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Reviews

Review of Simigwa

Simigwa

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley

Mr Bongo

Rating: ★★★★

On the opening track of this album, which was originally released in 1975, the Ghanaian bandleader Gyedu-Blay Ambolley recites a...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: November/2018

Review of Sway

Sway

Gérald Toto

No Format!

Rating: ★★★★

Gérald Toto has kept us waiting seven years for a new solo album. The French-Antillean multi-instrumentalist does not disappoint with...

Reviewed by Dan Hobson in issue: November/2018

Review of The Alchemy

The Alchemy

Elements

Earth Brother Music

Rating: ★★★★

Very often discs that are presented as fusion are rather samey and do not so much fuse a number of...

Reviewed by Maria Lord in issue: November/2018

Review of The Seeds Inside (The Grapes Upon The Vine)

The Seeds Inside (The Grapes Upon The Vine)

The Bara Bara Band

Singaround Records

Rating: ★★★★

Drawing on old-time Americana and country as well as soaking up influences of traditional English folk music, this South London...

Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: November/2018

Review of Quest

Quest

Out of Nations

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★★

Although dwelling in Berlin, the Out of Nations six-piece soon discovered that each of them had passports for different countries,...

Reviewed by Martin Longley in issue: November/2018

Review of Herencia de la Tierra Mía

Herencia de la Tierra Mía

Mariachi Herencia de Mexico

Mariachi Heritage Foundation

Rating: ★★★★

The mariachi spectacle – much like the burrito and margarita – is all too easy to bastardise. Wandering spangle-suited musicians...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: November/2018

Review of Naktės

Naktės

Merope

Granvat

Rating: ★★★★

Recorded in small, cosy rooms and only after dark, this album glitters with a sense of wonder at the special...

Reviewed by Tom Newell in issue: November/2018

Review of Hummingbird

Hummingbird

John Smith

Commoner Records

Rating: ★★★★

John Smith's rich and distinctive honeyed, gravelly vocals and deft fingerpicking guitar have featured prominently in folk projects such as...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: November/2018

Review of Haven

Haven

We Banjo 3

We Banjo 3

Rating: ★★★★

We Banjo 3's infatuation with bluegrass puts down its deepest roots yet in this fervent follow-up to 2016's String Theory....

Reviewed by Michael Quinn in issue: November/2018

Review of Dur-Dur of Somalia: Volume 1 & Volume 2

Dur-Dur of Somalia: Volume 1 & Volume 2

Dur-Dur Band

Top of the World

Analog Africa

Rating: ★★★★★

They were the biggest band in 1980s Somalia, huge across the whole Horn of Africa, and they're not completely unknown...

Reviewed by Jim Hickson in issue: November/2018

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