I first heard of Natacha Atlas back in my formative days of DJ’ing - she was the arabic voice that was sampled for the Coldcut remix of Paid in Full by Eric B and Rakim, and became an almost signature voice for my early DJ sets, playing the original cut and paste tunes of the era. Turns out that Natacha Atlas is from Belgium - but has North African roots from which to call her beautiful singing voice, and Arabic lyrics. This new album draws from right across the spectrum - mid-eastern music blends with hip-hop and bass heavy beats, along with rap vocals on the tracks like ‘Feen’. Its a stunning album - showcasing the beautiful voice, alongside a great mix of styles. Standout tracks for me are ’Feen’ and ‘Ghanwa Bossanova’. A brilliant cocktail of an album - I’ll post back itunes and amazon links shortly.