Outside the scope of rock and pop, “supergroups” are less heralded. Besides the acclaimed Masters of Persian Music, Arabic folk mergers remain sparse. Niyaz (NEE-az) easily slips into that category, drawing from a thousand years of Iranian and Indian influence and rebooting it with digital charges. Comprising former Vas vocalist…

Like its sonic predecessors — jazz, blues and R&B — hip-hop is undergoing a massive assimilation until everything is tinged with, in one way or another, rap. The sheer amount of gimmickry in producing and presenting “original” hip-hop today is daunting, which is why a record like True & Livin’…