Various artists: Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959

In July 1959, American-expatriate, novelist, and composer Paul Bowles embarked from his apartment in Tangier on an expedition to record as many types of indigenous Moroccan music as possible. In 1972, the Library of Congress issued a double-LP set with 26 tracks culled from his six-month journey. Dust-to-Digital’s expansive remastering and repackaging of this remarkable ethnomusicological enterprise includes four CDs plus a 120-page tooled leatherette book containing an introduction by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, liner notes by Philip Schuyler, and Bowles’ original field observations. The music ranges from groove-heavy percussive chants and plaintive melodies played on flutes and lutes to eerily ecstatic flights of choral fantasy and ambient sounds of the desert. The manifest result is a historically invaluable, hypnotically immersive experience. ★★★★☆