What an album to introduce the world to desert blues — a sound described by one critic who reviewed the album at the time as “strange and mysterious, hypnotic and exotic.” Produced by Justin Adams, The Radio Tisdas Sessions was recorded in a small, makeshift studio at a Tamasheq-language radio station in a remote desert town in Mali, and captures this stripped-back, live sound, letting the minimalist rhythms and hypnotic guitar lines pioneered by Tinariwen truly shine. Tracks like beautifully poignant “Le Chant Des Fauves,” sung by founder Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, show just how much the Tinariwen sound has changed over time, with louder, distorted guitars and a bolstered rhythm section of later albums resulting in a generally much heavier sound.