I always seem to be late to the party. I have lost count of how many times Spotify recommends a new release for me by an artist I have never heard of, I try it and really like it, then find out the new release is actually a re-release of a 30-year-old album by a band that broke up 20 years ago or something like that. That is exactly how I discovered ESG and Information Society decades after I should have.

I’ve done it again this week, but I’m not quite as far behind the curve this time (only about 15 years in one case and 9 years in the other) .

The first discovery was Habib Koité from Mali. I don’t know how I avoided hearing him for so long. He has been putting stuff out internationally since about 1999 and  it right up my street, sounding quite a lot like Baaba Maal – his more traditional stuff rather than the more westernised stuff produced by Simon Emerson (which I admit I do really like).

The other new (to me) act is The Souljazz Orchestra who sound nothing like what the name made me expect. I was expecting smooth jazz but it turns out to be very much like Fela Kuti (and Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti) or Tony Allen. The real surprise was looking at their biography and finding out that all this afrobeat is actually coming from Canada. It was like when I found out that Fat Freddy’s Drop and their delicious reggae comes from New Zealand.

Following the ‘related artists’ links throws up even more nuggets, like The Whitefield Brothers who also play jazzy, funky, slightly afro-beat music and come from Germany.

If anybody feels like a bit of a change I can thoroughly recommend either the Souljazz Orchestra, Habib Koité, Whitefield Brothers or Fat Freddy’s Drop.