The demands of writing, editing, translating and syndicating hardware reviews plus covering editorials, news posts and maintaining this site leave me no time for writing the type of full-length music reviews I used to write when 6moons was less busy. Even so those readers who share my love of what in general goes by world music though that's a pretty poor term—does everything else come from outer space?—keep asking for at least miniature capsule mentions so they can accompany me on my field trips of worthwhile new finds. Here I must qualify 'new' with 'new to me'. Just because I discover something now doesn't imply it was recently released. It could be older stuff. But that's the magic of music. The good stuff is timeless. Heck, aficionados of classical music keep listening to compositions a few centuries old. Time and timing aren't of the essence. Selectivity is. Professional music reviewers tend to educate their readers with things like genre history, styles, key artists and core recordings one ought to know in a given sector. This isn't that. All that this is are mini mentions of music I happen to have on rotation on any given month. Think of it as sneak views into somebody else's playlists - mine in this case... Some of the world's best Flamenco guitarists had recently put out new albums so summery June put a lot of that fiery type on rotation. With Vicente Amigo's Tierra we encounter an artist who many considered to be Paco de Lucia's unofficial successor in a novel setting somewhere deep in the heart of Gaul. Here one strain of musical roots trace their way up the Druidic ley lines to the green shores of Ireland and Scotland. It's this very earthy connection with its memories of gigs, reels and the timbres of flutes, fiddlers and bagpipes which Tierra mines in a fabulous crossover effort that dances on the edge of Flamenco rhythms, Flamenco phrasings and indefinable yet very tangible Galway-meets-Granada elements. Brilliantly inventive, top-drawer musicianship! Gerardo Núñez's Travesía reminds us both of this guitarist's monstrous technique and his uncanny knack for fluidly crossing from Flamenco into Jazz, Salsa and back without losing a beat. This isn't from your father's Sabicas or Manitas de Plata collection. This is cutting-edge 21st century Flamenco that'll have you at similar hallo to watching the Olympic Games and marveling over athletes continuing to set new records with the same old human bodies. Here the shocker aren't merely the raw finger chops of the quicksilvery maestro. The true shocker is the compositional brilliance which culminates in the lengthy final track that goes stylistic places the beginning couldn't possibly prepare you for. Way trippy in a very sober non-Hippy way! With Soy Flamenco, the adventurous little tomato aka José Fernández Torres gets to pay tribute to his admiration for George Benson, then more than tips his Spanish hat at Pat Metheny with a gorgeous read of a Jazz standard simply called "Our Spain". The album revisits two Camaron de la Isla songs from Tomatito's days as the famed singer's inseparable accompanist and also features Paco de Lucía and the voices of Guadiana and his own daughter Mari Ángeles Fernández. As he demonstrated with his two Michel Camilo collaborations—Flamenco guitar, Latin piano—Tomatito's musical curiosity has come a long way but his big heart continues to outshine all technical aspects. John Amir Haddad seems to be to Flamenco guitar what Ismail Lumanovski is to the current clarinet. Where Lumanovski can do classical as well as wicked Balkan ruchenitzas, Gipsy Jazz, Turkish taqsim and nouveau chamber music and supports numerous ensembles to mine different strains, John Amir plays pure Flamenco, Mediterranean crossover and Rock with at least three different formations. On 9 Guitarras he sticks mostly to the pure Flamenco idiom but not only plays nine different guitars to show off different timbres, he also adds the Greek bouzuq and Arabian oud. I'd never of heard this artist before but 9 Guitarras showed him to be at the very top of this game. There are plenty of YouTube vids to sample his playing. On Coplas del Querer, the ever adventurous Miguel Poveda who'd previously surprised the purists by collaborating with the astonishing qawwali singer Faiz Ali Faiz follows the super-popular precedent of long-haired gitano singer El Cigala and his Lagrimas Negras crossover efforts with octogenarian Cuban pianist Bebo Valdez. Love Letters is related to Flamenco primarily by the singer's inflections and stylings but otherwise moves us into a milieu dominated by violin, muted trumpet, piano and massive string orchestra. For another pointer, the female counterpoint to El Cigala and Miguel Poveda would be Concha Buika. If you love the tattooed diva or the elegant crayfish but didn't know Miguel... you're missing out. Then Coplas is the best place to make his acquaintance. On Mestizuö, the Mallorca native had moved into straightahead Jazz ballads to explore a very different side of her thrilling voice against the piano of Jacob Sureda. This she pulled off as convincingly as Sting's sadly under appreciated exploits have been with standards - which is to say brilliantly. Buika and "My one and only love" is quite special. Having dedicated another previous album to the songs of Mexican sorceress Chavela Vargas who also was a favorite of diva Lila Downs, La noche más larga now shifts us into a funky mélange of Latin Jazz dominated by African and Cuban elements. This material is solidly anchored by the arrangements of Ivan Lewis and Ramon Porrina who also hold down the fort on keyboards and percussion. Having heard Natacha Atlas live at last year's Paléo Festival in the open fields around Nyon—our annual Swiss recreation of Woodstock—and even seen her delight our standing-only audience with a bit of coy belly dance, I really resonate with her latest Expressions - Live in Toulouse. It's a very gentle all-acoustic affair that meanders lazily to downtempo hip-swaying grooves which are overlaid on honeyed Arabian string orchestra. It has her undulating Egyptian vocals in stark contrast to some of her far edgier electronica-driven earlier shaabi efforts. It's lovely to watch this maturing artist counter prevailing trends of 60-something rockers refusing to slow down. This Natacha previewed already on Ana Hina acts her years and is all the sexier for it.