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Imarhan: Essam
New album: A mesmeric fourth LP in a decade by the band from Tamanrasset, Algeria, whose name means ‘the ones I care about’, their Tuareg music mixing guitar riffs, pop melodies and African rhythms, but this time also evolves slightly away from the desert blues rocky, bluesy influence of contemporaries Tinariwen with electronic elements
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Part Two favourite albums of 2025 collage
Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity
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First selection of 25 favourite albums in no particular order …
Welcome to the first part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There will also be a second and third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity
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Falle Nioke: Love From The Sea
New album: The Guinea-born, Margate-based singer and multi-instrumentalist brings a beautiful debut blend of West African sounds fused with electronica, stories and emotions, variously singing in French, English, Susu, Fulani, Malinke and Coniagui, with collaborators including Ghost Culture, Johan Hugo, Hiro Ama, Mike Lindsay (of Tunng and LUMP), and TaliaBle
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Guedra Guedra: MUTANT
New album: A fabulous fusion of the traditional with the modern, a brilliantly infectious, mesmeric, polyrhythmic melange, created by the Moroccan producer Abdellah M. Hassak, who blends analogue synths, drum machines, and field recordings from Morocco, Tanzania, Guinea and more, exploring themes of themes of identity, Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism, and decolonisation
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Barry Can't Swim’s second album, Loner
New album: Dance music bangers with an eclectic twist by the popular Scottish electronic musician, DJ producer aka Joshua Mainnie from Edinburgh, who with this second LP after 2023’s When Will We Land?, explores themes of identity amid the beats and clever crate-digging soul samples
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Africa Express Presents ... Bahidorà
New album: The collective that brought Blur’s Damon Albarn together with Malian musicians 20 years ago now assembles artists from four continents, though particularly plants the roots of this superb 21-track double album in Mexico, with a feast of numbers spanning cumbia, hip-hop, kuduro, soul, salsa, pop, reggaeton and more
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WITCH: SOGOLO
New album: Zambia’s zamrock pioneers with (with the acronym ‘We Intend To Cause Mischief’) and still fronted by original member Emanuel "Jagari" Chanda, return with their special fusion of infectious psychedelic, 60s garage-inspired funk rock and and afrobeat, with a meaty, melodious, selection of catchy new numbers
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Femi Kuti: Journey Through Life
New album: The son of the the legend Fela Kuti continues is own legacy, now aged 62, with another vibrant release, and his first self-produced, of stirring, superbly performed afrobeat, positive life philosophy, social justice campaigns, and critiques of Nigerian politics and corruption.
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Salif Keita: So Kono
New album: A first album in seven years by the veteran Malian singer, now 75, with a pared-back, acoustic release, but one in which his distinctive, wonderfully ‘golden’ voice still shines, accompanied by guitar, ngoni, calabash, tama and cello
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Songhoy Blues: Héritage
New album: The Malian band return with a vibrant fourth LP exploring their desert musical roots with more of an acoustic and intricately rhythmic sound than their previous more electrified, distinctive African blues-rock, and includes an appearance on vocals by Rokia Koné and other more traditional instrument guest musicians
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Moonchild Sanelly: Full Moon
New album: Always infectiously fun and effervescently charismatic, the blue-haired South African star’s third LP bursts with witty, sex-positive braggadocio, sung in Xhosa and English, and spanning the rhythms and sounds of Johannesburg and Durban with electro-pop and cross-genre dance
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The second part of our favourite albums of 2024
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 2. Part 1 can be found here. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but please dig into this rich seam of originality and quality, and even suggest more of your own
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Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp: Ventre Unique
New album: Wonderfully energetic, rhythmic stylish, inventive and witty sixth album by the 12-piece experimental Geneva collective who sing politically in French and English, their music decorated with oodles of of clever brass, violins, double-bass, marimbas, percussion and more
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Seun Kuti: Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)
New album: The youngest son of the great Fela Kuti, and of eldest brother of Femi, returns with his father’s band Egypt 80, which he inherited and his fifth, and first album in six years, keeping the fabulous bright flame of afrobeat alight, and including the son of another great in the form of Bob’s son Damian Marley
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Ezra Collective
New album: The 2022 Mercury Prize-winning London Afrobeat-jazz ensemble fronted by Femi Koleoso return with a wonderfully infectious, warm and engaging LP inspired the idea of unself-conscious movement and a themed around narrative set across a night in the city
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Yannis & The Yaw: Lagos Paris London
New album: An EP rather than LP, this project by the Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis is still a high five of top-quality Afrobeat, crossover funk and rock rhythms and riffs, drawing from sessions with the late great drummer Tony Allen
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Liam Bailey: Zero Grace
New albums: A two-for-one by the talented Nottingham singer-songwriter and guitarist with releases in February and and also this month, the former a fabulous zamrock-influenced psychedelic-reggae fusion LP, the latter with Parisian dub musician Blundetto aka Max Guiget
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KOKOKO!: BUTU
New album: The brilliant band from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo return with an LP inspired by the vibrant nightlife of that city, the titled translated as ‘the night’ in Lingala language, featuring rawer, more electronic sounds and the commanding lead of vocalist Makara Bianko
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Bab L'Bluz: Swaken
New album: Out last month, a fabulous second LP by the French-Moroccan quartet who fuse traditional with psychedelia, blues and heavy rock with Africa's Maghreb: Gnawa, Amazigh, Hassani and Houara music
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