Lila Downs's finely tuned penchant for theatrics and her polyglot appreciation for Latin styles have always been both her greatest assets and her potential downfalls, her magnificent reach perpetually threatening to topple the whole experiment. But on this collection of classic ranchera covers and originals, she may have finally got it all balanced. You want telenovela-worthy drama? Check the sobbing hoots of "Tu Cárcel" or the circusy waltz of "Dios Nunca Muere." You want range? Ms. Downs offers pop, bachata, regional Mexican, folkloric, hip-hop, rock and even klezmer. It's all perfectly crafted and glued together with her warm, thick voice.
On paper, Beats Antique's musical concept has always felt a bit too big for its britches. Global electro-fusion cut with Eastern European and Middle Eastern aesthetics and tranced-out beats ready for belly dancers or club kids? Sounds unwieldy. And occasionally on Elektrafone it is, on tracks like "Siren Song," which feel a bit murky and weighed down with crisscrossing circuits. But for the most part, this California outfit pulls their concept off, drawing you in to cuts that wrap sultry fiddles and decadent brass around glistening global beats. The sensuous "The Porch" is especially fetching.
Concha Buika is the kind of artist that sprawling hits collections were built for. Already a fan of her sensual, scratchy vocals and dizzying (emotional, vocal, musical) range? Samples of just about everything you love are here, including tracks from her Chavela Vargas tribute with Chucho Valdes and her R&B stabs (the closest she comes to not quite perfect). Just getting to know the Spanish siren? Revel -- no, wallow in the graceful textures (flamenco, jazz, rumba, soul) and the way Buika's voice soars over and sears through them. This is gut-punchingly gorgeous music. You will fall in love.
Tinariwen's fifth album is both its boldest and its most pared down. The Touareg band is joined by unlikely guests, a move that could feel forced. Instead, Nels Cline's guitar adds the subtlest layer and TV on the Radio's doo-wop-through-the-looking-glass crooning folds into the mournful vocal texture. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's weary funereal horns feel almost organic on the meditative groove of "Ya Messingah." Alone, Tinariwen gets more intimate than ever, abandoning amplification and ululation for the solo vocals and the hushed acoustic instrumentation of Tamashek folk music.
Fela Kuti is the household name, but Nigeria wasn't the only African funk scene going in the 1960s. In Benin, El Rego et ses Commandos instigated their own funk movement, called "jerk," but their recordings were mostly lost to all but the most diligent crate-diggers -- until now. This comp repositions the band at a crossroads where global politics, American soul and African pop intermingled in a heady, heavy brew. You'll hear echoes of JB (grunts and all) but also plenty of African elements, like the Orisha-haunted bell pattern of "Vive Le Renouveau" and the close harmonies of "Kpon Fi La."
Nation Beat is a bit of a misnomer for a band that's all about tracing unusual connections across geopolitical boundaries. Or, to put it another way, what this Brazilian-American outfit does is create a nation of beats that encompasses Brazilian urban and country music, musics of the American southwest (like Western swing and country) and New Orleans jazz and brass bands. Sound like a crazy, chaotic party in your ears? It is, but it works. Cuts like "Hook and Sling" (a blues-rock breakdown with a zydeco heart and samba soul) and jazz gumbo "Sumiço Do Urucu" feel both groundbreaking and homey.
As one might expect from Vagabond Opera's name and album cover, Sing is crammed with vaudevillian whimsy, steampunk style and romantically reworked imagery of traveling circuses and gypsy bands. Klezmer clarinets and wheezing accordions waltz at three-penny operas, operatic warbling backs up lyrics about zeppelins and a would-be hirsute lady longs for a "Beard and Moustache." If Beirut and Kurt Weill were on the same family tree, Vagabond would be their overly dramatic cousin. It would be a lot of whimsy to swallow, actually, were these Vagabonds not so charming and careful in their craft.
Some have dubbed them the Afro-Colombian Fugees, but Oro proves that ChocQuibTown is much more interesting than that, stewing in humid rhythms and beguiling us with its casual use of funk, rock, hip-hop and salsa to get its point across. What is that point? It's something to do with breaking silence, breaking down barriers, asserting your place in the world -- and doing it with a smile rather than a dagger. For its first U.S. release, the group collects a sampling of joyfully promiscuous hits from its two previous albums, including the anthemic "Somos Pacificos."
Talk about 50 and fabulous. Amr Diab has been a huge pop star for decades now, and he's not showing any signs of slowing down. Banadeek Ta'ala is packed full of vibrant, vivacious tracks in a staggering array of pop styles. From shimmering, house-inflected dance-pop to hip-swaying Latin (the Ricky Martin-invoking "Yareet Senk"), from bits of Spanish guitar to the straight-up old-school disco of "Aghla Min Omry," Diab kills just about every one, claiming ownership of each with oud licks, mournful Middle Eastern melody lines and sexy, youthful vigor. Just think of him as the Egyptian Madonna.
