The Top 25 Albums Of 2021 (So Far): Mdou Moctar - 'Afrique Victime'

Blending traditional Tuareg music with electric guitar and contemporary rhythms, Mdou Moctar is truly a one-of-a-kind musician in 2021. 

The Nigerian-born performer is perhaps the truest form of a self-made artist there is: having built his own guitar as a youth and garnering fame in his country through a local practice of across mobile phones and memory cards containing his music.

Fast forward to 2021 and Moctar is touring the US on the back of his seventh studio release, Afrique Victime. A phenomenal blend of psychedelic and traditional sounds, Moctar is a creative powerhouse. The duality of his musicality may be new to some, but it is seeped in history and personality that many could only dream of achieving. 

As mentioned in a review from The Music on release, "Moctar’s music feels fresher than ever and is genuinely innovative. Like some many established ‘underground’ artists signing to Matador before him, Moctar plays like he has something to prove on Afrique Victime and in doing so delivers a what should be a crossover moment." 

Afrique Victime is a spacey, jam-heavy delight that will take listeners to places well and truly unknown.