Ritual Beating System
Artist: Bahia Black
Community Score: 6.00

A musical rollercoaster from start to finish, Ritual Beating System jolts us with its abrupt mood changes, yet never really strays from a percussive Brazilian-oriented theme. After opening with the soft Brazilian pop-jazz of "Retrato Calado," Bahia Black dives into hard-edged Portuguese-language rap ("Capitao Do Asfalto") before embracing... Read More

Sunshine Day: Their Greatest Hits
Artist: Osibisa
Hwy X
Artist: Reptile Palace Orchestra

Loosely themed around the concept of dances from a multitude of cultures, Hwy X finds the Reptile Palace Orchestra playing everything from waltzes to slow ballads to gypsy and other folk dances, even throwing in a dreamlike cover of Hendrix's "Little Wing" for good measure. While there are elements of classical music and rock, most of the music... Read More

Coleccion Mi Historia
Artist: Demis Roussos
Cabo Verde
Artist: Césaria Évora

Cabo Verde's artwork showcases a happier Césaria Évora than on her previous self-titled album (which introduced her to North American audiences). She is pictured laughing, against light greens and blues, and the music itself is considerably more upbeat than that on her other albums (this being her second U.S. release, but her sixth overall).... Read More

Cho
Artist: Choying Drolma

Innovative guitarist Steve Tibbetts accompanies Tibetan nun Choying Drolma on sporadic guitar, synthesizer and percussion on chants for meditation, spontaneous songs of realization and teremas brought back from the other world. For much of the disc he lets long silences unwind behind Drolma's resonant vocals before adding a thoughtful chord of... Read More

Mickey Hart's Mystery Box
Artist: Mickey Hart

After the passing of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and the venerable band's demise, it was percussionist Mickey Hart who proved to be the most creatively resilient. As Deadheads and appreciators of world music can attest, Hart -- who is also an author and learned ethnomusicologist -- has been fusing genres ever since his debut release,... Read More

Mystere
Artist: Cirque du Soleil

The world-renowned creative team headed up by composers Rene Dupere and Benoit Jutras and creative director ($Guy Laliberte) liken their first permanent Las Vegas show to a desert flower, and its soundtrack is a gorgeous, colorful, unlikely creation indeed. Like preceding albums Saltimbanco and Alegria, Mystere borrows sounds from various... Read More

Mar Azul
Artist: Césaria Évora

From Cesaria Evora's opening wail on Mar Azul's title track, one knows that this disc, a short set comprised of only eight songs, is going to be something special. This is the album that won Evora the praise of Paris, and was released prior to her international hit, Miss Perfumado. These are classic mornas at their most haunting -- all the songs... Read More