Staff Benda Bilili: Trés Trés Fort (Crammed Discs)
Channeling the voices of the disenfranchised into playful rumba melodies, this tenacious band of paraplegic Congolese musicians captures beautiful music and colorful vocals on its debut album, Trés Trés Fort.
Primarily a group of men in their 50s, Staff Benda Bilili also features the virtuosity of Roger Landu, a street kid with a "perfect ear" whose handmade satongé, a lute-like instrument, spouts out emotive high-pitched vibrations.
Throughout the album, mid-tempo guitar and lute strings amplify to energetic rumba rhythms, as folksy anecdotes unfold in Lingala and French. The album holds tranquil tracks like "Sala Keba," frantic, mambo-esque numbers like "Moziki," and rapid percolators like "Avramandole." The group's story is inspirational, but its musical ability makes the story compelling.
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound: When Sweet Sleep Returned (Tee Pee)
Amidst the strong psychedelic-rock scene in the Bay Area, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound creates a unique brand that simultaneously nods to the heavy fuzz of Blue Cheer and the jangly, summery pop of The Byrds while maintaining a spacious and exploratory groove all its own.
The band's new album, When Sweet Sleep Returned, marks a shift away from the band's improv-heavy, '60s-influenced first record, Ekranoplan. On this album, the band has taken its sound into bolder and more spacious territory while retaining some of its fuzzier aspects.
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound: "Two Birds Sang"
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Bronnt Industries Kapital: Hard for Justice (Get Physical)
Layering sublime, harmonized synthesizers and organic instrumentation over straightforward dance beats, Hard for Justice is the lissome new album from English IDM producer/multi-instrumentalist Guy Bartell.
Contrasting some of his earlier work that centered on beat arrangements, moods, and effects, Hard for Justice is driven by melody and musical prowess. It won't blow away tech heads, but it's a hypnotizing effort that doesn't get stale from track to track.
Bronnt Industries Kapital: "Streets of Fury"
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Balkan Beat Box: Nu Made (Remixes) (JDub)
Led by Ori Kaplan (ex-Gogol Bordello) and Tamir Muskat (Firewater), this Brooklyn outfit fuses Gypsy, Mediterranean, Jewish, and Arabic music with pulsing dance beats and other new-school sounds, not dissimilar in theme to Caribbean dancehall.
Nu Made lets others remix Balkan Beat Box's remix style, allowing for new takes on the group's mash-up of old instruments and structures with new technology and attitude. Despite this album's misleading name (BBB's last album was titled Nu Med), the source material on Nu Made spans the band's catalog.
Balkan Beat Box: "Adir Adirim (Nickodemus Remix)"
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Warsaw Village Band: Infinity (Barbes)
With a seemingly self-summarizing band name, Warsaw Village Band sounds much like one would expect. But on top of a healthy dose of Polish folk and droning vocal harmonies, the sextet adds elements of Klezmer music, polyrhythm, and even turntablism. Infinity will mostly appeal to fans of traditional music, but it could win over new fans with a bit of crossover.
