Reviews
Super Disco Pirata
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Various Artists
Twenty-three sometimes bizarre, but often glorious cuts of mainly Colombian cumbia, assembled from pirated bootleg records, from the period 1965-80,...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: January/2025
We Will Never Die
This is Tuva’s one and only Albert Kuvezin’s first Yat-Kha studio album since 2010’s excellent Poets and Lighthouses. Right from...
Reviewed by Michael Ormiston in issue: July/2021
Stambeli: The Legacy of the Black Tunisians
The heavy clacking of the qaraqab (iron castanets) and the hypnotising melodies of the gimbri (three-stringed lute) make it easy...
Reviewed by Alexandra Petropoulos in issue: July/2011
Super Nova Samba Funk
Over a decade that’s seen all kinds of obscure and often fantastic Brazilian funk prised from the archives, the band...
Reviewed by Brendon Griffin in issue: Aug/Sep/2011
Zanzibara 9: Masika, Un Souffle Frais de Tanzanie (1972-74)
Mbaraka Mwinshehe & Orchestra Super Volcano
Following up the very different, and rather sinuous taarab music showcased on volume 8 of Buda's excellent Zanzibara series devoted...
Reviewed by Jon Lusk in issue: May/2016
Funky Pangolin
The Ghanaian guitarist Kyekyeku – pronounced Tche-tche-kou – formed the Ghanalogue Highlife project in Accra a decade or so ago, although his...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: January/February/2023
Everybody Wants to Know How I Die
The fifth album of demon-haunted country blues from Canada’s scariest songwriter. Sinner takes traditional songs as his jumping-off point, expanding...
Reviewed by Paul Slade in issue: April/2026
Afro Jazz Folk Collection Vol 2
Three years ago, Mieruba – a rarity among crate-digging enterprises in that the label is actually based in West Africa...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: March/2024
Liga Latina
Liga Latina have been described as ‘a European supergroup.’ Well, they're a quintet of Scandinavian musicians steeped in Latin and...
Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: Aug/Sept/2020
Mud Doll
Single-handedly produced, recorded, arranged, mixed and mastered by British talent Niraj Chag, this is ambitiously lofty (if occasionally bombastic) cinematic...
Reviewed by Jon Mitchell in issue: November/2015
