Reviews

Ergo

Zhen Chen

Piano wunderkind Zhen Chen has an ambitious mission: to forge a new style of music that chimes with a generation...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: Jan/Feb/2018

Gharnata

Luis de la Carrasca

Gharnata takes its name from the Arabic for Granada, capital city of flamenco. Singer Luis de la Carrasca has long...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: November/2019

Folklórica

Lars Bech Pilgaard

Folklórica is a dispatch from the world of Danish experimental guitar. It contends that the instrument has under-explored potential, which...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: September/2024

QAF

Ghawgha

This record gives voice to the stories and sentiments of the dislocated. Ghawgha fled her native Afghanistan, undertaking an odyssey...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: February/March/2025

Coexistence

Dal:um

Korean duo Dal:um return for a second album of duelling gayageum and geomungo (plucked zithers from the Korean classical tradition)....

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: December/2024

Turn O Spinning Wheel

Mishra & Deepa Shakthi

Sheffield’s storied musical pedigree is further burnished by Mishra, a folk collective supplying a beguiling ‘Indo-fusion’. The group deftly bring...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: December/2025

NAVI

SYOT

SYOT (See Your Own Tradition) was formed by K-pop session musician G.QOO and jazz pianist Hanbeen Park seeking new musical...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: June/2026

Bardik Springs

Elfic Circle

Bardik Springs is very much an album of two halves. The first CD offers an elegant fusion of Indian classical...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: June/2018

Sài Gòn, Saïgon

Huong Thanh & Franck Tortiller

To Saigon for a postmodern nostalgia trip; here, veteran Vietnamese vocalist Huong Thanh revisits the songs of French colonial Vietnam,...

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: June/2017

Hermitage

Jambinai

Portentous track titles such as ‘Abyss’ and ‘Echo of Creation’ hint at the nature of this South Korean trio's crusade....

Reviewed by Liam Izod in issue: July/2016