Zebda's second album is a marked advanced over L'Arêne des Rumeurs -- the latter is a very good debut, but the French band is more comfortable and assured in the studio setting here. The ney keyboard sample that starts several songs almost sounds like a muzzein calling the faithful to hear the word and the constant change-ups of musical elements in the arrangements show that Zebda is adding to and changing the form, not content with just doing raggamuffin en français. Magyd Cherfi's lyrics offer strong social critiques, but he's a street-wise storyteller who draws on experiences derived from life around him and is just as concerned with bringing the positive forward. The hometown ode Toulouse is a driving raggamuffin with the drums pushing hard behind the tag-team vocals, while Ma Rue (My Street) incorporates strings behind the speed-rapped vocal delivery. And France II and Cameroun celebrate "outsider" France, the former via a buzzsaw guitar riff that settles into a ska-reggae mix and the latter with a raw guitar hook and stabbing clavinet ragga. The title track is a well-constructed mini-epic, quoting musically from the guitar intro to Bob Marley the Wailers' Concrete Jungle and lyrically from a speech by French Premier Jacques Chirac. Chirac seems to be talking about French family values, so it's pretty easy to assume whom he's implying as responsible for "the noise and the smell" in the city, as Pascal Cabero plays a nice acoustic guitar solo under it. Standout tracks are Mon Pere M'a Dit..., with a menacing minimal riff before accordion and violin come in, and the excellent La Faucille et le Marteau digging at the hips with stabbing clavinet funks and a rock guitar roar even as Arabic ney samples and string flourishes sail overhead. But variety rules: La Bete is almost guitar-driven ragga; Le Bilan has an electric piano-driven, loping acid jazz feel; and keyboards soar off into dub effects over the bass anchor of Taslima.

1		Toulouse
2		Taslima
3		La Faucille et le Marteau
4		Le Bruit et l'Odeur
5		La Bete (J-M-L-P)
6		France
7		Maanouche
8		Le Bilan
9		Chomage
10		Mon Pere M'A Dit
11		Marabiau
12		Dub du Village
13		Ma Rue
14		Basket Bolk
15		Cameroun
16		Hereditaire
17		France Dub