Rachid Taha

Some might find Diwan 2, the putative follow-up to Taha's wildly successful Diwan, to be a step back from his Dionysian musical excesses -- but they'd be wrong. Taha's traveling in a new climate, returning to his Algerian roots like the proverbial prodigal son. The journey starts with a song he discovered in his parents' attic, "Ecoute Moi Camarade," but the album just gets fiercer and more interesting from there, bringing each song to vivid life with a mixture of fury and tenderness. This is proof positive that you can -- and must -- go home again.