SONGHOY BLUES Resistance (Transgressive/Inertia) When this young Malian group were in Australia last year for the Sydney Festival it was not their mix of west Africa and American blues, nor their blending of politics we grasped without words and rhythms which induced dancing, that most stood out. We’re reasonably familiar with the form and the sounds of Mali by now after all. And even though the mixed results of the preceding tour and album from Amadou and Mariam had deflated

Checked out the first batch of best albums of the year? Good. Here's the concluding half, with ten more excellent releases. Buy them all. Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul The instrumental Stark’s Reality, with its marimba flirting across a ‘70s crime film atmosphere (leaning bass, strings for emphasis rather than tension, shaker percussion more than drums) may be over in not much more than two minutes but its connection to a similar modern film noir soundtrack you