Musiq House

Take a high-tech trip across the mother continent with the latest in African-flavored electronic fusions. Issa Bagayogo kicks off a wide-ranging collection that's as varied stylistically as it is geographically. The lean, desert techno of "Saye Mogo Bana" has little in common with the R&B style of Madeka from the Ivory Coast, and even less to do with "Uhiki," from the Keyans Hardstone, which samples Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." The bosses of this sort of contemporary African music have to be Senegalese rappers Positive Black Soul, who represent with the stark "Wouyouma," featuring Beanie Man's yelping in the background. From there, the groove gets progressively more abstract, including U.S. world music boosters Thievery Corporation with an Afro-beat deconstruction and the Pleb's trancey take on Senegalese vocals. Two hard-hitting tracks from South Africa complete the journey.