" and, true to his word, Cheikh Ibra Fam is seen on several occasions in the video in a library and reading a book. "Libraries gave us power!" as James Dean Bradfield once sang, and he wasn't wrong.
In my final post of 2024, I have taken another look at the Dubhed Top 20 most popular posts. As with 2023's list, these are in descending order to manufacture some countdown tension, again with a few video inserts at various points. Or you can scroll down the page to see what's at #1...
The spread is more uneven is more uneven this year - January and October are the most popular months, April not far behind. March, June to August and, perhaps less surprisingly, December don't even get a look in at the Top 20. My Dubhed
selections feature in just over half of the Top 20, which is good to see.
January's birthday nod to Susanna Hoffs hit the mark and was well inside the Top 10 for most of the year, only dipping out when posts from the last few months starting climbing up. Jesse Fahnestock also scores a triple whammy, with Jezebell and 10:40 respectively.
Sadly, too many obituaries this year, the tributes to J. Saul Kane, Chris Cross of Ultravox and Keith LeBlanc being particularly well received, even though the news of their passing wasn’t.
And two comebacks also attracted a lot of attention, one very welcome (The Cure, crashing into the Top 10 in October) and one very much the opposite (#15 in November).
I'm delighted that this year's #1 featured what for me is the best album of the year, in any category or genre.
In
case you missed them first time around, click on the titles for the
original post. Dubhed selection links have also been restored, where
appropriate. When you get to #1, go and read my review of the album, posted shortly after I played it for the first time, then you'll understand why there was never any doubt in my mind. Happily, as the most visited post in 2024, it seems that you all agree.
Thanks so much for your support this year. I love writing this blog, but your comments, suggestions and gentle editing corrections give me the motivation to keep writing, keep wanting to do better and, in simple terms, give a shout out for all those talented people whose passion to create music inspires me every day.
Have a great New Year's Eve and best wishes for a brilliant 2025. I'll be here as usual tomorrow.
1) A Gift (Sounds From The Flightpath Estate) (6th April)
When I posted the Dubhed 2023 Top 20 on 2nd January, John Medd was quick to respond with a suggestion:
"I know it would be like knitting fog
but have you thought of condensing
the year down
not just into 20 posts, but 20 tracks
- segued into a
60/70/80 minute megagmix?
Push the boat out,
make two sides of 40/45
mins
and whack it out as a C90!"
I replied, filed it away and then pulled it back out of the drawer when I started this post. 21/22 tracks segued into an 85-minute mix. You can split it in half and fit onto a C90, if you don't mind some spooling at the end of Side 2.
This selection is dedicated to John Medd (thanks for the suggestion, hope you're doing well) and Swiss Adam (not least for his contribution to this year's #1).
And to everyone else, whether you're a fellow blogger (active or lapsed), commenter or silent visitor - not forgetting those lovely bots in China and South Korea - thank you again!
1) Three Rings: 10:40 ft. Emilia Harmony (2024)
2) 1000 Fahrenheit (Welsh Version): The Wedding Present (2014)
2) Same for J. Saul Kane's brilliant Bomb The Bass megamix from 1988.
3) I still haven't actually bought or listened to The Cure's new album from start to finish, but I have dipped into the concert for BBC Radio 2. Isn't it wonderful?
4) You'll quickly twig that A.N.T.S. by Adam & The Ants is set to the tune of Y.M.C.A. by The Village People. And why not?
5) Jesse Fahnestock is not paying me to get maximum exposure in the annual Dubhed Top 20, honest.
6) Jesse's contribution as 10:40 to Sounds From The Flightpath Estate was released as a standalone single in the summer, which is why it's included here. The album in general was only available as a limited edition double vinyl, which sold out in (excuse the pun) record time.
7) In March 2020, during the COVID lockdown, Andy Bell was taking song requests to perform and post on YouTube. Andrew Weatherall had passed mere weeks before, and @supawide45 suggested Andy have a go at Smokebelch II in tribute to The Guv'nor. Which he did, commenting, "Makes me want to actually record an acoustic arrangement of it!"
In March 2024, after a close-to-the-wire completion and submission, Andy's recorded version of Smokebelch II was released as the closing song on Songs From The Flightpath Estate. As it was perhaps always meant to be.
I've not included Andy's 2024 version, as it's place is on the album that Swiss Adam and his Flightpath Estate colleagues poured their hearts and souls into creating.
Instead, I've taken Andy's lockdown sketch, itself barely half a minute, looped and re-edited it a bit, then spliced with a section of Andrew, Jagz and Gary's Beatless Mix of Smokebelch II from 1993. It's an amateurish edit, but I think it (just about) works.
Jezebell aka Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell have a new release, Cream Tease, out on 2nd October which they, er, teased on Wednesday with The Big Time.
The Big Time starts off like the frenetic, amped up relation of 2022's Visage-sampling Dumbell, building layers of sound so that as you approach the halfway mark, you think you know where this is going. Only it just gets even bigger, the titular sample dropping in a minute or so later. it's not just big, it's huge.
I've been lucky enough to receive a sneak preview of four tracks and they all deliver chug and chuckle in equal measure, with some muscular rhythms and grin-inducing samples. I mean, you need more cheek than a Carry On film to name tracks Donkey and Hung, but they are bloody great.
Donkey misdirects with a few seconds of martial drumming before switching to the more familiar stepping beats and synth flourishes, soon accompanied by an array of Spanish-flavoured samples.
Hung comes in with some heavy beats, a guitar loop and dislocated vocals, like all of the music on offer, seeming like it could go on for at least twice it's seven-minute duration. An infectious track, to use a cliche.
Then there's Darren's Theme which, if were fronting a TV show, would be on at 2.00am on a subscriber-only channel with advisories about adult content. A pounding, sped-up beat straight out of 1992, we're barely 30 seconds in before the groans and sighs begin and a sampled vocal (Karen Finlay?) is making aggressive advances, with a looped response sizing up their male member.
You'll either splutter tea all over the letters page of the Daily Mail, before taking up at the keyboard to type your own letter of digust. Or, like me, you'll love it.
Putting the sleaze in Cream Tease, Jezebell delight in having established an instantly recognisable style but never getting complacent.
Or sleeping, it seems. It's hardly been a quiet 2024 for Jesse and Darren, with the Weekend Machines EP, remixes aplenty for other artists and a standalone (and standout) contribution to the Shelter Me - In Crisis compilation for Paisley Dark Records in April. And that's not forgetting Jesse's extracurricular activity as 10:40 and Electric Blue Vision.
So, as an added treat, I've created an (almost) hour-long mix of 2024 highlights so far.
I've only included The Big Time from Cream Tease as that should be sufficient motivation to pre-order the full release. Likewise, I've left out Perfect Din from the Shelter Me - In Crisis as I (kind of) featured it in a previous post in May.
One final omission is Jezebell's remix of Bibbles by Andres y Xavi. I'd like to say it's because I featured it in a Dubhed selection back in March, but Jesse and Darren provided three great remixes.
I'd also like to say that including it would have pushed today's selection over the one hour mark and I was being strict with timings.
In truth, I got confused and I thought the remixes had been released in 2023, the same as Andres y Xavi's original versions. Sorry!
I think the 9 tracks here more than make up for it, though. The Big Time is a strong opener and from there you get two of Jesse's 10:40 remixes, the latter of himself with Emilia Harmony on vocals. All of the Weekend Machines EP, bar a remix of the title track, get an airing as do Jezebell's 808 remixes of two of their songs, released on 808 Day, 8th August 2024.
Hey You by Puerto Montt City Orchestra is a cover/reimagining of a 1988 song called Hay Fever by 14 Iced Bears. Puerto Montt City Orchestra aka Angus Murray and Tim Salter persuaded frontperson Robert Sekula to re-record his vocals and, put through the 10:40 rinse, the song becomes a euphoric, uptempo excursion to a beachfront club.
Pandit Pam Pam is Brazilian artist Eduardo Ramos. His track Pass A Wish gets two Paul Simon-inspired (in title only, perhaps) remixes from Jezebell. The 50 Ways remix is equally excellent, but the Leave Your Lover slotted in seamlessly with the mix, in sonic terms equal parts chug and hug.
I always enjoy having a crack at a Jezebell selection, but this one was an especial pleasure. Not just because everything seemed to click and naturally fall into place - this is about the closest this cack-handed amateur DJ will ever get to almost competent beat matching and cross-fades, I promise you - but because the music is just so very, very good.
I'll be listening to this - and the original tracks by Jesse, Darren and co. - a lot over the coming weeks. It may be thunder, lightning and torrential rain outside but whilst I'm listening to this, it's a glorious, endless summer.
1) The Big Time: Jezebell (2024)
2) Hey You (10:40 Remix): Puerto Montt City Orchestra ft. Robert Sekula (2024)
3) Trance Stance (10:40s Haight Steppin Remix): Electric Blue Vision (2024)
"How did I get here?" as David Byrne once said. I know what he means. It's been a pretty crappy year in many respects, but music - and blogging about music - has been my salve, my safe space, my springboard back into the, at times, sheer madness of the wider world.
"What, no mega-mix?" as Ernie Goggins commented yesterday. Well, I'd always planned a Dubhed selection to sum up 2023 and see in 2024. Thankfully, it's not a 24-hour marathon attempting to squeeze everything in. Instead, it's a much more ear-friendly party mix at a smidge over an hour, sampling 17 tracks (and one interview snippet) including one song which didn't even make yesterday's end of year list!
This may be the only place today where you will hear Balearic, post-punk, downtempo, travelogue, dub, house, alternative, r 'n' b, politics, jazz and psychedelia all cut and pasted together. As I said to Ernie, more manic- than mega-mix. I think it turned out surprisingly well.
I have no plans for Dubhed to slow down in 2024, so expect more of the usual make-it-up-as-I go-along nonsense on a daily basis, inspired as ever by the music that soundtracks my life and keeps me going through good and bad times.
On that note, a
massive thank you again to you all for your continued support this year,
it really means a lot. I hope that however you are spending New Year's
Eve, it's a good one and that 2024 brings you much joy and happiness.
Happy New Year!
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
Bliadhna Mhath ùr!
Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Dhuit!
Bonne Année!
Ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος!
Feliz Año Nuevo!
Щасливого Нового року!
1) Ride A Cloud (Xavi's Campfire Mix - Khayem's Nice 'n' Splicey Edit): The Woodentops ft. Kyoko Sato *
2) Master Of Time: Jah Wobble
3) That Time Of Night (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown Dub): GLOK ft. Shiarra
4) Lack Of Sleep (Pye Corner Audio Remix): Maps
5) Cleanse Your Guilt Here: Algiers
6) Somehow It Feels Important (Auren Remix): Hairdressa
7) Tender Years: Robert Forster
8) I Laugh Myself To Sleep: David Holmes ft. Raven Violet
9) "do you wanna know what's changed about the music industry?": David Holmes **
10) Many Hands (Retroforward Dubbin' Hands Remix): D:Ream
11) Brigada (Single Version): Bárbara Boeing ft. Phil Mill
12) Baba Louie: Jaimie Branch ft. Akenya Seymour & Kuma Dog
13) Go On Dub (Adrian Sherwood 'Reset In Dub’ Version): Panda Bear & Sonic Boom
* This is possibly the laziest edit I've ever done. I've simply laid a copy of the mix on the other, with a 20-second delay and (roughly) beat matched. I like the repetition of Kyoko Sato's voice, so this version stayed in.
It would be understating things slightly to say that Jesse's creative fires have been burning brightly and strongly in 2023. February saw the third full-length 10:40 album Transition Theory. In April it was Jezebell's turn, Jesse and Darren Black unleashing the brace of Trading Places EPs, swiftly followed in July by the widescreen epic Jezeblue and then August's 20-track magnum opus Jezebellearic Beats Volume 1. Remixes for Högt I Tak & Jamie Tolley, Perry Granville, Pim Secle & Orchid and Warriors Of The Dystotheque have plugged the gaps and a just over a month ago, Jesse launched a new project, Powder Wax, collaborating with S.A.A.R.A on the single Little Black Dress.
Other Skies is the second single from Jesse and Emilia, following 2021's inaugural release Electric Blue Visions. This time, the original is accompanied by a trio of remixes from Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Uptown (Sean Johnston and Duncan Gray), Tambores En Benirras (Graham Newby aka DJ Gripper) and Balearic Ultras (Mike Bradbury and Duncan Paterson).
The original version of Other Skies contains all of the elements that made Electric Blue Visions and At The Turning Of The Tide (from Transition Theory) so enjoyable, not least Emilia's breathy vocals which border on sprechsang and carry you over the gently undulating synth washes. Dr. Rob, of the excellent Ban Ban Ton Ton music site, provides a spot-on promo copy for the release and conflating two of his reference points, Other Skies is like the lovechild of Century by Instastella (especially the Adamski remix) and One Dove's White Love. It's that good.
Needless to say, the remixes are all superb. Balearic Ultras really play up the aspects of the above comparison, whilst Messrs. Johnston and Gray draw in elements of Augustus Pablo and inevitable reminisces of Star by Primal Scream. The EP was previewed with the Tambores En Benirras remix and it's a monster, built around the vocal refrain "Up down, spin around, bring it back together" and chugging along irresistibly for an all-too-short five minutes. All very different from the source version but, as a package, Other Skies is an absolute bargain at £4.00 for the lot. You can buy it now from Higher Love Recordings via Bandcamp.
It's been 18 months since I posted my first selection of Jesse's music and given the sheer volume of music that's been released since then, a return visit is well overdue.
I previously struggled to whittle the selection down, ending up with 16 tracks over an hour and half. I was determined to be more ruthless this time and provide a shorter yet still representative sample of music spanning Jesse's solo and collaborative work. The selection below is 17 tracks and just shy of an hour and three quarters, which pretty much tells you how well that went for me.
I've topped and tailed the mix with the two Electric Blue Vision releases and the segued and sequenced tracks in between feature Jesse and friends from the early releases in 2020, my slightly belated jumping on point in 2021, the birth of Jezebell and a handful of tracks from this year. As before, you can hear and feel the forward momentum and evolution of the music but also the connections. I think the opening four songs sit well together and illustrate as well as any how consistent - how consistently good - the music has been from the start without ever settling for repetition, tropes and safe options.
If this is your introduction to Jesse Fahnestock, Emilia Harmony, Darren Bell and friends then fasten your seatbelt, you've one hell of a flight ahead.
1) Other Skies (Original Version: Electric Blue Vision (2023)
2) The Knack (Jezebell's Feeling Moody Mix): 10:40 (2022)
3) Bone Cutter (Album Version): 10:40 (2021)
4) See Me Through (Sirens And Soldiers Dub): 10:40 (2020)
5) At The Turning Of The Tide: 10:40 ft. Emilia Harmony & Matt Gunn (2023)
6) Too Shy (Jezebell's 'Hush Hush' Edit): Kajagoogoo (2023)
7) Drugskill (Album Version): 10:40 (2020)
8) The First Step: 10:40 (2022)
9) Trading Places (5AM): Jezebell (2023)
10) Figure It Out (10:40's QED Edit): Royal Blood (2022)
11) Deliverance (10:40's Walk Off Dub): S.A.A.R.A (2022)
12) Picking Flowers: 10:40 (2023)
13) Loft Music (Jezebell's DC Metro Mix): Ian Vale (2022)
14) Dumbell (Original Version): Jezebell (2022)
15) Submissive Background (Jezebell Remix): Pete Bones & The Stones Of Convention (2022)
16) Coat Check: 10:40 (2022)
17) Electric Blue Visions (Original Version): Electric Blue Vision (2021)
At 8.00am GMT, it's Bandcamp Friday again for 24 hours so here's another mad dash through a half dozen singles and EPs I'd recommend for your shopping trolley.
It's been a heck of a year for Tor Maries. January saw the release of brilliant album Cacti; June a despicable display of trolling after a (frankly fantastic) performance at Glastonbury. After a period of retreat and renewal, retiring the Billy Nomates name and in August, sharing the first fruits of her "scratchy demos & stuff" as Tor.
emily, i'll do it tonight is the seventh weekly release from Tor since and it sounds every bit as wonderful as those that have preceded it. 'Demo' is a misnomer, these are fully formed songs and stories. Available as a name your price download, all highly recommended.
There will be some who imagine a parallel universe where Midlake and John Grant continued to work together after Queen of Denmark, John never moved to Iceland and took a musical left-turn into electronica and the friends continued deliver songs steeped in 1970s soft-rock.
In our plane of existence, it's been a thirteen year wait but a new AA-side from Midlake and John Grant is out today on Bella Union, which released that seminal collaboration. For a couple of quid, you get three tracks: Roadrunner Blues, plus two versions of You Don't Get To; the latter comes in a 3:30 edit and a full-length version clocking in at nearly eight minutes. I've particularly loved John Grant's subsequent musical direction, but listening to these songs is like slipping on a pair of well-worn and well-loved shoes.
Not that they are mere pastiche or rehashes: the opening line of "Does it seem like you're surrounded by douche bags and assholes on all sides?" is reassuring grit in the honey pot.
These songs were recorded a few years ago whilst Midlake was on hiatus for a collaborative project called BNQT. That now appears to be shelved and the various songs recorded with various artists will emerge as a series of 'Midlake &...' releases. John's also indicated his desire to work with Midlake again, so it's a win-win for me.
Château Flight are French duo Gilbert Cohen and Nicolas Chaix and I first heard them in the early 2000s. I don't always go for brand new music each Bandcamp Friday and like a rummage around in the archives for stuff I may have missed first time. In September, I checked out Château Flight after one of their remixes popped up in a random shuffle. I came away with Les Antipodes Versions Speciales, an EP from 2004. Their most recent release dated from 2018 and, prior to that, 2014 so my assumption was that Château Flight were possibly dormant or even no more. I signed up to mailing list anyway, as I do for all of my Bandcamp purchases.
A pleasant surprise then to receive an email last week with the cryptic message,
It's been a while since we haven't communicate.. Get ready..some hot news very soon.. We are back at y'a.
Last Friday, this materialised as a new song/single, Nookoqo. A quick t'internet search reveals that Nookoqo translates from Somali as 'change' or 'change it'. A six-minute banger, reminiscent of late 1990s Slam and Secret Knowledge which is a very good thing indeed. An album, La Folie Studio, is on the way and I will be waiting with interest.
Cee ElAssaad is from Morocco and, like Diamond Dealer from yesterday's post, an artist I discovered thanks to Connected, the record label established by Stereo MC's. In February, Cee released the Njalo EP which has been on repeated plays since, whether the vocal, dub or instrumental mixes, and is itself a highly recommended purchase.
In August, Cee released a collaborative single with US artist Lee Wilson. The original 6-minute version of Music Is The Cure contains familiar elements from Njalo, with additional jazz inflections and the Wilson's own East Coast vibe. On the (virtual) flip side is an RnB mix, under three minutes and completely laid back. Niiiiiice.
By the time Bandcamp Friday goes live, Powder Wax Vol. 1: Little Black Dress, a perfectly tailored new EP from Jesse Fahnestock will be on the catwalk. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of the three-track single with these words from Jesse,
Got something new for you from my 10:40 alias (sort of). Going to start doing an occasional series of vocal house-ish tracks under the heading Powder Wax. This is the first attempt. The A-side is a pop/disco number - a bit out on a limb really, not sure how it will be received. The other two tracks are cosmic/dub versions that are more in my usual area. Anyway, maybe you'll find something to like.
There's no maybe about it. I can't be completely objective about this, as I've enjoyed everything that Jesse has produced in the last few years, but this delivers on several levels. If you've enjoyed Jesse's work as 10:40 and/or with Darren Bell as Jezebell then you will find much to enjoy here. If you're new, then this also serves as a great introduction/statement of intent.
There are three mixes available, the Original Fit, 10:40's Heavy Eyeliner Edit and the Undressing Dub. If forced to make a soundbite comparison, and partly because I've been listening to so much 1980s extended and dub mixes recently, I got a feel for Touched By The Hand Of God by New Order, with the 10:40 edit - intro especially - evoking Dancing On The Ceiling by Lionel Richie. I've seen the phrase 'future nostalgia' bandied around a lot but this seems a good application: music is forwarding thinking yet taps into a feeling of what has gone before.
All feature the vocal talents of London-based S.A.A.R.A aka Sara Belle, whose song Deliverance received the 10:40 dub treatment late last year. As usual, it's impossible for me to pick a favourite of the three mixes and why should I, when I can enjoy them all, all of the time? More please, Jesse.
Oh, and whilst the focus is on singles, a reminder that an early 2023 highlight was 10:40's Transition Theory album, released on Valentine's Day and available as a name your price download. You'd be bonkers not to.
Amadou & Mariam returned with Eclipse, their first album in three years, in December 2022 and they're back (again!) with a new song, My Sahel. Much as you'd expect, it's four and a half minutes of aural joy, with a killer bass line to boot. Now in their fifth decade of marriage and musical partnership, Amadou & Mariam continue to inspire and delight.
My Sahel also gives me an opportunity to once again plug the Sahel Sounds label, which celebrates each Bandcamp Friday by making their entire catalogue available as a name your price download. Lots of wonderful albums and compilations to choose from but sticking with the theme of this post, I'd also recommend the song/single Debbo by Andal Sukabe.
