Reviews
Rivers: From the Congo to the Mississippi
A veteran soukous guitarist from the DRC, Siama Matuzungidi played on local hits by the likes of Kanda Bongo Man,...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2016
Loé Loá: Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree
Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo
It's hard to think of any field recording – this was captured under a mango tree, as the title suggests...
Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: December/2017
Banjara
The follow-up to their exceptional 2018 debut album Namaz, this sophomore release by crossover trio Baul Meets Saz continues the...
Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: March/2023
Polka for Punks
Thirty-five years on, the anarchic spirit of punk keeps emerging in unlikely places, from the Beijing underground to R.U.T.A, the...
Reviewed by Peter Culshaw in issue: March/2013
Can't Sit Down
CJ Chenier is the son of the late, great Clifton Chenier, the black Louisiana accordion player whose zydeco recordings on...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: Nov/Dec/2011
Brexit Blues
Certainly not a blues compilation in the sense that might be commonly expected, this set mourns in advance the passing...
Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: March/2017
Lam Phloen World-Class: The Essential Banyen Rakkaen
Banyen Rakkaen of Thailand is a pioneering singer who raised the profile of molam music from the north-east region –...
Reviewed by John Clewley in issue: May/2019
Caravana Sereia Bloom
Céu's first two albums established her as one of Brazil's most important new artists. Both received Grammy nominations, topped all...
Reviewed by Russ Slater in issue: June/2012
Zomba Prison Project: I Have No Everything Here
In 2013, producer Ian Brennan clandestinely documented the music found inside Zomba's maximum security institution in Malawi. Some of the...
Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: June/2015
African Party
Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers
He died in Lagos 40 years ago and his heyday on London's music scene is a good 50 years in...
Reviewed by Max Reinhardt in issue: Aug/Sep/2015
