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Review of MACHETE

MACHETE

Bejuco

Top of the World

Discos Pacífico

Rating: ★★★★

The second album from this dynamic outfit from Tumaco in Colombia’s Pacific region follows their 2021 debut, Batea, which introduced...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: December/2025

Review of Living Being IV (Time Reflections)

Living Being IV (Time Reflections)

Vincent Peirani | Vincent Peirani

ACT

Rating: ★★★

It’s French accordionist Peirani whose name is on this album, however, it should be joined by another: soprano saxophonist Emile...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: December/2025

Review of Earth Is Begging

Earth Is Begging

Sunbörn Meets Clap! Clap!

Wah Wah 45s

Rating: ★★★★

After a decade of being The KutiMangoes, in 2022, the Denmark-based band rebranded as Sunbörn, vowing to “bring people together”...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: December/2025

Review of Dakan

Dakan

Orchestra Gold

Top of the World

Orchestra Gold

Rating: ★★★★

As opening statements go, you can’t get much more gloriously emphatic than ‘Diyanye Ko’ which kicks off the fourth album...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2025

Review of There Is Beauty, There Already

There Is Beauty, There Already

Sarathy Korwar

Top of the World

Otherland

Rating: ★★★★

Drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar’s seventh album is a singular experiment in slow listening and percussive potential. It emerges alongside...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: December/2025

Review of Songs From The Cane Fields (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Songs From The Cane Fields (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Guy Buttery

Erased Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Two decades ago, the 21-year-old Guy Buttery released an instrumental album that redefined South African guitar playing. While his compatriot...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: February/March/2026

Review of King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco

King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco

Clifton Chenier

Arhoolie/Smithsonian Folkways

Rating: ★★★★★

To mark the centenary of the king of zydeco’s birth, and following an acclaimed tribute album on Valcour Records, topped...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: February/March/2026

Review of To Whom Ourselves We Owe

To Whom Ourselves We Owe

Adam Weikert

Adam Weikert

Rating: ★★★

Adam Weikert was directed towards folk music as a form of social prescribing – a chance to engage with a...

Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: February/March/2026

Review of Gil Brenton

Gil Brenton

The Magpie Arc

The Magpie Arc

Rating: ★★★★

Seventies folk provides the throbbing heart of the mighty Magpie Arc’s second full-length album, Gil Brenton. The title-track opens with...

Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: February/March/2026

Review of Dislocated Pulse

Dislocated Pulse

Mehrnam Rastegari

Top of the World

Mehrnam Rastegari

Rating: ★★★★

The debut album by Persian kamancheh virtuoso and composer Mehrnam Rastegari is a short but sharp statement, brimming with confidence...

Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: February/March/2026

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