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Review of Los Kenya Vol 2

Los Kenya Vol 2

Los Kenya

Vampisoul

Rating: ★★★

The Venezuelan singer, pianist and bandleader Ray ‘El Loco’ Pérez ran a small combo with a hefty punch. Stretching out...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: May/2025

Review of The Archive

The Archive

Paul Brady

Last Music Co

Rating: ★★★★

Bob Dylan’s 1985 box set Biograph came with an interview in which Dylan said: “Some guys got it down –...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: May/2025

Review of Sunce Te Gleda

Sunce Te Gleda

Donja Jeka

Donja Jeka

Rating: ★★★

With a title translating as ‘Sun is Looking at You’, the album cover hints that this is a sequence of...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: May/2025

Review of Out Here on the Perimeter (1989–1996)

Out Here on the Perimeter (1989–1996)

Dub Syndicate

On-U Sound

Rating: ★★★★

By 1989, where the Out Here on the Perimeter boxset begins, Jamaican drummer Lincoln ‘Style’ Scott was a fully committed...

Reviewed by Celeste Cantor-Stephens in issue: May/2025

Review of Counterclockwise

Counterclockwise

Faun Fables

Drag City Records

Rating: ★★★★

Long-running Californian folkers Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl have delivered an epic and ambitious slice of weird Wicca folk with...

Reviewed by Glenn Kimpton in issue: August/2025

Review of Traditional Irish Music Played on the 5-String & Tenor Banjos

Traditional Irish Music Played on the 5-String & Tenor Banjos

Luke Coffey & Patrick ‘Paahto’ Cummins

Luke Coffey & Patrick ‘Paahto’ Cummings

Rating: ★★★★

Right from the get-go on the opening set of reels (‘George White’s/Carracastle Lass’), there’s a lovely swing and lift to...

Reviewed by Peter Quinn in issue: August/2025

Review of Trespass

Trespass

Alex Roberts

Mottow Soundz

Rating: ★★★★

“Alex plays bloody wonderfully,” said the late great John Renbourn, of Pentangle fame, and here’s a new set that proves...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: August/2025

Review of An 424

An 424

Trá Pháidín

Hive Mind

Rating: ★★★★

Imagine an amalgam of traditional Irish folk, post-rock, jazz and the disruptive spirit of Dada, stir provocatively with nine musicians...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: August/2025

Review of In a Sea of Stars

In a Sea of Stars

Zoë Aqua

Top of the World

Adhyâropa Records

Rating: ★★★★★

It’s gutsy to start off a live fiddle album with a ten-minute absolute barn-burner suite, but klezmer fiddler Zoë Aqua...

Reviewed by Devon Léger in issue: August/2025

Review of Prelude to the Divine Realm

Prelude to the Divine Realm

Gao Hong & Zhao Xiaoxia

ARC Music

Rating: ★★★★

While the pipa lute and guqin zither are each highly respected and culturally representative instruments of traditional Chinese music, they’re...

Reviewed by Charlie Cawood in issue: May/2025

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