Welcome to the August 2014 “summer rocks” issue of Black Grooves, sponsored by the Archives of African American Music and Culture.

As a tie-in to the annual AfroPunk Festival, we’re featuring a number of recent rock-oriented releases from bands across the continent including Neuroplasticity by Cold Specks (Montreal) and Comet, Come To Me by Meshell Ndegeocello (both will be featured at AfroPunk 2014) as well as The Darknuss by Rebellum (NYC), The Cost of Living by the Revelations (Brooklyn), Live Free & Love by Gedeon Luke and the People (Memphis), Faithful Brave & Honest by the Honorable South (New Orleans), Experiments in Time by Willis Earl Beal (Chicago), and Devil May Care by Magic Mouth (Portland, OR).

Under the category of folk and gospel is Ruthie Foster’s Promise of a Brand New Day (produced by Ndegeocello) and Beverly Crawford’s Thank You For All You’ve Done. Hip hop releases include Indiana native Freddie Gibbs’ collab with Madlib on Piñata, and SoCal artist Pigeon John’s Encino Man. Our world music feature is the compilation Peru Maravilloso: Vintage Latin, Tropical and Cumbia.

Wrapping up this month’s issue is the compilation of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles’ Complete Atlantic Sides Plus,  the first CD reissues of two albums by the disco funk band Chanson, and our listing of July releases of note.