Edikanfo - The Pace Setters (Glitterbeat Records)

The German Out Here Records label just took us to Ghana for 'Alewa', the excellent debut effort of neo-highlife ensemble Santrofi, and Glitterbeat Records is now also looking towards the West-African nation with this re-release of 'The Pace Setters', a 1981 gem of an album by formation Edikanfo.

Lightning Orchestra - Source And Deliver (Acid Jazz Records)

Lightning Orchestra is a twelve-piece ensemble from Atlanta, Georgia, based around multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Travis Murphy, describing the band as "psychedelic booty shakers".

Various Artists - Black Ark In Dub (17 North Parade/VP Records)

With this package consisting of 'Black Ark In Dub' and 'Black Ark Vol. 2', 17 North Parade and VP Records present re-releases of two cult classics from the rich catalogue of the enfant terrible of reggae, Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

dub_cmd & Sister Maki - Way To Zion I EP (Dub-O-Phonic)

About a year after the release of 'Moonsteppa', his debut EP for Dub-O-Phonic, and 'Deeper Understanding', a collaboration with SistaSara that same year, UK-based producer Gabriel Ufir aka dub_cmd returns to the Cypriot label for 'Way To Zion I', the first part of what should eventually become a diptych.

DBC3 & Dandy Dizzle - Dub Barn Lockdown EP (Dub Barn Records)

With the DBC3 project, Dub Barn Collective from York in the north of England, heralds a new chapter.

Junglelyd - Junglelyd (Sounds Of Subterrania)

With various releases from artists and bands like La Yegros, Sonido Gallo Negro, Bareto and Cumbia All Stars, we've already proven that in Latin America cumbia is alive and kicking again, and Junglelyd, a formation around Danish DJ Kenneth Rasmussen, who's now creating his own version of the genre.

Zion Train - Illuminate (Universal Egg)

Disregarding 2016's 'Versions', an album full of remixes of Zion Train songs by a bunch of befriended producers, it's been five years since Zion Train chief Neil Perch rejoiced his fans with a new long-player.

islandman - Kaybola (Music For Dreams)

islandman is not the pseudonym of a single artist, but the name of a Turkish trio from Istanbul led by multi-instrumentalist and producer Tolga Böyük.

Rapha Pico & The Noble Chanters - Continuous The Glory EP (Self-published)

In 2014 Rapha Pico convincingly won the BeneluxXXL Reggae Contest, in 2016 followed by the release of the well-received 5-track 'Get Ready' EP. A title filled with anticipation, yet after that release things around the Amsterdam based Martinikan quieted down again.

Augustus Pablo - Ancient Harmonies (Greensleeves)

Just 35 years after the release of 1986's 'Rising Sun', and twenty years after the premature departure of the Jamaican king of melodica, Greensleeves Records presents 'Ancient Harmonies', a compilation of four consecutive albums recorded between 1986 and 1990.

LNP Roots Family - Raggacoustic (Meltin' Recordz)

If you think of French acoustic reggae, it's hard not to think of Tryo, and it's that band that LNP Roots Family mentions as their main source of inspiration. By the way the "family" part in the band name is to be taken literally, as this is a trio consisting of brothers and sister David 'Dnom', Mat 'O'lyrics', and Leytis Giordano, and the letters LNP stand for Love aNd Peace.

Santrofi - Alewa (Out Here Records)

Santrofi is a new eight-piece Ghanaian highlife collective founded by Kwashibu Area Band bassist Emmanuel Ofori, who with this project wants to revive the traditional Ghanaian highlife tradition in all its forms - from the fast dance-guitar highlife of the nineteen seventies over highlife funk to the polyrhythmic beats that would eventually provide the inspiration for what later became afrobeat.

Fra Fra - Funeral Songs (Glitterbeat Records)

For the next part in their Hidden Musics series, producer Ian Brennan travelled to the far north of Ghana, the traditional habitat of the Gurunsi of Fare Fare, one of the many ethnic groups in the country, to record their funeral songs.

Damily - Early Years: Madagascar Cassette Archives (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

After already having released 2018's 'Valimbilo', the most recent album by Malagasy tsapiky guitarist Damily, this time Swiss label Les Disques Bongo Joe decided to dig into the man's musical past. The result is 'Early Years: Madagascar Cassette Archives', counting 6 songs, as the title suggests, remastered from old cassette tapes containing albums Damily recorded between 1995 and 2002.

Chezidek And The Ligerians - Timeless (SoulNurse Records/Baco Records)

After previous collaborations with, among others, Rod Anton, Nai-Jah and Joe Pilgrim, The Ligerians now joined forces with Chezidek for 'Timeless'.

Ed Rome - Feel No Pain EP (Kingston Express)

The 5 track 'Feel No Pain' EP is our first introduction to the work of Ed Rome, a Jack of all trades operating from his own Slam Door Studios in Billericay in the English county of Essex.

Shamanika & Pablo Raster - Kundalini Awaken (Self-published)

For 'Kundalini Awaken', Polish singer-songwriter and front woman of the formation Zebra Dub, Shamanika, joined forces with the Polish based Italian producer Pablo Raster.

Spirit Revolution meets Sugardaddy - The Message (Self-published)

After backing a number of different artists in the past, Spirit Revolution, a band from the region of Colmar in northeastern France, released their debut album with 2011's 'Time Has Come', which was immediately named "révélation de l'année" by Reggae.fr, already making the band dream of a successor. In the meantime, original vocalists Fyah Max and Natty Singa quit the band, so for 'The Message', the now four-piece band finally joined forces with William Martin aka Sugardaddy, a veteran from Antigua.

Trad.Attack! - Make Your Move (Self-published)

'Make Your Move' is the third long-player by Latvian trio Sandra Vabarna, Jalmar Vabarna and Tŏnu Tubli, who as Trad.Attack! have been mixing Latvian folk with influences from rock, metal and EDM since 2013; a sound that occasionally reminded yours truly of Finnish band Värttinä.

Lolomis - Red Sonja (Buda Musique)

As the title suggests, for their new album, which they describe as: "...a modern and feminine dance bar full of sophisticated dreamers, naughty heroines, powerful shamans, dashing young women or seasoned seducers, who immerse us with their little everyday life stories full of great emotions in a world of love, life and death.", French quartet Lolomis drew inspiration from the persona of fictional heroine Red Sonja.