Album: Los Chicarrons, Roots of Life (Tummy Touch)

Los Chicharrons' odd-couple pairing of Dominican-American Ramon Santana and Dane Morten Hansen has long proven a fertile source of crossover dance strains throughout Tummy Touch's 15-year existence.

Inspired by a trip to Mali, this fourth album blends in even more disparate strains, creating the year's most irresistible dance grooves so far. Opener "Kounandi" is typical, a skittishly infectious electro-balafon exercise delicately laced with threads of kora and flute, featuring a strident vocal refrain by Mariam Draba; on "Saramba's Song", interlocking guitar vamps and surging organ provide the bed for feisty horn riffs. Elsewhere, "Bamako" features Santana-esque staccato organ and percussion, while "Koko" and "Ma Do Nar" add American marching-band drums, and Latin-flavoured piano, respectively, to the pumping Afro grooves.

DOWNLOAD THIS Kounandi; Saramba's Song; Ma Do Nar; Bamako