Raúl Monsalve y Los Forajidos return to Olindo Records with an explosive blend of indigenous Afro-Venezuelan rhythms, muscular spiritual jazz, future-funk, afrobeat and psychedelia on their new album ‘SOL’, an already singular band stretching themselves into masterpiece territory. With a distinctly different rhythmic heritage to many other Caribbean and Latin American countries, Raúl’s ethnomusicologist ear is as important as his brilliance as a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Inviting a top tier list of guests that includes Nick ‘Emanative’ Woodmansey, the great Congolese guitarist Kiala Nzavotunga, Tony Allen’s last musical director Yann Jankielewicz and Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto to collaborate with his multinational outfit, they manage to convey the complex heritage of Venezuela’s coastal regions with a contemporary, well-travelled energy. A mix of original songs are joined by startlingly new interpretations of numbers by Fela Kuti and John Coltrane, their ambition matched by their talents. Read / Listen.