Album: Lo'Jo, Cinéma el Mundo (World Village)

World fusion bands tend to play a ragbag of rock, ska, Balkan brass and African rhythms, resulting in them often sounding disappointingly samey.

But that’s not the case with this consistently excellent 30-year-old French collective. The emphasis is on carnivalesque chansons, textural complexity and smoky atmospherics. Guest spots from Tinariwen and Robert Wyatt are somewhat superfluous but will hopefully bring them some new listeners.