Les Égarés cover
Released

The more time progresses, and the more the Information age exposes us to music from all eras and areas, the harder it is for genre fusions to surprise. Which makes this collaborative album all the more impressive. It contains a lot of things: ECM-style European jazz, minimalist composition, various Mediterranean and Central European folk sounds, the delicate Malian kora playing of Ballaké Sissoko. But these flow together as if in a dream, and in doing so are constantly remade afresh. It’s reminiscent of the way the Penguin Café Orchestra cut folk, jazz and classical influences completely loose from their origins in the pursuit of world building — and there are few higher compliments than that.

Joe Muggs

Suggestions
Modern Jacobite cover

Modern Jacobite

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Tommy Smith
Sooner and Later cover

Sooner and Later

Julia Hülsmann Trio
Owl Song cover

Owl Song

Ambrose Akinmusire, Bill Frisell, Herlin Riley
Faya cover

Faya

Sekou Kouyate, Joe Driscoll
Desertico cover

Desertico

Paolo Fresu Devil Quartet
Swallow Tales cover

Swallow Tales

Bill Stewart, Steve Swallow, John Scofield
Streams cover

Streams

Jakob Bro, Joey Baron, Thomas Morgan
Alba cover

Alba

Florian Weber, Markus Stockhausen