Adagh

The Beatles begot numerous generations of groups and 30 years after they broke up, the likes of Oasis were still under the sway of their ubiquitous influence. So it's rather pleasing to find that Tinariwen are now having a similarly profound impact on Touareg or Tamashek music. Tamikrest is a group of young musicians who were barely into their teens when Tinariwen first forged their singular guitar music. There is much on Tamikrest's debut album that will sound familiar to Tinariwen fans – the loping, camel–gait rhythms, the strange time signatures, the ululating and hypnotic vocals. But this is a new take on the trademark Tinariwen sound. Ousmane Ag Mossa, the frizzy– locked leader of Tamikrest who looks like the kid brother of Tinariwen's Ibrahim, grew up listening to rap, metal and Western pop music. So when he and his seven– strong group met Dirtmusic, a bunch of American indie–rock musicians, in 2008, their music made an easy and natural fit. The result is Adagh and the differences as well as the similarities to the Tinariwen sound are immediately evident on the opening track, ‘Outamachek’. The predominant vibe here is African rock rather than desert blues, with the rhythms being more four–square and at times displaying a reggae influence. The guitars, too, sound quite different: smoother, less snaking and probably more accessible to Western ears, recalling bands such as Dire Straits on ‘Tidite Tille’, Santana on ‘Aicha’ and the Grateful Dead on ‘Amidini’. Some might regret that it's an easier ride than the raw and earthy blues of Tinariwen. But it's a captivating sound and one that should guarantee them an audience that extends far beyond the usual world music stockade.