Bleep

For his fourth LP, Malian musician Sidi Toure has switched to the electro-acoustic and electric guitars as his preferred lead instruments. The player’s nimble-fingered style, when wed with his sonorous voice and a band that features some serious Sahel chops, has produced a record full of life. Recorded at Bamako’s Studio Bogolan - former stomping-ground of Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Bjork and more - Toubaldero is a dynamic and joyous listen that defies Mali’s troubled political situation. Tracks like ‘BK’ and ‘Heyyeya’ are perpetual-motion machines driven by those polyrhythms unique to Mali, while Toure’s cracking electric solos bring to mind an amped-up thumb piano.