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Playlists, albums, articles & videos from our Rhapsody music experts.

Source Material: tUnE-yArDs, 'W H O K I L L'

by Rachel Devitt

The much-lauded second album by tUnE-yArDs (aka Oakland-based indie-rocker Merrill Garbus) has been, well, much-lauded for many reasons, not least of which is the finely tuned and widely varied sonic palette into which she dips. The creatively styled W H O K I L L has been heralded for digging into hip-hop, funk, R&B, free jazz, soul and much more as our own Stephanie Benson put it, treating each style like "a treasure she eagerly excavated from a junkyard." But as the brilliant Sarah Bardeen, our former world music editor, pointed out, what often gets left out of the discussion of Garbus' crate-digging, style-raiding, experimentally hodgepodge approach is the global scope of that pastiche, which dabbles in European, Asian and a whole lot of African sounds. Garbus herself appears to be an avid world music fan, name-checking influences that range from Kenyan to Bulgarian. So we went ahead and took a stab at excavating the more global sources mined on W H O K I L L. Dig in!

Dengue Fever Presents: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong

Various Artists

Filmed on the fly and gorgeously shot, Sleepwalking the film captures an extraordinary moment, as Dengue Fever returns to Cambodia to pay homage to '60s music that had been cut off, mid-blossom, by the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. In the process they delve into the country's history, find themselves wowed by Cambodia's traditional musicians (a dying breed), and amuse -- and bemuse -- their hosts to no end. It's a moving film, and the soundtrack is no less moving, compiling live performances with some of the band's best songs and their vintage inspirations on one disc. Essential.

Ali & Toumani

Toumani Diabaté

As a final testament to Ali Farka Toure's genius, Ali & Toumani is matchless: The man with the giant guitar voice allowed himself to whisper here, while still tethering Diabate's celestial kora to the earth with blunt and eloquent guitar lines. The songs span the gamut from Mande classics to the folk songs Toure gathered during his long years as an informal cultural archivist, and he and Diabate even play the first song that inspired him to play guitar ("Sina Mory"). On their first collaboration, the men had a surprising rapport; on their final effort together, they'd become telepathic.

Poetry and Languid Charm - Swahili Music From Tanzania and Kenya

Various Artists

Giants Of East Africa

Orchestra Super Mazambe

Mbuti Pygmies Of The Ituri Rainforest

Various Artists

Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares

Bulgarian women's choirs feature sharply focused singing: The women throw their voices out in a kind of keening caterwaul, set to eastern time signatures that could make a rock fan's head explode. This is stark stuff, beautiful and haunted, and part of its appeal stems from the earthy, deep-drone singing that frequently anchors the singers when they approach those piercing upper registers.

Ethiopiques Vol 7 (mahmoud Ahmed)

Mahmoud Ahmed

Gently Weeps

Jake Shimabukuro

He may have built his reputation on effects pedals and monster riffs, but this Hawaiian wunderkind (and ukulele master) opts for delicious acoustic treatment on his award-winning 2006 release. Shimabukuro opens with George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (a nod to the internet video that inspired the album) and goes on to work magic with some battle-scarred warhorses. But Shimabukuro proves his prowess when he makes, of all things, "The Star Spangled Banner" sound fresh and beautiful. We knew this guy was a genius.

"Tchamantche" means (roughly) "balance" in Bambara, and this delicate Malian songbird spends much of the album suspended -- between the musical traditions of Europe and Africa, between sound and the call of silence, between the delicacy of her voice and the earth rhythms of her home country. Just when the tension begins to feel too sculpted (Kate Bush comes to mind), she breaks the spell with the welcome rush of "Tounka." The magic returns, with a twist: If you're wondering just how Traore's impeccable phrasing sounds in English, she gives a miraculous reading of "The Man I Love."

Book Of Job

Richie Spice

Most modern Jamaican music has grown to resemble American pop more than the island's rich musical legacy, but Richie Spice always stays true to his roots. With his sixth studio release, Book Of Job, Spice gives us a healthy dose of reality, love, faith and inspiration over classic Reggae one drops. Like many Reggae artists, Spice includes tracks previously released on riddim selections, such as "Find Jah," "Serious Women" and "Soothing Sound," but he also offers up new tunes "Mother of Creation," "Yap Yap" and highlight "Confirmation," complete with a live horn section and great background vocals. This is sure to be in heavy rotation as the weather warms up so big thanks to Spice for ending the drought of Roots Reggae.

Blue Eyed Black Boy

Balkan Beat Box

Their last album was raucous but half-finished, perhaps more style than substance. BBB get back in the saddle on Blue Eyed Black Boy. When they're on -- and they are here, starting around "Balkumbia" -- the band is ferocious, laying bare the hip in the square. Balkan folk in its purest form is completely radical, and "Smatron" and "Lijepa Mare" prove it. So picking up chicha, aka psychedelic Andean cumbia, feels sensible, a foregone conclusion; same with Moroccan gnawa on "Buhala." The band's magic springs to life when they're taking up folk and showing its freakiest truths.

Arkology

Lee "Scratch" Perry