New Release of the Week: Jamie XX - In Waves

Nine years on from the release of his seminal Grammy, Brit, Ivor Novello and Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut album ‘In Colour’, London musician, DJ and producer Jamie XX announces his long-awaited second album, ‘In Waves’.

Across 12 tracks - including ‘Baddy On The Floor’, his joyous summer collaboration with club culture icon Honey Dijon - Jamie XX replicates the emotional crescendos and thrilling volatility of an almost mystical night out and features further collaborations with Robyn, The Avalanches, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier and Panda Bear, Oona Doherty and his ‘The XX’ bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim.

Created over a four-year period ushered in by his much-loved 2020 ‘Essential Mix’ and peppered with periods of self-reflection, a global pandemic, the blinking re-emergence into the strobe light and a newly-discovered love of surfing as escapism, it’s an album that's on course to eclipse the heights of its globally acclaimed predecessor.

Sound Pick: Etran de L’Air - 100% Sahara Guitar

Etran de L’Aïr (‘The Stars of the Air’), the longest-running wedding band in Agadez, capital of Tuareg guitar, return with a new album of scorching desert sound.

They're back with ‘100% Sahara Guitar’, ready to take on the world, with those swinging melodies like a sandstorm blowing in from across the sea.

All sons of Agadez, the band consists of brothers Moussa, Abdoulaye, and Abdourahamane, and their dear friend, the youngest of the group, Alghabid. The brothers write the songs and play guitar, swapping out instruments while Alghabid keeps the beat.

Recorded in sunny studios on the West Coast, the brothers take that old Agadez sound to new levels, adding even more guitars into the mix, weaving layers of reverb-laden melodies and shimmering harmonies into a tapestry of sound.