Album: Ibrahim Maalouf, Diasporas (Discograph)

Lebanese/French trumpeter Maalouf uses a quartertone instrument invented by his father to create impressively wobbly, Arabic-sounding departures from the well-tempered scale.

Though one is invited to read a post-colonial perspective into his version of "Night in Tunisia" (called "Missin' Ya") as well as the album's title, intersecting found-sound atmospheres and gratuitous oud solos, they can also seem a little too last century, like "Karmacoma"-style trip-hop beats. What you want is to hear him sizzle.