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Review of Africa for Africa

Africa for Africa

Femi Kuti

Top of the World

Wrasse Records

Rating: ★★★★

Femi Kuti has had a stop-start career. At the same age he is now, 48, his father Fela had virtually...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: Jan/Feb/2011

Review of Forgive Us For

Forgive Us For

Kronos Quartet

Phenotypic Recordings

Rating: ★★★★

After more than 50 years, Kronos Quartet are still presenting more thought-provoking music than any other string quartet in the...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: April/2026

Review of Pop Songs for Elk

Pop Songs for Elk

Hillfolk Noir

Hillfolk Noir

Rating: ★★★★

As one of the new breed of edgy Americana acts, such as Elephant Revival, Pokey LaFarge or Joy Kills Sorrow,...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: October/2015

Review of Music for the Mother

Music for the Mother

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Underwater Panther Coalition

Rating: ★★

The Sierra Nevada is a special mountain range. On the Caribbean coast, it’s the highest peak on any ocean and,...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: January/2021

Review of For Those Left Behind

For Those Left Behind

Famo Mountain

Glitterbeat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Recorded in the shadow of Lesotho’s Famo gang violence, For Those Left Behind is a defiant, dizzying triumph. The five-piece...

Reviewed by Hillary Palesa Morusi in issue: August/2025

Review of Looking for the Thread

Looking for the Thread

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart

Thirty Tigers

Rating: ★★★★

This unexpected but very welcome silver lining collection first came together as a pandemic lockdown writing experiment. US singer-songwriter Carpenter...

Reviewed by Kevin Bourke in issue: February/March/2025

Review of Songs for the Trees

Songs for the Trees

Kate Daisy Grant & Nick Pynn

Kate Daisy Grant

Rating: ★★★★

A rich and deeply mytho-poetic set of 13 songs drawing on Ogham (the Druidic ‘tree alphabet’) and evoking some of...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: July/2025

Review of What News

What News

Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness

Drag City

Rating: ★★★★

This is Roberts’ 12th solo album since 2001, and his fourth of purely traditional songs, following on from the excellent...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: June/2018

Review of Strange News

Strange News

Blowzabella

Blowzabella

Rating: ★★★★

Thirty-five years ago, an English dance tune named ‘Blowzabella’ was found in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library of Cecil Sharp...

Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: March/2014

Review of For the Night

For the Night

Elephant Sessions

Elephant Sessions

Rating: ★★★★

Cool, hip, vibrant might alone be three words that sum up Elephant Sessions’ forth release, For the Night. Building on...

Reviewed by James Scott Rorison in issue: December/2022

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