by Danny Wiser | May 2, 2022 | Reviews, Top Picks
One of the most iconic records of all time, the multi-talented Wonder manages to pack complex and poetic lyricism alongside intricate and catchy music… At the start of this project, the lyric “music is a world within itself with a language we all understand”...
by Joel Dwek | Apr 18, 2022 | Reviews, Top Picks
After two years of honouring musical delights from across the globe, we don’t have to search hard in our home nation to find a gem of our own… If one decided to try to pick objectively the best artist from any largely-populated nation, one would inevitably...
by Joel Dwek | Feb 28, 2022 | Reviews, Top Picks
This behemoth rap record masterfully combines a whole range of genres into hip-hop, while retaining a firm worldview Events, dear boy. That phrase is British prime minister Harold Macmillan’s most well-known saying, and maybe the most succinct way to describe what it...
by Danny Wiser | Feb 14, 2022 | Reviews, Top Picks
This hope-infused record by Mgzavrebi is not to be ignored as it uses styles of the past whilst maintaining a current and modern feel… On the border of Asia and Europe lies Georgia. A nation with a rich culture that comes from both continents, as well as their...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 17, 2022 | Reviews, Top Picks
The master of the oud demonstrates his skill not only in his musicianship but also through his production of the record… Around November 2020, having listened to numerous albums that featured the oud front and centre, it is fair to say that I was accustomed to...
by Danny Wiser | Nov 22, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
A whirlwind ride through many important themes, hip-hop collective Black Vulcanite create innovative rhythms whilst always speaking truth to power… The point of view that all people are created equal regardless of race and as such have the same natural capacity...
by Danny Wiser | Oct 25, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Iconic French singer Charles Aznavour has crafted a unique record with the capacity to provoke a sense of rather deep and beautiful self-reflection about dreams, desires, and direction… I have been dealt a hand of good fortune in life that I am wholly aware of....
by Joel Dwek | Oct 11, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Looking across the Atlantic for inspiration, the Swiss musician raputures and entrances her listeners with soft instrumentation and her beguiling voice… Though she may not sound it, Danit is from Switzerland. In fact, the album, which is sung mostly in Spanish...
by Danny Wiser | Sep 27, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Defiance is the order of the day, as technically gifted Lebanese outfit Mashrou’ Leila produce an album that is as enjoyable as it is powerful… In an age of so-called culture wars, feigning interest in a cause or giving off an air of over-appreciation...
by Joel Dwek | Sep 17, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Latin jazz with some infectious drumbeats, percussionist Cándido shows off his immense talent and flair for fusion music… When I first listened to the album Beautiful by Cuban percussionist Cándido, who passed away last year at the grand old age of 99, the...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 30, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Brown earns her crown as Zimbabwe’s “Queen of Pop” in this magnificent debut attempt… In my first forays into adulthood, I fell deeply in love. I was drawn in by her colour, her energy, the sense of liberty that she transmitted and the feeling...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 2, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Finding the right adjective to sum up an album is not always an easy task, but the word ‘revolutionary’ is obvious in the case of Charly García’s epic sophomore solo effort… Upon what may well have been my fiftieth listen of this behemoth of an...
by Joel Dwek | Jul 20, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
The beloved Sudanese icon gives a masterclass in musical expression with an album that combines soulful vocals and musical fusion… Known affectionately as the King of Sudanese Jazz, Sharhabil Ahmed’s profile in his homeland of Sudan has been high ever since the...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 4, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
A beautiful and powerful first incarnation of what can be labelled as Bholoja’s somewhat unique genre… Nowadays when people ask me what kind of music I like, I genuinely don’t have the capacity to answer with a pithy response listing the four genres that...
by Danny Wiser | Jun 7, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Marxist policy often suppresses creative freedom, Victor Démé’s distinguished self-titled album proves itself as the exception to this rule… Over the weekend Burkina Faso has entered into the global consciousness under rather tragic consequences, when the...
by Joel Dwek | May 24, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Mahsa Vahdat’s sensuous vocals and gentle jazz combine with Iranian traditional music in a beautiful confluence of sounds… Many, though not all, of the musicians we feature as ‘Album of the Week’ tend to be famous, either worldwide, in the...
by Danny Wiser | May 10, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Humorous, uplifting, and endearing – this palm wine record is the perfect accompaniment to a relaxing day in the sun The Beatles’ Abbey Road, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours arguably are three of the most iconic album covers of all...
by Danny Wiser | Apr 12, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Oryema tackles the difficult theme of being exiled from one’s homeland using the emotions from his personal hardship to guide him through this powerful masterpiece… When one ponders the term ‘exile’, it often evokes images of deposed leaders, such as...
by Danny Wiser | Mar 15, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Serenity, spirituality and sanctity feature as strands of this phenomenal collaboration between two musical devotees… When many in the West imagine a monastic Buddhist life they often get confused and instead picture the deprivation of asceticism. Under this...
by Joel Dwek | Mar 1, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Their first album after their main songwriter left the band, the remaining members of Indonesian outfit Sore seized the opportunity to reinvent their sound… When a band loses its lead songwriter, it can be disastrous, or it can lead to a rebirth. One only need...
by Joel Dwek | Feb 20, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
State-supported coladeira music that challenges themes of injustice and colonialism across the globe… Formed in 1969 in the small island nation of Cape Verde, Os Tubarões, meaning ‘The Sharks’, went on to become Cape Verde’s most popular singing group, in no...
by Joel Dwek | Feb 1, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Full of interesting musical ideas and consummate musicianship, Under Byen’s third album certainly succeeds in creating an intellectually and emotionally engaging masterpiece… The avant-garde stylings of Danish post rock group Under Byen (which translates...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 19, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Electro masters Justice bring darkness to disco in their superb debut album… Looking at the album cover of Justice’s debut album †, one would be forgiven in thinking it might be a metal album. Whilst on the surface that might seem far from the case when one...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 18, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
State-sponsored bands often are ‘middle-of-the-road’; however, this is far from the case for these experimental Turkmen extraordinaires… Home to the ‘Gates of Hell’ (the Darvaza gas crater which still burns nearly half a century later after a...
by Danny Wiser | Jan 11, 2021 | Reviews, Top Picks
Soul man Emmanuel Pi Djob shows off his talent as he crosses the divide of the Anglo-Francophone conflict in his native Cameroon… Many musicians from all around the world decide to sing in English. There are a variety of reasons for doing so, principal among...
by Joel Dwek | Dec 7, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The Chinese rockers prove their worth in this blisteringly brilliant debut album, demonstrating their lightness of touch as well as their ability to melt your face off with pure rock… There is an interesting debate to be had as to why do we respond in the way we...
by Danny Wiser | Nov 22, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Balla Et Ses Balladins’ bittersweet masterpiece celebrates liberation from colonialism… Whilst on the surface, this might seem a fun album with songs that were at the epicentre of Guinea’s “bar dancing music” scene, with simply not much more of a story to...
by Joel Dwek | Nov 9, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Gurrumul is a masterpiece of the highest order that evokes plenty of emotion and highlights the importance of preserving Aboriginal culture… About two weeks before I began writing the review for Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s debut solo album Gurrumul, I saw an...
by Danny Wiser | Nov 1, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The sextet embrace the musician’s law – “If it feels good, do it!” in this odyssey of funk… If one is, for example, to suffer a bereavement, it is unlikely that they would have the same capacity to immediately enjoy a delicious, sweet...
by Danny Wiser | Oct 26, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Emmanuel Jal’s repeated calls to action throughout the entire record cut through the incredibly fun and upbeat tunes… All across the world there exists a proud tradition of musicians being unafraid to bring their social and political activism into the lyrics of...
by Joel Dwek | Oct 12, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The work of Sinn Sisamouth reveals a fascinating lost world of Cambodian music, and the tragic circumstances that surrounded its downfall… When Danny gave me Reatrei Nov Hong Kong, Vol. 58, he became the first of the two of us to intentionally break the first...
by Danny Wiser | Sep 27, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
If Golden Earring were from the UK or the US they would have reached legendary status and this album would be seen as one of the great rock albums of all time – here is why… I have always been someone who chooses to avoid labelling myself as a rock fan....
by Joel Dwek | Sep 14, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Beautiful singing from Sammy Davis Jr and gorgeous acoustic guitar playing from Laurindo Almeida – what more do you need…? What do we mean when we pick an album as ‘album of the week’ on this site? It usually means that the album in question...
by Danny Wiser | Sep 7, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Is Bangui Africa’s very own Detroit? Laetitia Zonzambé puts forward a convincing case… The last time I was tasked with writing an ‘album of the week’ for NoiseNomad, I discussed how Leonard Cohen opened my eyes up to the world of lyrically-driven music in...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 17, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
There is no blurb that could do justice to this album. Listen to it ASAP… At NoiseNomad we typically review albums that are melodically driven pieces. Often, this is because many of the albums we write about are not in our mother tongue of English, but also it...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 13, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The King of Raï Khaled earns his title as he blends the genre with a number of others to make an album full of wonderful dance tracks, bringing traditional Algerian sounds firmly into the 21st century… Foreign-language songs that become chart-toppers in the West...
by Joel Dwek | Aug 10, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
In his first Western album, the King of Qawwali Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan shows off his immense vocal talent in an album that straddles the line between tradition and innovation… Qawwali is a particular style of Sufi Islamic devotional singing that achieved a...
by Danny Wiser | Aug 3, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
An album full of hits that celebrates the freedom of the post-dictatorship era… When I first listened to Nacha Pop’s El Momento, I thought it was middle-of-the-road cheesy 80s pop rock. To some extent I was right. However, amid our discussions of albums that...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 29, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
This album poetically tells the story of the Sahrawi people, as well as the tale of the refugee experience through powerful vocals and a myriad of musical styles… It is always a treat to hear music that contains within it a blending of different styles and...
by Joel Dwek | Jul 27, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Exciting and fresh, Sultana reinvigorates alternative rock by infusing it with a wide range of styles and genres… At the age of 13 I started to learn the guitar. I had just got into rock music and I was determined to become the next Brian May or Jimmy Page. I...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 19, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The King of mbalax proves why he is arguably Africa’s greatest living musical export… For those who want to explore African music, Youssou N’Dour’s unique sound should be as much as a staple of one’s introduction to music from Africa as Ali Farka Touré or Fela...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 16, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The punky polyglot produces musical poetry; simultaneously playful and political… Rachid Taha’s final album, Je Suis Africain, was released a year after his tragic passing. Yet, even after his death his message remains pertinent, and his boisterous, cheeky...
by Joel Dwek | Jul 13, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Joyous and melancholy, hopeful and cautious, Vusi Mahlasela’s masterful lyrical and musical ability make for an especially wonderful album… Music has an uncanny ability to evoke an emotion, and the emotion I associate with Vusi Mahlasela’s excellent 1992...
by Joel Dwek | Jul 11, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
A towering figure of music, politics and culture, Fela Kuti shows both a political and a philosophical side on this interesting and innovative album… Where to start with Fela Kuti? He is one of those names in music where the person is as fascinating as the...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 8, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Lamomali, a Malian-French collaboration, shows that traditional music can be incorporated into modern pop in a manner that breathes new life into the genre of world music… I have started to come around to the notion that the term ‘world music’ is, for the most...
by Danny Wiser | Jul 6, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Sigur Rós have crafted an artistic masterpiece that at moments transcends reality with its truly unique sound… Labelling something as ‘art’ does not bother me, so long as the subject in question demonstrates an element of creative expression and imagination by...
by Joel Dwek | Jun 29, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Despite being an album in two parts with distinct styles, Parov Stelar’s The Princess is an exceptionally consistent, coherent and entertaining album with a lot to offer… We’re cheating a bit here – this is two albums for the price of one (review). That may be,...
by Joel Dwek | Jun 4, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
Ramy Essam’s powerful guitar playing and impassioned vocals make for a hugely enjoyable album… Rock is probably my favourite genre of music, nothing quite gets to me quite like it, and this is an excellent album that really rocks. What’s more, Ramy Essam...
by Danny Wiser | Jun 4, 2020 | Reviews, Top Picks
The Panamanian icon’s fresh take on salsa music is as refreshing as it is evocative in making us consider the realities of the so-called American Dream President Trump’s victorious 2016 election campaign brought to the surface a swathe of underlying anti-Latino...
