Emmaar

On 2011's Tassili, Tinariwen—the Sahara desert's most popular musical export—went back to their roots, recording deep in the desert rather than at a studio and trading their electric instruments for acoustic ones. That album's follow-up finds the band exploring a variation on that idea, but this time in the Californian desert of Joshua Tree, where they set up in a house and recorded live. They're back to the electric axes here, and the hypnotically interlocking guitar patterns that have made Tinariwen an international name are more intense than ever, laid atop syncopated beats born of both percussion and handclaps. The hostile political climate in Tinariwen's homeland was the impetus for their California trip (among other things, a band member was arrested by Ansar Dine militants who'd seized power). These events likely informed Emmaar's smoldering feel at least as much as the West Coast vibe. For all the electricity generated, though, the closing cut, "Aghregh Medin (Hassan's Song)," shows that the band can still burn even when they're unplugged.