Consumer Guide: February, 2025

A smart and sexy woman’s frustrating quest for true love, a polyrhythmic meeting of Peruvian electronica and Congolese guitar, mean jokes and next-level feminism, and gnomic wisecracks postpunk style.

Amadou & Mariam: La Vie Est Belle (Because) Not counting none other than Youssou N’Dour, the now 70- and 65-year old “blind couple of Mali” gathered more international plaudits than any Afropop act of their generation. Their most prestigious honor was nabbing Welcome to Mali’s 2010 Contemporary World Music Grammy nomination, when they were somehow outpaced by, oy, Bela Fleck. But to say that I own five of their earlier albums isn’t to claim I play them much—their rhythms are more reliable than uplifting. Yet when this two-LP compilation that includes many songs I already own showed up in the mail, multiple replays came easily enough, which isn’t to assume an all-new album can't be in their future. Upful, varied, and well-practiced, with a big tone and a fondness for decorative distortion, their vie remains sufficiently belle to argue convincingly that they needn’t slow to a stop quite yet. A MINUS