Here's some sounds that might not have cropped up on your recommended listening this year...


Whitefield Brothers -  joyful exaltation…..
Midnight Groovers - O Ti Yo: Dominican Republic music makers with over 40 albums to their credit, these guys join the dots between African, Caribbean and South American sounds.
Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band - Egypt Strut: The first ever Egyptian Jazz band, this was recorded in Heliopolis Cairo and originally released in 1969.
Whitefield Brothers safari Strut: A different take on the strut from the psych-world mentalists the Whitefield Brothers.
Ljadu Sisters - Orere Elijigbo: Twin sisters and big stars in Nigeria in the 60's, these guys mixed the fashionable Afrobeat sounds with Jazz, Reggae and Waka, achieving some success in the US and Europe.
Ondatropica - Ska Fuentes: The super talented Will Holland (aka Quantic) continues with his new Colombian band reinterpreting the incredible music traditions of Colombia.
Unknown Cambodia jive song from the 50's: No clue as to the name of this song or the artist, but it comes from an weird scene of Cambodian Rock and Roll in the 60's before the Khmer Rouge brutally crushed it.
The Petch Phin Thong Band - Soul Lam Plearn: Thanks to Soundway for uncovering this bizarre album of 'Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & Molam in Thailand  1964-75'…whatever the fuck that is. 
Meridian Brothers - Guaracha U.F.O: Surreal, playful, and just odd, The Meridian Brothers hail from Bogota and bizarrely drag traditional instruments and sounds through a mad array of influences. Unclassifiable. 
Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang - Feba: Sierra Leone singer meets trendy Brooklyn band and makes a track that for once fairly balances both sides of the equation. 
Chico Mann -  El Paragua: Brooklyn based trendy sound master mixing afro, latin and electronic grooves. 
Donso - Djama: Paris based produced manages to make a decent house sounding tune out of some African meodies and rhythms.
Kyo Sakamoto - Sukiyaki: Just a beautiful love song from Japan!

ed foster