Music in Exile

Oh man the guitar playing all over this album is super tasty. Really interesting polyrhythms between guitar and the rhythm section. I particularly enjoyed (actual LOLs) the song where the vocalist pleads "me want a bunny" (Wayei).

Infectious - even better live.

Está bastante bien este disco. Sorprenden sus guitarras. Toda la música tuareg es más de lo que esperas. Soubour, Wayei o Mali de lo mejor que tiene en mi opinión para un disco que merece la pena oír.

I'm not going to be able to approach these without strong bias from my days in West Africa. Even if it is not something that would go into my regular rotation, this is an album that showcases a strong West African sound that fuses enough US/UK elements to be more widely appreciated.

its nice listening to an african album but with modern instrumentals, the melodies are nice and warm and eventhough i can't understand the lyrics, they fit well together to form a harmonious package

Alright

3.6 - African blues rock with some fluttery guitar riffs and lullaby melodies sung soulfully.

I really enjoyed this. It sounded happy. I wished I’d had the opportunity to listen throughout the weekend. High 3*

I wasn't sure what to expect from this album but I was pleasantly surprised. The Songhoy Blues' story is truly inspiring, from having to flee their country where the new regime, among other things, banned music. Although they don't look like your traditional blues band, they certainly play like one. It is the perfect blend of that blues sound we are all familiar with, combined perfectly with Malian groove. Best: Nick Worst: Al Tchere Bele

Wasn’t sure what to expect, but this rocked. Sort of like an African version of Black Keys. 3 stars.

Songhoy Blues has a fascinating story about cultural roots and geopolitical issues. Make no mistake, this is not just "world music" or even "African music". It's in the name; Songhoy Blues makes music that is a blend of Songhai music and blues rock. Hailing from Timbuktu, the group takes inspiration from Ali Farka Touré (also from Mali) and his style of Songhai music mixed with blues. Honoring the Songhai traditions while exploring other sounds makes for a wholly unique listen. These guys know what they're doing and they're making damn good music. I'll mention now that this album got some exposure thanks to production from Nick Zinner, best known from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't know how much he adds in terms of production but I can safely say that this album is not about him. Songhoy Boys are a great band, with or without a fancy American producer.

Afro-blues-rock. Se me ha hecho un poco pesado... Ni fu ni fa.

By far the best Malian recording I have in my collection. It is a universe of one. This was highly touted when it was released and is a solid, but not great debut. The range of styles is impressive, but ultimately it is just good.

Overall a pretty interesting record mixing mainstream blues sounds with “world music”. Too bad I couldn’t understand the lyrics. Would like to know what they’re singing about

Musicianship solid, great guitar riffs. Lost in translation though. From Mali - French?

Eh, it was all right. The style didn't do a LOT for me but a couple of the tracks were pretty good. Can't say this album felt like it had a lot of interesting texture though, in terms of production. Fave track: "Mali", the closer, is lovely.

Another difficult rating. I didn't hate it, but lyrics were lost on me since I don't speak the language.

Decent album, great combination of African Influences and vocals with some western guitar play

Może trochę mało bluesa, ale wciąż bardzo przyjemny album. Afrykańskie nuty mają jednak w sobie ten rytm i człowiek, nawet jak nie rozumie o co chodzi w piosence, to się buja do nich.

Nadal nie lubię klimatów bluesowych. Z jednej strony jest to bardzo sympatycznie brzmiące, z drugiej dość nudne muzycznie i powtarzalne. Przeleciało i puścił się jakiś kawałek, który był tak podobny, że nawet nie zauważyłem różnicy. Takie 3.5, ale bliżej 3, bo nigdy nie wrócę.

Decent blues album. The African influences are quite cool to hear combined with the classic rock/blues. I just wish I knew what the lyrics were about, but I can’t knock the band for that. Overall pretty cool. 6/10

This was fun!

Refugees from a war-torn country, the words Music in Exile has never felt more apt here as the talents of Songhoy Blues are on full display, showcasing what they are capable of. Favorites: Soubour, Irganda, Nick, Wayei, Jolie, Mali.

I did enjoy this album. It was different for me.

Couldn’t get into it, but not bad.

It's energetic and engaging. Hadn't heard of them before, but it sounds good!

It's really hard to know how to rate a foreign language album when it is so lyrically prominent... it's not just about rhythm and mood but the lyrics too that you don't understand. I liked Nick, Petit Metier and Jolie a lot. Good, but hard to appreciate more than a 3.

Obviously only listened through once, but some great tunes, even if I didn’t understand the lyrics.

Those boys can groove and jam, really nailed the style. 3.75 if I could.

I'm always down for some North African guitar music, but my knowledge of the tradition is shallow. There's nothing formal to write home about here, but it's clearly a music informed by different histories than the material I already love. The production makes Music In Exile sound very normal, which is hardly a bad thing but removes some of the distinctive heft.

I'm starting to see the appeal of desert blues. I've no idea what the lyrics are about. They're probably singing about egg mayo sandwiches. But this does sound like an uprising, even if I don't know what I'm uprising against.

Rated 3

Malinese blues. Lots of guitars. Lots. Best Tracks: Soubour; Sekou Oumarou; Nick

Music in Exile by Songhoy Blues is a great dessert-World Music album. It follows in the footsteps of the genre and while I enjoyed listening to it, I don't believe it would be on the updated list without the backstory of the members. 3.5/5

Not my style

This started with very good energy. However, soon it became more of the same and ultimately as an album it somewhat bored me.

Yes, I like It's great with all the special beats and drums, it's really what makes it stand out so much, and still make me groove my head off. 3.4

Aardig plaatje, maar ga 't ook weer gauw vergeten. Wel fijn om de teksten niet te kunnen volgen!

Aardig plaatje hoor.

vibed to it

It’s cool

3.5

new to me, and obviously no idea on the lyrics but the music is very enjoyable

Really enjoyable this; went in completely blind but a very nice listen.

3/5 for me, pushing a 4. This is a really cool sound, on my second listen of it now whilst I'm working. I'm not a fan of what's traditionally referred to as 'world music', but this is a really fun fusion of bits of that and rock and roll guitar. Would thoroughly recommend the deluxe edition, which has three extra songs, all covers. The fact they did Should I Stay Or Should I Go? and Kashmir says something about their inspirations (they also do Soul Makossa, which a quick Google tells me is originally by a Cameroonian sax player). I listened to it cold first, and enjoyed it, then had a quick read up on the story behind it (they are Malian, from a region that got taken over by fundamentalist Islam, so they had to flee to the capital). If I could speak the language, I think this would push up to a 4 or maybe even a 5, would be interested to understand what they're actually saying.

All the songs were a bit samey and I don't speak their language. It sounded nice, but I didn't know what it was about. Were they pro Mali or dissing it?

"We can't stay in the traditional aesthetic of our grandparents; that was another time. Besides, we love electric guitars too much." sagt Bandmitglied Gaba Touré, der mit Ali Farka Touré zwar nicht verwandt ist, dessen Vater allerdings Perkussionist bei Ali Farka war. Man hört Songhoy Blues unverkennbar an, dass sie mit dem covern von Ali Farka angefangen haben, Musik zu machen. Da ist kein wirklicher Hit auf der Platte, hat mir aber gefallen.

Though it was largely unexpected, this one took some time and dedication. It was not an easy listen but the sound was mildly intriguing, enough to get through the album. When I was finished tho, I felt like I had spent the majority of my Saturday in school working on a project that constituted only 5% of my final grade.

ce fut une écoute agréable

My favourite African album so far - good guitar hooks and solid playing.

2015. Sekou Oumarou, Soubour

The Songhoy Bhoys there doing bits. Good.

Makes me wish I could understand the language. It seems really neat, and the instrumentation is so fun.

Kind of sounded rockabilly...

Great rhythm with a lot of energy. Would love to know what they are singing about as I feel there is a story here that’s quite interesting

The rhythms on this thing are awesome. So different and unique, really enjoyed hearing how not only the drums but also a lot of the melodies would shift and feel off kilter before you really find them as they develop. A bit repetitive within the songs for me but still very cool listen.

Bluesy, I liked it.

Honestly have enjoyed other desert blues albums much more

Ehhh I didn't really care for it. Nothing caught my attention but it wasn't really bad either I guess.

Not really my thing

This really makes me want to buy a brand new, 0% APR, AWD, Jeep.

One of our newest albums and also, interestingly, from Mali! I found this good but not amazing. Maybe if I understood the political climate and lyrical content of the songs it would mean more to me.

het verhaal was beter dan de muziek helaas

Album cover and first song sounding like a truck commerical had me scared - everything else was mostly fine. Would give a 2.5 if able

Not English

Maybe the most badass story behind a debut album in history. Being pushed out of your homeland by a jihadist group and releasing music reminiscent of that homeland in protest... wow. You can feel the quiet rage emanating throughout the music, even in the more upbeat tracks. But the positives mostly end there. For a list of the 1000-odd most important albums to listen to, every spot is valuable, and the two most important criteria – sounding good, and being culturally important – aren't really fulfilled. The latter is hard to judge, especially for a recently released album, so I tend to judge by number of streams. Normally an obscure album being included is understandable if it has at least existed for a long time, and had several decades (at least) to develop a sort of underground influence. But 2015? Just 6 years before the most recently released album to make the list (the decidedly terrible Heaux Tales) and 11 years before, well, now? I'm not convinced. I suspect many of the reviews here are influenced by the music's backstory, rather than the music itself. Mostly minor or blues(-adjacent) keys. Which can feel a little repetitive. Fortunately the album is on the shorter side, so you don't feel the repetitiveness as much. To its credit, the sophomore track, Irganda, is great. Super crazy, with a fast, meandering guitar solo that brings images of early-career Steely Dan. Seriously. If Donald Fagen were the vocalist instead of the Songhoys, Irganda would sound like it had fallen right off Countdown to Ecstasy's track listing. I enjoy Sekou Oumarou, too; the swing and clicking brings a surprisingly fun reggae feel to the table. Petit Metier stands out for its oddly psychedelic instrumental, helped out by the miscellaneous people talking in the background. But many of the others – including the opener, Soubour – are either too repetitive or too rhythmically and melodically strange/inaccessible (Al Tchere Bele and Desert Melodie, I'm looking at you). 3/5 Key tracks: Irganda, Sekou Oumarou, Petit Metier

Perdón no lo escuché, fue muy por encima pero meh

Right off the bat the album hits you with some great guitar. The vocals don't sound like your typical blues though. The guitars are amazing though. Overall I liked the guitars and blues sounding parts, but didn't like the vocals that much and wasn't my type of music.

Hyvin hyvin mielenkiintoista

Yeah, nah. The music wasn't unpleasant, chill blues, but I have a real hard time connecting with music in foreign language so I don't get any of the lyrics. It's a 'me' thing, but even without that, the blues wasn't all that memorable from the riffs or the licks and the vocals weren't so good that I could still connect overall.

Would have been better if the vocals weren’t just repeated lines for four minutes. Would have been better if the guitar lick was more than a 4 second loop repeated for four minutes. I don’t speak the language but could tell that it was really like 10 seconds of music stretched to four minutes for every song. 3/10

🤨

2/5

It's fine. I was fearing it would be more blues rock revival influenced after the first song but it thankfully wasn't

it's not bad, but it's just not for me

Qué carajo acabo de escuchar jajajaj. Yo que estaba enojado porque eran todos discos en inglés.

Bluesy desert groove with a steady, warm vibe that works great as background even without understanding the lyrics.

I don’t know when I would ever listen to this again. Unique experience. I like the chanting.

These dudes can play, unfortunately just not my kind of jam.

Didn't care much for this one

Would’ve never come across this without this list. Interested to give this a listen. No idea what it will be. Blues rock that’s pretty solid. Even without understanding the lyrics, it’s some good music. Some great guitars. Liked the more straightforward opening track more than some of the stuff after. But it’s all pretty good. I guess the African influence is what’s heard in a lot of the songs. It’s an interesting sound because you recognize those guitars and yet it all sounds different. Unique sound. Not sure it’s something I would ever choose to listen to on my own, but don’t dislike it, somewhere between a 2 and 3. The guitars rock. The blues rock sound is present throughout. Just doesn’t fully connect or grow beyond those first few songs. Even the less rock heavy sounds are interesting. Not sure which way to go on this.

Competent. Other than the history lesson, though, it just wasn't able to grab my interest. The music's not my genre, and the language is obviously a barrier to appreciating the lyrics.

Abumbalakaka ama çok sıkıldım ya benlik değil o kadar

like last album, it’s not what i usually listen to, and probably i won’t listen to it again. it reminded me of the songs i listened to when i was in morocco, which i enjoyed the first times i listened to them, but after a while they got exhausting. so for this one steaming i did i was vibing, but i don’t think i will ever make it past the second.

Buenos músicos pero no es demasiado mi rollo

Grandes interpretaciones musicales, tal vez por el choque de culturas no pude entender realmente el impacto que tiene, pero en cuanto musica es fantástico

Decent vibe icl

solide cleaner sound ersten fünf tracks könnte man auch unter eine ford werbung packen nicht komplett meins

Inte illa, men world music kräver för mycket

It's not bad musically, but I'm a lyrics man.

3/10 музыка племенных нигеров

Pretty cool, I’ll probably never listen to it again.

Eh. It mostly feels like African-tinged commercial music. Which like sure. Some of the songs are pretty good. It just doesn’t really reach me. None of the songs really stick out, even the pretty great second song is just a little too bland to love. Like, believe me, I don’t speak this language, but that is NOT the problem. If this was good the language barrier wouldn’t matter. Eve when they kinda lock in toward the end, it’s just too bland and unimpressive to give a passing score. 5.3/10

It was fine, but very samey

Good blues. Can’t understand the lyrics

I might use it as study music - I like the rhythmic style, different vibes for me for sure though

The performance is high level, but musically there's nothing much going on. Same ideas repeated ad naeseum. I appreciate that the project is trying to diversify the entries but beside the origin of the album, musically, it's not a must listen.

Nope. Didn’t need this.

1.6/5 I'm a lyrics guy so when listening to a band from Mali who don't sing in English I find it hard to enjoy it as much. The music was solid although it did get a bit repetitive towards the end but it's a solid effort for this band to be included in the top 1001 albums of all time when not to be insensitive, but the majority of people would never had even heard the band let alone the music.

мм сразу представляю себя маленьким бедным индейским мальчиком

Defo not my vibe

Great singing, but the guitar playing gets a bit wearing and the drumming is very basic.

Not really my music style

Loved the instrumental and desert blues but felt like the lyrics didn’t match well with the rhythm and beat

Interesting, but not for me.

I can't understand a word they are saying ...

2/5 for sawyer 2/5 for Colton (absolute boring buns)

Good, but not my thing.

I want to like to but I can’t get around it

catchy

Loved the instrumentals--only, I wish they were separate from the vocals.

Erikoista, ihan jees. 2,25/5.

Mwhua not my cup of tea

4/10 - Fav song: Irganda

i really liked the composition of the music. different language threw me off a little but pretty good

Good while washing plates

Cool to explore a new genre and music from a country I haven't explored. Enjoyed the sound but it felt repetitive after a while.

Svängde inte.

World, 2015 -> 2

This was kind of cool. Honestly pretty solid blues. It stinks not knowing what they’re saying, but the emotion is conveyed!

not the usual type of music id listen to but the instrumentals are so good top 3; 🥇ai tchere bele 🥈nick 🥉wayei

Nice record

Meh. Not for me

Not really my vibe, apprecite it tho

Not for me

Car commercial music, but african. Very repetetive. 3.5/10 Favourite track: N/A

Not my thing but not too bad. Probably didn’t give it the attention it deserves. More importantly, “worldwide” isn’t a genre and Apple Music is just lazy and racist

Fine stuff. World music

Starts off really nice, but it just kind of immediately loses steam. It doesn't really go in any interesting direction, it just stays where it is. As an album it's pretty weak.

Dessert Blues... Mali Musicians in exile. But the music is a drum machine, a kind of guitar, and vocals.

Not my music…

No mikäs ettei. Oli länsimaista saundia ja afrikkalaista tekstiä. Mitäänhän tästä ei ymmärrä mutta mukavaa ja duurivoittoista meininkiä!

Neat to hear blues in other languages, but it got repetitive not understanding lyrics

3.9/10 2 listens, decent vibe but ain't it for me, nothing that makes me want to come back to it

Cool funky vibe. Feel like the message or emotion is lost with the language barrier. I give it 3 Mali out of 10 lizard wizards

4 - BAD

This was fine, just not my cup of tea.

Not really much to say about this album to be quite honest. It’s a nice folk blues album and that’s it. I found the story about the groups inception much more interesting than the music itself.

Nope

This is good but a bit samey and play by numbers. Hard to knock because of the nature of the album but its not an easy listen. Bit plodding unfortunately.

Sourbour

Second song was nice listening on the train. Nice for getting West African vibes (a bit like Youssou N’Dour). Overall nothing special.

Meh

Don’t understand why I needed to listen to this before I die

I signed up for this service three days ago. And this is the third blues album that has been recommended. And I hate the blues. At least this isn't derivative, overly noodly, guitar showoffs. It gets two stars for that.

Cool but couldn’t connect with it for some reason. Maybe the guitar heavy production.

Typically good African beat but the single bar repetition in practically every track became tiresome. I was glad when it got to the end. Didn’t give it a second listen as I couldn’t take any more. I bet Peter Gabriel and his WOMAD lot were all over this like a rash

Interesting listen and glad I've heard of these guys now.

A couple fine songs but most is 🍑

Blah

This feels like a filler album to get the diversity and spread rating of the list up, there were interesting sounds but nothing made me thing its a "best albums of all time"

Definitely unique but not for me

Wasn't bad but it was so far out my personal style that I didn't really enjoy it.

Interesting music. I would have to be in the right mood to listen to it again.

Moro moro :D Malilaista bluesia en odottanut löytäväni kun rupesin tähän projektiin mukaan. Levy oli mielenkiintoinen, mutta en tykännyt. Laulusta en ymmärtänyt mitään joka jättää kuuntelukokemuksen pinnallisemmaksi. Soundi oli ihan kiva mutta tämä ei tarrannut mua mukaansa.

Kylläpä albumigeneraattori tarjoilee tällä kertaa vähän erikoisempaa musiikkia, mutta tämähän on koko homman suola ettei tiedä mitä täältä tulee ja saattaa tulla. Mielenkiintoinen albumi, jännä konsepti yhdistellä bluesia ja afrikkalaistyylistä perinteistä(?) laulua. Hankala vaan napata tästä kiinni, joten levy saa kakkosen.

Nyt meni kyllä hankalaks. Outo genre ja outo kieli, niin todella vaikea saada mistään kiinni. Onko tämä aavikkoblues siis jokin Afrikan oma subgenre bluessille, koska tälleen ekaa kertaa kun kuuntelee niin tämä aika perinteinen blues soitanta ja toi laulu ei kyllä sopinut yhtään yhteen. Kyllä tästä kakkonen tipahtaa. Musiikki muuten hyvää, mutta laulusta tuntuu jotenki todella irrannaiselta.

Ei tästä vihaiseksi voi ainakaan tulla, sen verran hyväntuulista ja letkeää on meno. Mutta ei oikein tarjoa sitten mitään sen enempää.

Ihan letkeetä meininkiä ja hyvää jytkytystä. Sinänsä, kun tietoisuus ahrikkalaisesta musiikista ja ennen kaikkea desert bluesista on vähäistä, niin on vaikea pistää tätä mihinkään kontekstiin. Pakko mennä siis sen mukaan, miten todennäköisesti tätä nyt kuuntelisi lisää ja miten paljon tästä tykkää. Hauskasti se mikä omaan korvaan kuulostaa jollain tapaa tutulta ahrikkamantereen musiikilta on uitettu bluesimpaan meininkiin. Levyn loppua kohden biisit vähän rauhoittuivat ja ns. tutumpi bluespoljento päätyi taka-alalle. Tavallaan jees plätty, muttei herätä suurempia tunteita.

Uus kokemus kyllä

Hemmetin mielenkiintoinen tarina ainakin levyn takana. Taidokasta soitantaa ilman muuta, mutta kyllä kokemus ja kokonaisuus jää silti vähän vajaaksi, kun ei tekstistä ymmärrä mitään. Ei varmaan kyllä tähän levyyn tule enää palattua.

no es para mi pero la instrumental mola

ehhh

This is like royalty free background music that YouTube would suggest to you instead after you've had a copyright strike on one of your videos, except the vocalist is kinda cool and charismatic. These are a desert blues/afro-rock band from Bamako, Mali, with an interesting and rather distressing backstory which overshadows the fairly average music on offer. Props to them for navigating those circumstances, using this album as a cathartic release and as a huge middle finger to forms of oppression essentially, but the end result isn't really for me.

It’s fine background music. I listened twice in order to get the sense of it. It’s calming, unassuming, and not my cuppa. Top tracks: “Soubour,” “Al Hassidi Terei”

I have no fucking clue what this is at all.

I really like the guitar but nothing really stuck out in particular.

Not bad, but not something I’ll listen to again, if I can help it.

I am not sure who this is for

Interesting album, not really my style

Not bad.

Albumi on 39 minuuttia 46 sekunttia pitkä siispä 36minuuttia 14sekunttia liian pitkä. Yhden biisin jaksaa kuunnella, mutta siitä eteenpäin alkaa tulla korvista ulos ja lopulta kaikki biisit vain puuroutuvat yhdeksi meluksi. Muistuttaa siis kaikin tavoin kananaisen yöllisiä konserttoja. Voisin kuitenkin laittaa tämän albumin soimaan uudelleen, jos esimerkiksi olisin autossa ja haluaisin ärsyttää matkakumppaneita mahdollisimman paljon. Lieneekö sama ärsytystaktiikka käytössä nykytanssiopettajilla, jotka soittavat tätä alkutunnin hytkyttelyissä.

I feel I should be sentimental because this is the LASTTGYT album!!!! But it was alright. Definitely there were songs that were pretty cool and different but I couldn’t really do 40 minutes of it.

Interesting kind of music from another cultural background.

Not my fav. Just wasn't a huge fan. Listened fully three times and never got into it

im a big fan of the drum groove on al tchere bele and the shimmery guitar riff sound throughout but esp jolie. sounds a little too mich like home depot jingle.

Kul med ett band från Namibia men känns inte som något jag skulle lyssna på igen

This was fine on its own, but I feel like I need more context to really get a lot out of this. This was recorded in a time that the artists were ousted from their town because of a war in their home country of Mali, and I'm sure the lyrics are probably about that but I don't understand any of it. Sonically, very little about this seems to be distinct from American Black blues music, so I'm not getting a Malian feel from that either. Still a 2/5, but I think it could be a 4 or even a 5 if I did the homework to understand this better. Paradoxically, though, I don't really want to do homework.

Favorites: Soubour, Irganda, Jolie I respect the hell out of this record. To make it out of a conflict and, with the help of some industry gods, make a record proving your freedom to make music is really admirable. However, I just didn't get a lot out of the record itself. The songs where it feels like a Franz Ferdinand-esque indie rock record were pretty damn good, but most of the record is just... Forgettable, unfortunately. However, I do recommend checking this out, if only because the record defied tall odds to exist in the first place.

Fine

Wtf

Day 8 First listen- Decent album, really liked the guitar. But then again the songs weren't very memorable and felt maybe few tracks could have been removed from the album. (2.5/5)

Favorites: Irganda, Nick

I wasn't a huge fan of this one.

Uit het niets opeens Iggy Pop. Prima album maar wel veel van hetzelfde.

Fine, but not for me. I might struggle with an American tendency to want to listen to music sung in english. Not because other languages anger me, but it provides an anchoring point for me to grasp on to. I also struggle to learn the context of the music if I cannot learn the lyrics.

my favourite karaoke album

interesting album for sure

not really my thing but not bad

I want to rate this higher because I really did enjoy the instrumentals. The band is very proficient in playing and the rhythm is nice and tight. I just can’t do non-English vocals and that’s no one’s fault but mine.

Music was good, lyrics are ???? because I don't know the language. Not that it's a bad thing, I just can't rate this higher than a 2 stars because lyrics often make up my mind about how good a song and album are. Since I don't want to take the time to get this translated, I'm going with 2 stars.

Has some good beats, but not understanding a single word saps any enjoyment I can get from it.

No suenan mal pero tampoco me identifico

Not my thing

Didn't listen to African rock before, especially desert rock/blues. The album is a breath of fresh air compared to most of the non-western albums, but is still pretty basic in my opinion. Most of the songs are simple, with basic chord progressions, melodies and vocals. The same motifs repeat throughout the same song, which make them a bit repetitive and boring sounding. There's a reason why most of music uses even the most basic song structures, they just makes it sound more interesting to the listener. "Nick" was a standout track for me, but even on that the same sections repeat over and over. The blues is a genre which has so much to offer and it's so easy to create different licks and passages and to make the song sound interesting and different. What I enjoyed the most were the blues oriented songs and melodies, the rock aspect wasn't that interesting to me, and I think the blues fits more into the vibe of the music for me. Was between a 2 and a 3.

It was nice to be presented with something truly new. Not just a band I haven't heard of, but I'm not sure if I've ever listened to any music that originated in Mali before. So I appreciated it from that standpoint--the opportunity to be exposed something entirely unexpected. The downside was the music itself really didn't grip me. The strong blues influences were obvious and unfortunately that kind of music just isn't my jam.

Not to my liking.

2 Stars (5/15)

Not for me, but fine.

Not bad per se, but not my thing at all. Some nice groove, but it gets repetitive.

Just an average African blues album. one of the 1001 to listen to before you die!?

Liking the blend of sounds and textures here, although it sounds as if their personal sound is still in development. Something here's not clicking for me. But I checked out their latest album and I am loving it very much.

some cool guitar

Did not hate this. Also not really my thing...

Alright but far from good.

Decent music but not my style

Not nearly as strong as Ali Farka Touré’s work, and purpose built for a “world music” section at a local health food store. But, still a vibe - I’ll admit I danced a little. I like Malian blues more than any blues from the 90s onward (SRV excepted) so at least there’s that.

story is much cooler than the music

eh

I just don’t know how to rate worldwide albums. So I’ll talk about all I can with any album which is my enjoyment. I liked their voices and the call style throughout. I also appreciated the straight simple acoustic music. I just think I’m the wrong person at the wrong time for this album. It doesn’t hold my attention (of course at the fault of my own inability to understand).

Quarter toned melodies give me vertigo. And overall it drones; like trance music - just one idea pumped over and over and over.

Not for me. Any music that I don't understand lyrically (because I don't speak the language; my "fault" I agree) has to be exceptional musically to hold my interest. This... isn't. It's competent and if I knew what they were singing about, it might be more. 2/5.

It was interesting but wasnt interesting enough to stand out to me

Ok, but not really my jam.

Some great guitar skill on display, with some energetic riffs & passionate intensity. I enjoyed the listen, just wish I could understand the lyrics.

this was mostly nice, but it was also mostly the same song over and over again

I enjoyed this. Still it makes a person feel guilty to like Damon Albarn's Mali Music more and any blues record I've ever heard less. 2 I have this a first listen without reading up about the band. It was fine. Nimbly played, blues grooves to dance to and lyrics in a language I don’t understand - nothing to fall in love with here. I then did my reading about the band and why they are particularly worthy of our attention. It seems that they fled persecution and were ultimately befriended by Damon Albarn and Julian Casablancas. I am very sorry for their troubles on all counts. But even in the glory of its tragic context, their music is just nimbly played blues grooves to dance to. There were, however, a few moments that reminded me of Ocean Colour Scene, a band that won’t be on this list since they have never had to flee persecution and, I daresay, have no friends. So I went and listened to a little OCS. Profit in Peace is a banger. 1998! They weren’t wrong - ‘we’ did gotta fight some more. They had the 21st Century’s number. Do Songhoy Blues’ songs (now a decade old apparently) have that kind of perspicacity? I have no idea, thirty seconds research on Google didn’t turn up the English translation so I gave up. 1.5/5

decent guitar work, interesting band

Didn’t care. *listened on 2025-03-18*

It's alright energetic rock. I appreciate the story behind the album, but sonically it got pretty same-y and not all that interesting.

A fine album. Despite not understanding the lyrics (obviously) it was a good background.

Probably one of the Most unknown Albums on the List. While it wasnt my Cup of tea, I really liked some of the Instrumentals. The vocals Not so much. Nevertheless this album showed me the many was this project will Broaden my Musical horizon

My second African-language album on this list. I'm glad that there's diversity on the list, but like Lam Toro by Baaba Maal, it's hard to connect with the songs. The music itself is fantastic - I love the guitar riffs and musicianship but I wouldn't reach for this again.

Wish I liked this more. I didn’t hate it. But after 3 tracks I was mostly bored. The craft is good, but it’s just not my thing. 2.5/5

Wasn't bad.

Prima muziek, maar niet heel bijzonder. **

• 2/5 • Love the guitar work, but not the vocals • the tracks largely sound alike

2 stars 😴😴

Not my cup of tea

How is this on the list? It is okay, not great by any means. Kinda good I guess. It seems so random and recent to be worthy of the “essential” list

Not really my thing but sounded ok.

Ret fint, de er dygtige og sådan, men det varierede også meget hvor engageret jeg var. Håber ikke det her er bogens valg af plade til at repræsentere songhoy, så måtte de meget gerne have smidt en egentlig Ali Farka Touré plade på i stedet

Didn’t get the whole thing listen to, but I could tell there’s probably some good stuff in there

While I have appreciated the majority of the African albums featured on this list, this particular one, despite its lively nature, failed to capture my interest.

Can see how it might be good if you can understand it but the difference in language kind of broke the experience. The covers were ok. The first song got my hopes up but it was downhill from there.

Groupe inconnu. Je ne suis pas fan de blues, je trouve ce style en général trop monotone. C'est le cas ici, les morceaux sont répétitifs. Même si les chorus de guitare sont plutôt intéressants (+1), je ne l'écouterais pas une seconde fois. =>2/5

How this made the list I'll never know.

This sounded like a heavy blues and country album but sung by Africans, pretty cool

Not really for me

I recognize it as good, but just not my thing

Heidän bluesinsa on vähän yksitoikkoista, vaikka kuulostaakin kuunneltavalta. Vokaalitulkinnat lisäävät mielenkiintoa, ja Wayei-biisissä on jotain erityistä. 2,5

Not bad, but not particularly good.

Meh

Cool story. Good execution. Not particularly engaging or interesting music to me.

A struggle. 1/2 *

album did nothing for me, but it was bearable

What did I even listen to

2/5 couldn't understand any of it, was getting bored of it

I felt musically each song had a lot of repetitive melody in both the vocals and guitar parts. It didn’t feel like enough variety in that regard. They certainly are good musicians, but they lost me with the repetitiveness. Lyrically I don’t know the language, so if I could I would vote 2.5 rather than 2 out of 5 if I understood the words. Maybe the lyrics elevate the album some.

A very unique album for sure. I can go with the vibes but not something I would listen to on a daily basis.

It was ok

Overrated Album. Hate it.

No me gusta el estilo.

Not a big fan of this sadly despite it being quite a unique listen. I don't find the songs to be that memorable and it starts to feel quite samey after a while. I wish it would have a stronger presence or like more electrified blues to grab my attention. I don't see myself going back to this one. 2.5 stars.

Enjoyable but not memorable.

Musically, this is good. But the language barrier brings it down for me

2.5

2.5/5

Pre-listening thoughts: I have never heard of this group or album yet again. This is a more recent pick so I’m extra curious just because picks from the 2010s and beyond are so few and far between. Also what are the odds that in my first 50 albums two of them are African music? I thought this list was very white and western centric so either there’s more diverse picks than I thought or the random generator is giving me all the non-western picks now. Post/during listening thoughts: Just like the other album I have heard from an African musician, I do not speak the language they are singing in so my understanding of the album and any context it may fall in is super limited. I had no idea desert blues was/is a genre so this is kinda interesting. I think maybe watching whatever documentary this band was featured in may provide some needed context but without it, this music is pretty standard sounding world rock. 4/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: not without proper context (also have been informed that this album was in a previous edition of the book and has since been removed - interesting) Fav tracks: Irganda Least fav tracks: idk man I zoned out today was a long day PS I just want to say I found the list of albums that were in previous editions of the book that have since been removed but are still in this generator. This one I’m not upset I had to listen to but the VINES album?? That one was terrible! Should’ve never been in the stupid book to begin with. And wym you’re gonna remove Britney, Gorillaz, and TWO Adele albums but keep soooo much other crap??? Crazy.

Music in Exile is the kind of album I desired exposure to! But Songhoy Blues' story is more interesting than their music. Their music, while nowhere near the awful trash I've been subjected to, was repetitive and melded together. I couldn't get into the album despite my best efforts. I learned about the genre desert blues--and I can say with confidence that Songhoy Blues absolutely honed in on a blues, rock, and African sound. At the very least, I don't regret listening to this album.

I listened to the first two tracks on the album. There were interesting melodies in them, but it became too African for me. I therefore stopped listening further. 2/5

The instrumentation and vocals are solid throughout but after a couple of tracks nothing much really changes and becomes incredibly samey. 4/10

Like the soundtrack to a Mali version of The Departed.

Did nothing for me

1.8/5 listened 2x

2.8

Interesting group. Good music, enjoyed listening to them.

Great musicianship. Songs not so much.

I've never heard of this band before and their story is very inspiring. I was somewhat excited initially because I felt like the music was competent and I was hoping to hear something that really stood out to me deeper in the album. Unfortunately I never found anything that stood out to me and before I realized I'd been through the album 3 times without really noticing any of it. I don't think it's bad, just very forgettable and same-y Standouts - 2/5

Had a nice beat.

I hope I am not been a bit unkind here but I do think that inclusion of this album on this list is a tick boxing exercise to include a fair percentage of rest of the world albums in the list. If an album is deserving of inclusion then it should but surely an album should have some merit making it stand out from the mean but I fail to hear anything of merit here. There are plenty of rest of the world album’s out there which I am aware of and which have had some influence on some of the top artists making great albums today. Peter Gabriel albums immediately spring to mind. To make an assessment about the worthiness of this album I did of course listen to it. It is a joyful album and the instrumentation on the album is good. But nothing exceptional. I had a one star rating in my head but then after a bit of research learnt that there is a deluxe version of this album. This comprised of extra tracks two of which are covers of The Clash’s Should I Stay Or should I Go? And Led Zep’s Kashmir. Jimmy Page apparently endorsed this version which alone gives the album another star. The Clash’s best known song (probably?) rocks along well and is interesting because it is sung in another native tongue. That is worth another listen and perhaps playing to your Clash mates to garner a reaction. 2/5 15/7/24

Uhhh not a fan & definitely not a must listen to before you die.

Does not hold up that well.

It's fine but the words mean so much in a song that when I can't understand them then I don't really like the song. 2.48.

This album is deceivingly modern. Because if this exact same thing, cover and all, came out in the 80s or even the 90s, I wouldn’t bat an eye. This doesn’t feel like something that released in the same year as Rodeo by Travis Scott. It’s hard to provide something new or unique to music in the 21st century. Any idea you might have has probably already been done by somebody in the past. So when something does actually give a new take or approach, it stands out. Except I don’t know how well this album really stands out. This band still seems to be pretty underground. That’s kind of the unfortunate fact of groups from eastern countries. But I believe they still succeed in providing a new angle on their genre. Specifically blues. They combine it with more traditional African rock and world music to make what is called desert blues. And I can admire this fusion. Because it is, for once, something new to me. But that is sadly where the positive things I have to say end. Because beyond that, this isn’t actually doing anything that interesting. It’s a unique blend of genres, but the most unique thing about the music itself is the vocals. I saw a comment someone made about this occasionally sounding like Home Depot music, and that stuck with me the whole listen. Because it is sort of true. But once I reached the half way point, everything just started to blend together, and I lost any engagement I might have had at one point. It’s not like I was anticipating anything mind blowing. But I can see potential for something better. Maybe I’m just not open-minded enough for something like this. Rating: 4/10

Felt like I lost a ton of context because of the language difference unfortunately. Left me with okay, not great, blues music

it was okay. probably wouldn't listen to it again.

Good music but not my scene

Funky but they do kinda blend together. It's King Gizzard but I don't speak the language.

Wasnt too interested

Eh

Meh.

I never heard of this band. Lyrics are not English. The song arrangements are catchy and bluesy. I have a hard time getting past the singer and the language barrier. I do like the guitar work though. Kinda fun I guess.

Average

medio pesado !! ya fueee. 6/10

No idea why this is included in the 1001, but it's not bad. A little repetitive.

African folk.

Surprised by this - liked it more than I expected. Which lead me on to starting to worry about liking albums where I don’t know what they’re singing about. I mean it’s probably fine right? But they could be singing about anything?

The best songs are the one that lean more “African” and less “blues”, but overall, they’re all too repetitive. Unfortunately, that leaves us with half a decent album, and half forgettable.

Musically this was great, I loved it. Lyrics and stroy telling are important to me, I alwsys struggle with the language barrier. Favourite song: Soubour Least favourite: Everything was OK Album artwork: Good

The blues sounds fine, but I would not listen to this album again.

If this was added, what was taken out?!

Some solid jams here. Not much I'd really return to, but pretty invigorating while it was on

I’ve heard much better versions of this sort of thing. Whatever.

Gave me Kaiser Chiefs vibes. Must more westernised than I was expecting, but I didn’t like the combo.

Piacevole ma c'è di meglio nel genere

A bit of a surprise as this mixes traditional Malian influence with an almost alternative rock/blues sound. Such an interesting combination of sounds all coming together to formulate a record that I really did not know was going to be what it was.

Good, a little repetitive. Top marks for Al Tchere Bele. Struck me as an odd inclusion to this list.

C'mon man. Like big props to these dudes for resisting oppressors and terror groups in their country and using the power of music to bring light to the injustices happening in a part of the world I know nothing about. But here's the thing, I don't speak Mali. And therefore actually hear none of that happening on this record. I don't think the instruments or sound of this album carry anything beyond what I think sounds pretty generic. Terribly boring listen. This list has issues.

So basic but it could be worse, a 2.5 for me