So Omar Souleyman is basically the greatest. The rightly-legendary Syrian has been making waves here over the course of the last few years, thanks mainly to the phenomenal Sublime Frequencies label (who have been a reliable blight to my income for quite a while now). Well, Souleyman is poised become even bigger now: he’s remixed [...]

Though I take issue with the “unexpectedly awesome” tag in this feature, kudos to Flavorwire for this quick primer on some of the more fascinating corners of international music. A whole bunch of people still have a bad taste in their mouth from the “World Music” branding craze of the late ’90s that more or [...]

By Richard Gehr Tabu Ley Rochereau is more than just one of the greatest singers and composers in African popular music. He’s also the master politician of the Congolese dance-band nation, which has splintered, fractured, revolted, imploded and rebuilt itself more or less continuously over the course of three generations while producing some of the [...]

Man, myth, badass — Fela Kuti was all of them and more. Even people who love him can’t deny some of his views were a bit, er, unconventional, but the power of the man’s music and the force and passion with which he stood up to a corrupt government — in the face of repeated [...]

We’re still patiently waiting on new arrivals from the mighty Honest Jon’s label (Surely there must be some kind of deal we can strike, Damon, to prioritize the arrival of the London is the Place For Me series?) but I wanted to take a few moments to call out an exceptional new HJ comp that’s [...]

In a few weeks, eMusic will herald the arrival of a very special record — A Society in Which No Tear is Shed is Inconceivably Medicore by Yonlu. A collection of spare, brittle, lo-fi folk songs, Society is what Caetano Veloso might sound like if he collaborated with Lou Barlow. Most of the songs sound [...]

Good News From Africa is a 1973 album from the South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim that I heard for the first time last week at the suggestion of Rob, head of label relations here and in-house classical and jazz nerd/savant. It was also prominent featured in Britt Robson’s User Guide to Abdullah Ibrahim. For [...]

Later today, the eMusic homepage will begin previewing our guide to African music, but the list is so freaking great I wanted to give everyone a sneak peak here first. You can check out the hub here. Basically, what you are getting there are tons and tons and tons of amazing records touching on a [...]

To follow on from Yancey’s last post, here are a few albums that have washed up on European shores.

I first saw Bishi perform one very hot night in the summer of 2006 at east London’s Bistroteque. The audience had started to blow out the candles on their tables – even the tiny amount of heat produced by a tea light was too much. The room was nearly dark when Bishi appeared, using her [...]

Hello!! So. My name is Jayson Greene, and I’m the “new Todd,” in eMusic office parlance. If you Google my name, (…..not like I’ve done that — ever) you will find that there is a lead singer of a “screamo” (scare quotes firmly in place) band called The Panthers with my name, even with my [...]

Hearing “What You Won’t Do For Love” on the overhead speakers in the deli across the street today absolutely made my morning. Then finding out that we have a significant chunk, if not all, of Bobby Caldwell’s entire discography made my week. And THEN finding these youtube clips pretty much made my whole month. I [...]

Hello Europe! Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Belgrade and the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest! Bonjour l’europe! Bonsoir Mesdames et Messieurs et bienvenue à Belgrade et la 53e Concours Eurovision de la chanson! Okay, I’l stop this now, cheesy presenter-ese is too much for me even in a text format, but Eurovision is on [...]

A few fantastic titles turned up on the site over the weekend, so I wanted to take a few minutes to point ‘em out. Before I do, though: your day will not be complete until you download tracks 17 & 18 from Life Goes in Circles. I re-discovered these two over the weekend. Holy cow, [...]

So you’re not into IDM, eh? That’s cool. We’ve still got some indie rock, African music, comedy and other goodies for you.

I discovered Bollywood musicals at a very young age. When her house was empty, my nextdoor neighbour Sharnveer and I would delve into her mum’s wardrobe, pulling out high heels that were too big for us and chunis, large scarves made of chiffon or silk: bright pinks and orange for her, deep greens and turquoise [...]

The music policy in the eMusic Europe office is usually dictated by whoever gets to the stereo first (and it’s right by my chair, so I have a natural advantage here) but when we can’t agree on anything we listen to FIP. FIP is a French radio station, based in Paris (the initials stand for [...]

When I first heard Lio’s ‘Housewife of the Year’ I thought about a future where robots would do all of our menial chores and decided this would be the listening of choice for your AI-enhanced Domestibot XR4. It’s a rushing piece of 1980s electro-pop, with truly deluded vocals from a cute, but unreliable narrator. And [...]

Yes, I am bitterly disappointed with Carla Bruni. Not musically, not with her music in the slightest. More with her choice in men. Last Saturday she became France’s first lady. She’s gone and married the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Oh dear.

Okay, Daniel, you win. Above is a 10-minute video (incredibly well edited, btw) of Tinariwen performing live at Other Music here in NYC. It is, to put it mildly, pretty damned good. Elsewhere, I updated that best-selling albums of the year hub with the final tally, and the list expanded to 100 titles. A few [...]