Jessie Ware
Devotion (RSD22)

Devoted fans of Abel Tesfaye were left in a spin when the latest The Weeknd album dropped out of the blue, offering up lead singles 'Sacrifice' and 'Gasoline'. The expansive reach of Tesfaye's musical world knows no bounds, straddling pop, rap, electro and much more besides on a quest for life-affirming, show-stopping songs that burrow straight into your heart. The cast of collaborators on this record is staggering, from Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, and Oneohtrix Point Never to Jim Carrey and Swedish House Mafia, would you believe. Through it all, Tesfaye's dazzling persona shines through, making for another classic from one of the most unique artists in the premier league of contemporary RnB.

Killer !

Raï is the music of a youth hungover from Algeria's recent independence. It became a space for a liberated, transgressive dialogue that told the social truths of its time -- an up-front yet poetic voice that covers the taboos and frustrations of daily life, expressing emotion without detour. This voice is heard at weddings, cabarets, in the nightclubs of the Oranese coast, and casually on the street... With the boom of the audio cassette, an avalanche of raï tapes were produced in Oran and diffused all over the world. Both women and men sang and listened to the new sound, as raï is intimately tied to parties, alcohol and the night. With the spontaneous improvisation of its singers as the main part of each song, raï keeps reinventing itself. In this style, Cheb Hasni, along with Cheb Nasro, incarnates a second generation of musicians. With the "love raï", or sentimental raï, Hasni sings about love, passion and its setbacks -- moving away from the bittersweet daily chronicles of the first chebs and chebates. Having recorded nearly 150 cassettes, Cheb Hasni remains one of the most prolific and talented raï singers of his generation. Almost thirty years after his death, this three-volume compilation of rare tracks from his cassette releases on the Oriental Music Production label is a tribute to the lasting legacy of Cheb Hasni -- ya raï! The second volume of three is presented here.CHEB HASNIVol 1Outre National

Cult Berber musician Hocine Chaoui is a musical whirlwind, a tornado that sucks up and spits out electronic, folk, rock, world, afro, tribal, trance, electro and country music at high speed. This is a remastered version of his Ouechesma album which was drawn from Oriental Music Production's archive of regional Algerian cassettes. It was made on traditional instruments with his own unique vocal chants and a glut of mad effects and drum machines. The beats are incessant, dense, physical. The vocals add another layer of intensity and the whole thing is as wild and crazy as it sounds.

Michel Legrand's cult soundtrack for Jacques Deray's 1969 classic 'La Piscine' gets reissued with three bonus tracks making their vinyl debut. Featuring newly remastered audio, gatefold sleeve designed by Eric Adrian Lee and Liner notes by Jeremy Allen (The Guardian, The Quietus).The RSD Edition will also include Michel Legrand's super rare and funky 7" OST for Deray's 1972 film 'Un Homme Est Mort'.