Reviews
Chaos Theories
Hell hath no fury like a brassy sextet from Ottawa when riled. This, their ninth album since getting together in...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: November/2019
This Willowed Light
This is a great return from the young British folk singer Maz O’Connor. Much of the credit for the rich...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: Aug/Sep/2014
Like a Bird or Spirit, Not a Face
You take the world's foremost female throat-singer and the rhythm section from Tinariwen, put them in the studio with Grammy-winning...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: April/2016
J'ai Bu
Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project
The Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project originated from a busking trip to south-west China in 2006 by songwriter and guitarist Jean-Philippe...
Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: June/2021
Our Garden Is Alone
Opener ‘Leyli’s Garden’, heralded by a breathy flourish on the ney, is a personal and heartfelt homage to Vahdat’s late...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: October/2022
Cabaret of Death
Unfortunately I haven’t yet seen the Polish drama documentary Cabaret of Death, which won a Prix Italia last year. Directed...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: March/2016
Temperamento: Traditional Songs from Spain
Vigüela is a Toledo-based outfit of singers, guitarists and players of castanets, tambourines, shearing scissors, cowbells, sieves, the lute-like bandurria,...
Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: Aug/Sep/2016
Lady Sings the Balkan Blues
Mostar Sevdah Reunion are a Bosnian institution. Emerging out of the ruins of war-torn Bosnia in 1998, tending the traditions...
Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: March/2023
Türlü
Haci Tekbilek is a gruff vocalist and a fine performer on several Turkish instruments, including saz, sax, bendir drum and,...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: October/2010
Pressure to Pleasure
Recorded live in studios in Lagos and London by a sprawling Afrobeat band led by bassist and vocalist Femi Sofela,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2018
