Innov Gnawa’s new seven-minute single “El Ghaba” emphasizes the group’s North African roots. Hailing from Morocco, now based in NYC, the band (Ma’alem Hassan Ben Jaafer, Amino Belyamani and Ahmed Jeriouda) focuses on a genre known as Gnawa (sometimes called “Sufi Blues”), qraqeb-based music with vocal “prayers invoking saints and spirits for freedom and liberation.” Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth produced the group’s forthcoming album, Lila, …
Menahan Street Band’s first album in nine years, The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band, arrived last week via Daptone Records. The powerful, downtempo “Devil’s Respite” contrasts other upbeat tracks on the album. A mix of slow-burning city jazz and an expanding drum beat, the track presents several feats of analog instrumentation, including a memorable, horn-led chorus and a meditative outro with tinkling keys that …
New York-based band Steady Sun’s sonically rich, retro-tinged single, “Truth is a Needle,” provides plenty of psychedelic elements and the Slack Barrett-directed video was designed to match. Floating from your sound system “like lysergic vapor” (record label Daptone Records writes), the song enthralls listeners with its many layers. Simultaneously something to delve into or zone out to, “Truth is a Needle” warrants repeat plays.
