Late last year Sublime Frequencies released the album 1970s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground, which is completely ridiculous as a genre-concept and also has a really overwhelming color scheme that makes it difficult to read the liner notes. But we pursued and finally listened to the compilation of accordion heavy foot stompers. (One song's title translates to "I'm Still Getting Drunk... Still" and another is "I Cuddle Myself." But, truth is, we mostly filed rai in the nooks of musical minds until a friend sent us the above song by Cheb Khaled which we dutifully listened to out of exploratory allegiance, until three minutes thirty seconds deep when the beat kicks in. Rai! If you can't wait, just click up there, though the mellow synth build is worth the wait. In further rai excavation, we checked FADER contributor Jace Clayton's site and found he wrote an excellent rai primer in the guise of a review for English language Abu Dhabi newspaper, The National. After the jump are some songs he recommended and a few of our own findings (check the DJ Bob mix for Autotune).