Reviews
Old Chairs to Mend
David Gibb's second solo album, There Are Birds in My Garden [reviewed in #79] revealed the adventurous musical mind of...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: Apr/May/2012
The Woodbine & Ivy Band
This Manchester collective create spirited folk-rock of a distinctly 1969 vintage. The rapid-fire drums, guttural guitar, throbbing bass and backing...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: Apr/May/2012
No Stranger Here
Shubha Mudgal, Ursula Rucker & the Business Class Refugees
Initially I found the very idea of this album a little off-putting. A selection of 16th century Indian poems by...
Reviewed by Howard Male in issue: Apr/May/2012
Days Distinctive
It may be coincidence, or an emerging anthropological trend, but this is the third CD to have been released in...
Reviewed by Bill Badley in issue: Apr/May/2012
Arctic Spirit
Arctic Spirit is a beautifully produced CD (and booklet) of contemporary interpretations, improvisations and meditations on traditional Sakha (Yakut) cultural...
Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: Apr/May/2012
Divine Liturgy
The Armenian composer Gomidas (1869-1935), usually transliterated as Komitas, is considered the father of Armenian music. While the conservatoire in...
Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: Apr/May/2012
Bush Animals Don't Like Hunters: Music of Sierra Leone Vol 1
This is a remarkable collection of field recordings collected from different regions across Sierra Leone between 1965 and 1970. Cootje...
Reviewed by Martin Sinnock in issue: Apr/May/2012
Diagnostic
Ibrahim Maalouf is one of those quiet, unsung achievers: an in-demand session musician whose clean, spare trumpet playing has sprinkled...
Reviewed by Jane Cornwell in issue: Apr/May/2012
Rangarang: Pre– Revolutionary Iranian Pop
Travelling amongst Balkan musicians I would often ask what their influences were. More often than not, at the top of...
Reviewed by Garth Cartwright in issue: Apr/May/2012
Llaneros Songs of Casanare
‘Good evening compadre. We've been waiting for you..!’ That's the welcome given by the musicians at the start of the...
Reviewed by Jan Fairley in issue: Apr/May/2012
