Reviews
Outliers
Jenny Sturgeon & Boo Hewerdine
The title of this collaboration between singer-songwriters Jenny Sturgeon and Boo Hewerdine encapsulates the lockdown experience in which it was...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: June/2024
Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds in the Diaspora, 1980-93
This compilation, the second in a Soundways series that started with 2009’s Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981,...
Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: July/2024
Espontaneamente se Tenta: Aventuras Sonoras de Djalma Corrêa
While Djalma Corrêa (1942-2022) is renowned for his research into Afro-Brazilian percussion and his work with the Tropicalistas Doces Bárbaros,...
Reviewed by Andy Cumming in issue: July/2024
MESTIZX
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly
This is a concept album of sorts from the husband-and-wife team of drummer Frank Rosaly and singer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti,...
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: July/2024
A Strange Day in June
Led by mandolin, guitar, banjo, flute, harmonica and sitar player John Kruth, New York-based The Folklorkestra are a mostly instrumental...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: July/2024
The Kindest One
Jorga Mesfin is a comparatively new kid on the Ethio-jazz block. The Ethiopian saxophonist also happens to be Mulatu Astatke’s...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: July/2024
Passeport
From the moment Lassana Sané, aka Lass, gently launches into the opening track ‘Massamba’, the listener is aware of the...
Reviewed by Daniel Brown in issue: July/2024
TIDET
If you’re anything like me, you only need three words to make you want to listen to this: Libyan Touareg...
Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: August/2024
Mi Latinoamérica Sufre
The eccentric genius of Eblis Álvarez’ Meridian Brothers project is now 12 albums deep. The Colombian magician’s unrivalled capacity for...
Reviewed by Justin Turford in issue: August/2024
Weġgħat Żgħar
What a surprise to hear an album sung predominantly in Maltese. Infused inevitably with Mediterranean influences, bolstered by perceptible Levantine,...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: August/2024
