TITLE: Yamedan
LABEL: Sahelsounds
Desert blues from the Sahara, also known as assouf music or simply la guitare, continues to grow, evolve and expand – TisDass is its latest iteration. Hailing from Niamey, the capital of Niger, TisDass is anchored by guitar-playing brothers Kildjate and Sidi Albade. Kildjate spent a couple of years playing bass in Group Bombino, one of the desert blues bands that’s made the most first-world impact. Here he’s the front man, singing and playing the guitar leads while Sidi heads up a rhythm section also featuring bass, drums and an occasional third guitar. TisDass is fluent in the full brief history of assouf: track 5 is solo acoustic in the manner of Ali Farka Toure, 4 has the loping attack of Tinariwen, and 1 and 7 are consonant and steady-rocking like Tamikrest. They slip in some foreign elements as well: 2 has the droning aspect of North Mississippi blues, and 10 features a funky bassline and snappy Congolese-style drumming. TisDass is an exhilarating band: fully in command of their material and at the cutting edge of this rapidly developing genre. This is the best desert blues album I’ve heard in quite some time.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 4 5 7 10
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 3 6 8 9
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