Sometimes you're really not sure with these rare groove gurus, when they're trying to sell you on some 1962 Doc Severinson b-side or something you've never heard of. You kind of have to take their word for it, but you wonder, you know? If that shit really is so good, how come nobody but you's ever heard of it? Anyway, you can forget all that with this comp, cuz as much fun as it would've been to slag the perpetually boyish tastemaker supreme in the baggy turtleneck, this collection is really tight. Kicking things off with the tremendous wall of afrofunk that is Oscar Sulley's "Bukom Mashie(1)" (last seen on the essential Ghana Soundz LP) and including MAW's timeless Fela tribute "MAW Expensive(2)" is pretty good move, setting the tone for the two records (one covers vintage Afro cuts, the other contemporary facsimiles). Things stay on solid ground with two cuts from the superb Ethiopian vibist Mulatu and his cohort Feqadu Amde-Mesqel ("Mulatu(3)" and "Asmarina") and Peter King's longtime DJ/breakbeat fave "Ajo(4)." Thievery Corp's recent "Heart Is a Lonely Hunter(5)" gains some cachet rubbing shoulders with a typically wicked IG Culture remix of the Lekan Babalola (me neither) tune "Aso Kere(6)." The optimized levels on this crisp pressing will endear this to DJ folk, as will the diverse and powerful selection of 9 useful tracks.

reviewed by Bartleby Hisamoto