Back in 1995, a French musician, composer and producer named Ludovic Navarre – aka St Germain – released an album called Boulevard that sold over one million copies; five years later, his album Tourist sold four times that. Riven with electronic loops, ambient doodles and vocal samples that met and combined in ways leftfield and clever, this was electronic music with bite, drive and very often, soul. There was blues and reggae in there, and hip hop and jazz as well, along with the percussive grooves that have always marked his sound, and continue to mark it here. But this time around, emboldened, perhaps, by the rumour that he'd given up music altogether, Navarre has turned to West Africa – to the creatively fecund Mali – and made a record that deftly balances tradition and modernity and begs repeated listening. Opener ‘Real Blues’, with its vocal sample from Lightnin’ Hopkins, judders, twangs and grooves with otherworldly verve. With this and other standout tracks too numerous to mention – ‘Hanky Panky’ and ‘Family Tree’ among them – Navarre continues to revolutionise electronic music. He plays London's Troxy on 11 November.