Time Capsule / Brilliant Corners / Beauty & The Beat family member, Pol Valls, has put together this brilliant compilation for Hot Mule. The album selects 8 tracks from the 20+ year career of British musician Martin Cradick, and cherry-picking music inspired by his time spent with Baka people of the Cameroon rainforest. It collects tracks from releases by the 5-piece, Outback, and also the expanded, international collective, Baka Beyond. The latter, live festival favourites, at times contained up to 8 members, from Cameroon, Congo, France, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Senegal.

The music mixes ancient instruments with the odd modern production technique, but largely stays true to its traditional African roots. It’s a joyful blend of woodwinds, chiming, expertly plucked strings and celebratory chants, all set to percolating organic and programmed percussion. Cool cultural collisions, global folk music fusions of complex countering rhythms, of mandolin, kora, and often Spanish leaning guitar.

Some tracks, such as “Aziz Aziz”, melodically travel toward the Middle East and North Africa. Hitting like Sublime Frequencies Sir Richard Bishop jamming with Tinariwen. “Yoka”, a faster, dancing, dizzy, spinning dervish, too, is driven by talented Tuareg twanging. “Cat’s Cradle”, conversely, is distinctly West. Incorporating laidback acoustic, Malian griot and electric, wah-wahed, Nigeria JuJu music licks.

Several numbers, “Desert Rain” for example, underpin playful idiophone ripples with deep, didgeridoo drones. Lending these pieces a nice psychedelic edge, since sonically they’re almost indistinguishable from the mutant bass shapes made by acid house’s trusty TB-303. “Booma Lena” bumps to a very groovy B-line, and soars thanks to the jazzy, Romany violin of Paddy Le Mercier. A feel good, swing, sing along built around looped children’s voices, this sits easily alongside Cafe del Mar sunset classics, such as A Man Called Adam’s “Estelle”. Su Hart’s ethereal singing, and castanet-like clicking, single out “Ndaweh’s Dream”, while a squeezebox, and big, rolling piano solo on the stomping “What Can I Say” also make for another super Balearic beat.

The Tribal Sound of Baka Beyond & Outback 1991-2014 can be ordered directly from Hot Mule.