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Reviews

Review of Catastrophic Life

Catastrophic Life

Jewish Monkeys

Greedy for Best Music

Rating: ★★★★

“The Marx Brothers on acid; the nightmare of Benjamin Netanyahu; freaks; millionaires on a mission impossible; a great story,” this...

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: March/2020

Review of Cold Light

Cold Light

Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll

English Fiddle

Rating: ★★★

The Bideford-based folk duo's last album celebrated Devonian postman poet Edward Capern, but with Cold Light the two fiddle players,...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: March/2020

Review of Op 2

Op 2

Stanislav Yudin & Asnate Rancane

CPL-Music

Rating: ★★★★

Op 1 doesn't seem to exist, as an album anyway. But if Op 2 is anything to go by then...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: March/2020

Review of Vivencias en Clave Cubana

Vivencias en Clave Cubana

Kiki Valera

Origin Records

Rating: ★★★

Kiki Valera is a fantastic cuatro (double-coursed, steel-strung guitar, much like a tres but with one extra string) player. Valera,...

Reviewed by Charlotte Algar in issue: March/2020

Review of Adventures in Afropea

Adventures in Afropea

Zap Mama

Crammed

Rating: ★★★★★

Sic transit gloria mundi – but how welcome to be reminded of past triumphs by this reissue of Zap Mama's...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2020

Review of Borrowed Songs

Borrowed Songs

Ewan McLennan

Ewan McLennan

Rating: ★★★

It is rare to hear an album that confronts you with such a powerful sense of who a person is...

Reviewed by Matt Milton in issue: March/2020

Review of Kinshasa 1978: Originals and Reconstructions

Kinshasa 1978: Originals and Reconstructions

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Crammed Discs VINYL & DIGITAL ONLY

Rating: ★★★★

This is a welcome reimagining of a remarkable recording that captured the early days of the Congotronics groups. Recorded in...

Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: March/2020

Review of Down in Jamaica: 40 Years of VP Records

Down in Jamaica: 40 Years of VP Records

VARIOUS ARTISTS

VP Records VINYL BOX SET

Rating: ★★★★★

Jamaican record producer Vincent Chin began in the jukebox trade, establishing the iconic Randy's Records shop at 17 North Parade...

Reviewed by David Katz in issue: March/2020

Review of Direct-to-Disc Sessions

Direct-to-Disc Sessions

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

Night Dreamer

Rating: ★★★★

The demand for albums that capture live performance has long been omnipresent, but the clamour has intensified in the digital...

Reviewed by Alex De Lacey in issue: March/2020

Review of Det Var en Lørdagsafen

Det Var en Lørdagsafen

Firo

Etnisk Musikklubb

Rating: ★★★

Saturday night's alright for, well, in this case, singing! Firo's new release translates as ‘Once on a Saturday Night’ and...

Reviewed by Fiona Talkington in issue: March/2020

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