Whether it's the Gorillaz or his Blur reunion, Damon Albarn stays busy. In his "off" time, he's been making a trek to Mali for a while now. It began in 2002 with the excellent release Mali Music, and continues this year with the fruits of his atest discoveries on the newly released Africa Express Presents: Maison des Jeunes. The trip that bore these fruits was a bit different as he invited a few notable friends with him; Brian Eno,Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Holy Other, members of Django Django and Metronomy to name-check a few. The resulting album is a cornucopia of surprising sounds from unheralded artists getting production assistance from established indie artists.
Good music throughout this new one and even a video...