Ayeshteni
With her fourth solo recording,Ayeshteni, Egyptian  songstressNatacha Atlasputs  her voice dead center, coming on snake-hipped, seductive, and  sophisticated with a feral emotional core. Made in Cairo (with some  assistance from herTransglobal  Undergroundmates, whom Atlas has collaborated with since the early  '90s), the songs swellshaabistyle, incorporating trippy beats,  guttural cries, sinuous strings, and a disturbing yet undeniable beauty  that brings no one to mind so much as musical kindred spirit Björk.  The latter is perhaps most evident on the artist's bewitching  scratch-filled take on Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "I Put a Spell on You" and the  Jacques Brel classic "Ne Me Quitte Pas," infused here with  North African-by-21st-century fervor. Elsewhere, Western listeners need not  fear the Arabic language; Atlas's focused delivery and challenging  arrangements are more than tastefully tuneful, rather they are so  compelling as to transcend language and cultural barriers. This is  music of the cells, the body, and the roaming spirit; yet another way  to free the mind and have the flesh follow.--Paige La Grone