Reviews

Akalaka/The Power

Victor Chukwu/Uncle Victor Chuks

This release marks the reissue of two LPs from the comparatively little-known Nigerian highlife musician Victor Chukwu. They originate from...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Eyes Rest Their Feet

Thaba

This playful and alluring release from Thaba draws on a diverse array of influences: from the South African popular dance...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

UPRIZE!

SPAZA

This soundtrack to the documentary film UPRIZE!, about the 1976 Soweto uprising, is the second release from the South African...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Optimisme

Songhoy Blues

‘Badala’, the opening track on Songhoy Blues’ third album, is rather alarming – which of course was the band’s intention....

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Volume 3

QWANQWA

If you’ve been paying attention to modern Ethiopian trad music over the past five-odd years, you will have come across...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Simnadé + 4

Pascal Diatta

When this recording was first released as an LP on the Rogue Records label in 1989 it heralded the exciting...

Reviewed in issue December/2020

Sunshine Day: The Boyhood Sessions

Osibisa

Richard Linklater spent 12 years making the 2014 movie Boyhood, a remarkable and sprawling investigation of the human condition refracted...

Reviewed in issue November/2020

Zando Ya Makambo

Richard Kasongo

This is the latest in a series of releases from London studio Pro Smart under the direction of Congolese musician...

Reviewed in issue November/2020

Maguidala

Pedro Lima

After the success of their compilation Léve Léve: Sao Tomé & Príncipe Sounds 70s-80s earlier in the year, Bongo Joe...

Reviewed in issue November/2020

Horizonte

Bandé-Gamboa

This is an unusual and adventurous project in which two bands have been formed in order to re-imagine a mixture...

Reviewed in issue November/2020