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Marisa Monte Universo ao Meu Redor (Metro Blue) The Brazilian singer collaborated with onetime Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato on this highly personal take on the samba, and while there are plenty of electronic touches, the music is surprisingly gentle and warm without ever suggesting retro coziness. A mixture of originals—most cowritten with Monte’s Tribalistas cohorts Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes—and old gems are treated with exquisite care and tenderness.
In the Country Losing Stones, Collecting Bones (Rune Grammofon) This Norwegian piano trio does it again, instilling slow-moving, deeply lyric originals with a coiled tension beneath the beauty. Guitarist Marc Ribot makes a pair of potent cameos and some surprisingly effective vocals show up a couple of times, but mouths-shut and on their own, In the Country continues to pack a masterfully restrained punch.
Lobi Traore Lobi Traore Band (Honest Jon’s) This Malian singer and guitarist has worked in the shadow of blues-flavored vets like Ali Farka Toure and Boubacar Traore for a long time, but he took a big step forward on this wonderfully raw, hard-driving electric band record, where deep polyrhythms and even deeper grooves offered a springboard for surprisingly slashing and acidic electric guitar solos.
