Tag: Led Zeppelin

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tinariwen Return with a Hypnotic and Triumphant New Single

Last month, I wrote about Elwan’s first single “Tenere Taqqal,” a slow-burning and hauntingly gorgeous song that possessed an understated yet aching longing for a way of life and for a home, which as Thomas Wolfe once wrote and the members of the band recognize, they may never be able to return to and will never have again. And certainly while there’s a tacit acknowledgement within the song that life continues onward as it always does, there’s also a brooding and pensive urgency within the song that comes from the members of the band recognizing that they have a sacred and profound duty of ensuring that something of the old traditions could be preserved and passed on to future generations. The album’s second single “Sastanàqqàm” is as the band’s Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni explains “an ode to the Sahara and its Nomads. It expresses the needs of the traveller as he crosses the desert on his mount. Essential needs: find water and a way to preserve it, find a good mode of transport. But also the love-hate relationship with the desert, the natural elements and the certainty that we will always go back to it.” Pairing those sentiments with a shuffling and deeply hypnotic groove and a propulsive and stomping percussion give the song a hopeful and downright joyous feel. At it’s core it’s the hope and promise of returning to the ancestral homeland — of its smell, of seeing beloved sights, of returning to the place where your ancestors have lived, played, prayed, wandered, hunted and died.

The band and their label have done a kind favor by providing an English translation of the song’s lyrics, which you can check out below.

Sastanàqqàm Lyrics

SASTANÀQQÀM

I QUESTION YOU

TÉNÉRÉ, CAN YOU TELL ME OF ANYTHING BETTER THAN TO HAVE YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOUNT,
AND A BRAND NEW GOATSKIN, WATERTIGHT,
TO FIND YOUR WAY
BY THE LIGHT
OF THE FOUR BRIGHT STARS OF HEAVEN,
TO KNOW HOW
TO FIND WATER IN
THE UNLIKELIEST OF PLACES, AND ENLIST THE MOMENTUM OF THE WIND
TO HELP YOU MOVE FORWARD

TELL ME, TÉNÉRÉ
HOW YOU AND I
CAN REMAIN UNITED,
WITH NO HATE FOR EACH OTHER.
TÉNÉRÉ, I CAN NOW ADMIT THAT
I HAVE TRAVELLED FAR THROUGH THIS WIDE WORLD.
TÉNÉRÉ, I GIVE YOU MY OATH
THAT AS LONG AS I’M ALIVE,
I WILL ALWAYS COME BACK

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Portland, OR-based doom metal quartet, R.I.P. The quartet has long operated off the belief that heavy metal didn’t come from the forest or beam down from outer space; but rather, that it crawled up out of the sewer and writhed to life in in the grit and grime of the streets and their unique take on heavy metal and doom metal “street doom” is deeply indebted to that approach. And in addition to that, the quartet have developed a reputation for relentless touring when they signed to renowned Los Angeles-based label RidingEasy Records, who will be releasing the band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut In The Wind on December 9, 2016.

Now you may recall that “Black Leather” had the Portland-based quartet pairing scuzzy, power chords with thunderous drumming and a driving motorik-like groove in an expansive and spacious dirge that allowed room for some additional, blistering guitar pyrotechnics in a song that seemed to draw equally from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Hawkwind — in the sense that structurally speaking, the song in its first half or so is power chord heavy dirge and in its last half turns into a psych rock-leaning stoner rock with a swaggering self-assuredness while evoking sulfurous smoke billowing from the depths of hell. In The Wind‘s latest single “Tremble” is a stoner rock/psych rock doom-filled ass-kicker reminiscent of the aforementioned Black Sabbath and of Badmotorfinger and Superunknown-era Soundgarden as the song consists of dense layers of punishing power chords, some ridiculous guitar pyrotechnics, a motorik-like groove and murky lyrics   that evoke the fear and dread that many of us have been feeling for the past 24 hours.

indie rock by kelliezhao

Live Concert Photography: SALES at Villain 10/12/16

Live Concert Photography: SALES at Villain 10/12/16, by Kellie Zhao The Florida-based band SALES, consisting of Jordan Shih (guitar) and Lauren Morgan (vocals, guitar), writes pop music with a very distinctive melodic line. The instrumentation […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Haunting Visuals and Sounds of Tinariwen’s “Tenere Taqqal” Captures a Rapidly Disappearing Way of Life

Interestingly, Tinariwen’s forthcoming full-length effort Elwan (which translates into English as The Elephants) is slated for a February 10, 2017 release, and the album thematically focuses both on the disappearing traditions of the Tuareg people and of being forced into exile — oddly enough as the members of the band were touring the world. And the album’s gorgeous first single “Tenere Taqqal” possesses an understated longing for a way of life and for a home, which as Thomas Wolfe wisely suggested they can never return to and will never get back. And yet there’s a tacit acknowledgment that life must continue onward and that they have a profoundly important duty of ensuring that something of the old traditions can be preserved and passed on to future generations. As a result, the single while being slow-burning and brooding also manages to possess an understated, quiet urgency — all while feeling older than time itself. Every time, I’ve listened to this track I can picture sitting among the Tuareg or the Bedouins at a campfire, as they tell tales of creation or of the great mystics and teachers, who have led flocks of faithful . .

The recently released animated video was directed by Axel Digoix and it vividly depicts the desert’s harshness, cruelty and beauty, and the profound spiritual and physical connection that the Tuareg people have towards it, while pointing out that their traditions and their world is being violently torn apart.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past two years or so, you may be familiar with Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA-based distributor Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records collaborative series of 60s and 70s proto-metal, pre-stoner rock compilations Brown Acid: The First Trip and Brown Acid: The Second Trip. 

Interestingly, RidingEasy Records’ Daniel Hall and Permanent records co-owner Lance Barresi spent a great deal of time not only just collecting and complain the singles on each volume of the compilation, they also spent time tracking down the songs’ creators, most frequently bands that haven’t been together in 30 or 40 years and encouraging them to take part in the entire process. As Barresi explained in press notes for the two compilations, “All of (these songs) could’ve been huge given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten. However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.” And by having the artists participate it can give the songs and the artists a real second chance at success, if not some kind of attention for their work.

Follow the critical and commercial success of the first two volumes, RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records will be releasing the third volume of 60s and 70s proto-metal and pre-stoner rock, Brown Acid: The Third Trip, which is slated for an October 31, 2016 release.. Now, if you had stopped by this site earlier this year, you might recall that I wrote about the third compilation’s first single Grand Theft’s “Scream (It’s Eating Me Alive)” a song that seemed to nod at Led Zeppelin III and IV, Rush and The MC5 — in particular think of “Immigrant Song” “When the Levee Breaks”  “Working Man” and “Kick Out the Jams” as the song possesses a bristling, swaggering fury. The compilation’s second and latest single Chook’s “Cold Feet” sounds as though it were the love child of Jimi Hendrix‘s “Fire,” Black Sabbath and Mountain‘s “Mississippi Queen” but with a shuffling, bluesy swagger, as the song is full of sexual innuendo and braggadocio and an incredible bass line.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’d likely be familiar with La Sera, the recording project of Vivian Girls‘ and All Saints Day‘s Katy Goodman. Initially begun as a solo side project, Goodman’s La Sera found an increasingly growing national profile with the release of her first three critically applauded albums — the project’s self-titled debut, her sophomore effort, Sees the Light and her third effort, Hour of the Dawn. Each subsequent album found Goodman experimenting and expanding upon her sound with Hour of the Down revealing an 80s guitar pop influence, clearly drawing from The Smiths, The Pretenders, and others.

Goodman released her fourth La Sera album, Music For Listening To Music To earlier this year and at its core, the material revealed an artist who has gone through a series of personal and artistic transitions that heavily influenced the material’s lyrical themes and concerns — while further cementing Goodman’s burgeoning reputation for crafting shimmering guitar pop paired with infectious hooks and Goodman’s plaintive, ethereal vocals. One of the biggest personal and creative transitions was that Goodman’s husband Todd Wisenbaker, who may best be known as a member of Music For Listening‘s producer, Ryan Adams‘ backing band and Hour of the Dawn‘s producer, officially joined as a cowriter, guitarist and collaborator. And for a song like “I Need an Angel,” the material manages to nod both at The Smiths’ “This Charming Man,” and Johnny Cash‘s and June Carter Cash‘s “Jackson” thanks in part to the alternating boy-girl verses, and their harmonizing on the song’s hook and chorus.

Goodman and Wisenbaker will be releasing Music For Listening to Music To‘s follow-up and continuation of sorts, Queens EP today and you might remember that earlier this month I wrote about the upbeat, propulsive and shimmering EP title track, which was written while Wisenbaker was on a leisurely stroll through East Hollywood at dusk one night. And as Goodman adds, “To me, the song stands for being an important, passionate, loving person in your own life, every day.” The EP’s second and latest single changes things up quite a bit — mainly because it’s a strutting and swaggering homage/cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Whole Lotta Love.” And while being a somewhat straightforward cover sonically, Goodman’s vocals add a completely different interpretation and feel to a beloved and familiar song; in fact, her vocals add a feminine sultriness. Interestingly, the La Sera cuts the end section of the original, presumably to be gender neutral — and that decision also adds its own series of interpretations to a familiar and beloved song.

Goodman, Wisenbaker and the members of their backing band will be on tour throughout October to support both Music For Listening Music To and to the Queens EP and it’ll include two NYC area dates  — October 22, 2016 at the Mercury Lounge and an early October 23, 2016 at Baby’s All Right. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

 

TOUR DATES: 

10/07 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
10/08 San Diego, CA @ The Hideout
10/09 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
10/10 Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
10/12 Austin, TX @ Sidewinder
10/13 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
10/14 Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
10/15 St Louis, MO @ Firebird
10/16 Nashville, TN @ High Watt
10/18 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
10/19 Chapel Hill, NC @ Pinhook
10/20 Washington, DC @ Song Byrd
10/22 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
10/23 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right (early)
10/25 Boston, MA @ Brookline Teen Center
10/26 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk
10/28 Toronto, ON @ Silver Dollar
10/29 Detroit, MI @ El Club
10/30 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
11/01 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
11/02 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
11/03 Reno, NV @ Holland Project
11/04 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall
11/05 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

As a music blogger and as a fan, the Internet has proven to be a wonderful place to discover both new music and extremely rare, lost music — and with ease. It’s also contributed to the proliferation of independent labels across the world, competing against the major conglomerates for your ears, attention and your hard-earned money. Unsurprisingly, smaller, indie labels have been more willing to take the sort of risks that their larger, monied rivals wouldn’t and couldn’t — including re-introducing artists, whose work was so wildly ahead of its time that audiences at the time of its initial release just couldn’t and didn’t accept, and yet historically speaking, filled in a gap that explains a contemporary trend; re-introducing regionally favored artists from a time when hit songs in Milwaukee were often different than hit songs in Atlanta, Baltimore, Des Moines, Minneapolis or New York.

Sadly, before the Internet, bulletin boards and the blogosphere much of this seemingly forgotten material was only known to cultish and obsessively dedicated insiders and collectors, who were known to spend their time seeking and collecting long-lost and long-forgotten albums, hoarding them in private collections or selling them at exorbitant prices at collector’s shows.  Thankfully in many ways, the Internet and blogosphere have democratized the process, allowing the average listener and fan a chance to listen and to love some of these long-forgotten wonders; however, because of the money involved, labels

Unfortunately, because of the money involved, labels have mined beloved, popular and influential genres to exhaustion through endless compilations — in particular, psych rock, AM rock, doo wop, folk, soul and a few others immediately come to mind. Strangely enough up until last year, there hadn’t been many proto-metal, pre-stoner rock compilations when the Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA-based distributor Permanent Records released  two compilations of incredibly rare singles from the 60s and 70s on Brown Acid: The First Trip and Brown Acid: The Second Trip.

With the help of Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi spent time not just collecting and compiling the singles on each volume of the  compilation, they also spent a great deal of time tracking down the songs creators, often bands who haven’t been together in over 30 or 40 years, and encouraging them to take part in the entire process.  As Barresi explained in press notes for the two compilations, “All of (these songs) could’ve been huge given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten. However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.“ And by having the artists participate it can give the songs and the artists a real second chance at success, if not some kind of attention.

The third compilation of proto-metal and pre-stoner rock from the 60s and 70s, Brown Acid: The Third Trip is slated for release on October 31, 2016 and the third compilation’s first single, Grand Theft’s “Scream (It’s Eating Me Alive)” features enormous power chords, guitar pyrotechnics, thundering drumming, a propulsive bass line and howled vocals in a song that sounds as though it were channeling Led Zeppelin III and IV, Rush and The MC5 — in particular think of “Immigrant Song” “When the Levee Breaks”  “Working Man” and “Kick Out the Jams” as the song possesses a bristling, swaggering fury.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

R.I.P. is a Portland, OR-based doom metal quartet that operates off the belief that heavy metal didn’t come from the forest or beam down from outer space; but rather, that it crawled up out of the sewer and writhed to life in in the grit and grime of the streets and their unique take on heavy metal and doom metal “street doom” is indebted to that approach. The Portland, OR-based quartet have developed a reputation for relentless touring when they signed to renowned Los Angeles-based label RidingEasy Records, who will be releasing the band’s highly-anticipated full-length debut In The Wind later this year.

In The Wind‘s latest single “Black Leather” pairs scuzzy power chord heavy guitars, thunderous drumming, a driving motorik-like groove in an expansive and spacious dirge that allows room for some blistering guitar pyrotechnics while drawing equally from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Hawkwind. Structurally the song in its first half or so is power chord heavy dirge and in its last half turns into a psych rock-leaning stoner rock with a swaggering self-assuredness while evoking sulfurous smoke billowing from the depths of hell.

 

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seattle Supergroup Temple Of The Dog Release Bluesy, Unreleased Demo In Advance of 25th Anniversary of Debut Effort

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of their full-length album and to celebrate the occasion, the album will be re-released on September 30, 2016 in a deluxe package that will feature previously unreleased demos, live material, alternate takes and concert video. And although the members of the Seattle alt rock supergroup have played a handful of legendary shows back in the early 90s and a couple of reunion appearances over the years, this year will also mark the first time that the act has gone out on a headlining tour.

“Black Cat,” was a previously unreleased demo that finally sees the light of day, and as you’ll hear it’s a propulsive and percussive, bluesy dirge that pairs Cornell’s signature wails with grimy blues power chords in a song that manages to channel Led Zeppelin and Soundgarden’s “Spoonman.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Daniel Rice (vocals, guitar), David Kent (guitar), Hayden Doyel (bass), and Cody Tarbell (drums) the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season have developed a reputation for a power chord-based hard rock sound that is indebted to the classic rock sound of the 60s and 70s as you’ll hear off “Y’Wanna,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming full-length effort, Westing slated for a July 8, 2016 through RidingEasy Records.

Written during an intensely busy touring schedule with labelmates Electric Citizen and Mondo Drag and recorded in DIY-like fashion, much like their previous efforts — in other words on reel-to-reel tape at Cody Tarbell’s home studio, located in the middle of a cornfield. And although their recording process hasn’t changed much, as Cody Tarbell explains in press notes the new album is “a different album. But we never wanted to find a particular sound or any one thing and be attached to it permanently. A big part of our records is experimenting.” While cementing the band’s reputation for being sonically ambitious, Westing‘s material is thematically ambitious as well, with the album lyrically following “a loose narrative about our nation’s loss of innocence as it explores its frontiers re-contextualized in a story about an unnamed protagonist faced with choosing between different ideological allegiances and his own social identity,” as the band’s frontman Daniel Rice explained in press notes — with each song following “the unholy trinity of greed + power + violence, the injustice wrought from this, persisting in willful ignorance and reaping what is sown.” In some way, the album’s thematic arc seems to capture the general tone and feel of contemporary conversations about institutionalized racism, institutionalized gender inequality, inequality in general and social justice.

Westing‘s swaggering, second single  “Damascus” will further cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for crafting a sound that’s deeply indebted to 60s and 70s rock — in this particular case Black Sabbath, 38 Special, Led Zeppelin, and others as the band pairs bluesy power chords, some incredible guitar pyrotechnics, a propulsive rhythm section consisting of four-on-the-four drumming and a sinuous bass line with Rice’s crooned vocals. In other words, it’s old-time  rock out with your cock out, arena-friendly rock that sounds familiar — but with a subtle contemporary sheen.
You can catch the band live throughout a rather extensive tour schedule during May and June. Check out tour dates below.
TOUR DATES:
05/27 Boise, ID @ The Shredder
05/28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/29 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
05/30 Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge
05/31 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
06/01 Indianapolis, IN @ Bent Rail Brewing
06/02 Kent, OH @ Stone Tavern
06/03 Pittsburgh, PA @ Gooski’s
06/04 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
06/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
06/07 Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
06/08 Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Yacht Club
06/09 Nashville, TN @ FooBAR
06/10 Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone *
06/11 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia *
06/12 Hattiesburg, MS @ The Tavern *
06/13 Shreveport, LA @ Bears *
06/14 Texarkana, TX @ Arrow Bar *
06/16 Oklahoma City, OK @ Blue Note *
06/17 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
06/18 Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
06/19 San Antonio, TX @ The Mix
06/22 Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Taproom
06/23 San Diego, CA @ The Merrow
*w/ Dirty Streets
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Since their formation back in the 2007, the Atlanta, GA-based quartet The Pinx, currently comprised of Adam McIntyre (vocals, rhythm guitar), Chance McColl (lead guitar), Jonathan Lee (bass) and Dwayne Jones (drums), have developed a reputation across the Southeast for a relentless touring schedule that had the band opening for the likes of Ben Harper and Relentless7 among others, for songs that have appeared during highlights broadcast on ESPN and Fox Sports, and for a sound that draws heavily from The MC5, Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead and others — or in other words 70s-leaning arena friendly power chord rock.

After a brief hiatus that saw McIntyre’s stint with fellow Atlanta-based band StoneRider during their European tour and a massive lineup change, the band reformed and with a change of songwriting approach and sonic direction. As McIntyre says of the material he wrote that comprised the band’s forthcoming new album, Freedom: “A lot of the stuff I learned about songwriting during my decade in Nashville came back. Not the formulaic bro-country aspect, but folks like Todd Snider and Dan Baird. Smart, funny guys who write songs that reflect themselves well. I wanted some of that to come through. It all has to mix with the rock & roll and the blues and soul and everything, and I put together a band tailor-made to do just that.” McIntyre also adds ““These songs are all true stories. I tried to write concise, simple little rock and roll songs. This is the set I want to play live.”

Freedom‘s latest single “Baby Won’t Ya” is an Southern double fried, whiskey soaked, The Black Crowes-indebted cover of The MC5 that retains the song’s anthemic, power chord-heavy swagger but with a studio sheen that doesn’t clean up the original’s sleazy dive bar feel.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their 2012 self-titled debut and its follow up 2014’s Mountain, the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season, comprised of Daniel Rice (vocals, guitar), David Kent (guitar), Hayden Doyel (bass), and Cody Tarbell (drums), the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season quickly developed a regional profile for a bluesy and heavy rock sound that’s heavily indebted to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and others — but without the being soulless mimicry. RidingEasy Records released a remixed and remastered version of their self-titled debut at the end of last year, and while working on their third full-length effort, the Visalia, CA-based quartet released a 7 inch featuring covers of Black Sabbath and Cactus; however, the band released two singles from their debut — the Led Zeppelin “Immigrant Song” channeling guitar line, thundering drums and howled drums of “Heavy” and the slow-burning, bluesy, harmonica-led “Bring It on Home” meets Howlin’ Wolf channeling “DayGlo Sunrise.”

Certainly, if you didn’t know that the band was contemporary, you’d probably think that these two singles were recorded in 1967 and were recently re-discovered by someone who had been digging through the crates of a used record store somewhere.

The band is playing a couple of live dates across Southern California. Check them out below.

LIVE DATES:
02/19 San Diego, CA @ The Merrow  w/ JOY and OVVL
02/20 Visalia, CA @ The Cellar Door  w/ Beastmak
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Tinariwen can trace their origins back to the mid and late 1970s when Alhabib, who had been inspired to learn the guitar from an old Western film, in which a cowboy played a guitar, joined other Tuareg rebels living in refugee camps in Libya and Algeria, who were exploring the radical chaabi protest music of Moroccan groups like Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala; Algerian pop rai; and western artists like Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Carlos Santana, Dire Straits, Jimi Hendrix, Boney M, and Bob Marley.

While in Tamanrasset, Algeria, Ag Alhabib started a band with Alhassane Ag Touhami and brothers Inteyeden Ag Ablil and Liya Ag Ablil, and they began playing the traditional sounds of the Taureg people at weddings and parties across Algeria and Libya. Interestingly, when they started, the band had no official name but people began calling them Kel Tinariwen, which in the Tamashek language translates roughly as “The People of the Deserts” or “The Desert Boys.”

In 1980, Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi released a decree inviting all young Tuareg men, who were living illegally in Libya to receive full military training, as part of his dream of forming a Saharan regiment, comprised of the best young Tuareg fighters to further his territorial ambitions in Chad, Niger, and elsewhere across Northern Africa. Al Alhabib and his bandmates answered the call and received military training. They answered a similar call in 1985, by leaders of the Libyan Tuareg movement and wound up meeting fellow musicians Keddou Ag Ossade, Mohammed Ag Itlale (aka “Japonais”), Sweiloum Ag Alhousseyni, Abouhadid Ag Alhousseyni, and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni — all who had sang and played guitar. The musicians joined together in a collective — now known across the world as Tinariwen — in order to write songs about the issues facing their people, built a makeshift stood and vowed to record music for free for anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. And naturally, as a result their homemade cassette tape series  were highly sought after, and were traded throughout Saharan Africa. (It’s also incredibly punk — perhaps more punk, than anything most Western artists could ever come up with.)

In 1989. the members of the collective had left Libya and relocated to Ag Alhabib’s birthplace of Tessalit, Mali; however, by the next year Mail’s Tuareg population revolted against the Malian government, with some members of the collective participating as rebel fighters. After a peace agreement known as the Tamanrasset Accords were reached in early 1991, the  members of Tinariwen left the military and devoted themselves to music full-time — and by 1992, some of the members of the collective were to Abidjan, Ivory Coast to record a cassette at JBZ Studios, and they occasionally played gigs for far-flung Tuareg communities throughout Saharan Africa, which helped the band gain word-of-mouth popularity among their people.

Tinariwen started to receive international attention after they had began collaborating with the renowned French world music ensemble Lo’Jo — with the result being the highly acclaimed 2001 Festival au Desert in Essakane, Mali. Greater attention came to the band when the play their first UK performance at that country’s largest, free African festival, Africa Oye. And the year was topped by the release of their full-length debut, The Radio Tisdas Sessions, their first recording to be released outside of their native Northern Africa. Coincidentally, this has gone on as the collective has gone through some lineup changes, incorporating a younger generation of Tuareg musicians, musicians who didn’t live during some of the military conflicts of the older generation, including bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad, guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid, guitarist Abdallah Ag Lamida, and vocalists Wonou Walet Sidati and the Walet Oumar sisters.

As the collective has started to see greater international attention, they’ve toured regularly across the European Union, North America, Japan and Australia, often playing at some of the world’s biggest and highly renowend music festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella, Roskilde, Les Vieilles Charrues, WOMAD, FMM Sines and Printemps de Bourges. And they’ve won over an incredible list of celebrity fans and champions including Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, U2‘s Bono and The Edge, Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke, Coldplay‘s Chris Martin, Henry Rollins, Brian Eno, and TV on the Radio, among others. And it shouldn’t be surprising because of their hauntingly gorgeous music rooted in the poetry and traditions of the tough, rebellious people of Northern Africa — and in some way, the material captures the vast expanse of the desert as their sound seems to arch heavenward . . .

At the end of last year, the members of Tinariwen played a show in Paris and invited the legendary grand dame of Tamashek culture, Lalla Badi, one of Tuareg culture’s beloved master of the tinde, which is both a percussive instrument covered by taut goatskin, played by women and a poetic repertoire sung at ceremonies and special and intimate occasions. Not only is she considered the paradigm of Tuareg femininity, she has also long been an outspoken advocate for Tuareg culture and causes, as well as being a mentor to the members of Tinariwen in their early incarnation. The end result was a live recording of their Paris show, Live in Paris slated for a November 20 release through Anti- Records.

The first single off the live album “Tinde Final Tinariwen” is a hauntingly gorgeous track that begins with droning guitar chords, propulsive percussion and a collection of male vocals crying and chanting before Badi’s regal vocals joining in on a composition that marries ancient traditions with contemporary sound. Indeed, there’s a forcefulness to the composition but it arches heavenward with lilting, trance inducing beauty that’s awe-inspiring.