Reviews

Zungguzungguguzungguzeng!

Yellowman

Back in 1983, two years after the death of Bob Marley, Yellowman was the most successful performer in Jamaica. Born...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: July/2024

Tension

Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra

As the father of Ethio-jazz, the Ethiopian multi-instrumentalist and composer Mulatu Astatke has carved out a unique musical path. On...

Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: January/2025

All My Friends

Aoife O’Donovan

A little more than a century after the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution secured American women the right to...

Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: May/2024

Ifetayo; Glory of Om; Anoda Sistem; ‘Oduduwa’ [single]

Oluko Imo / Black Truth Rhythm Band

With the blessing of his widow, Soundway Records have re-released three landmark albums and a single from the much underrated...

Reviewed by Clyde Macfarlane in issue: May/2024

Synthesizing the Silk Roads

VARIOUS ARTISTS

The title and subheading (Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock and Crimean Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia) say...

Reviewed by Keith Howard in issue: November/2024

Calypso Craze 1956-57 and Beyond

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Forty-year-old Bear Family Records is a German label renowned for digging deeply into the country, blues and rock’n’roll archives, and...

Reviewed by Charles De Ledesma in issue: Jan/Feb/2015

Cancionera

Natalia Lafourcade

We know Natalia Lafourcade can turn on the intimacy and intensity. On 2024’s Live at Carnegie Hall, she managed to...

Reviewed by Chris Moss in issue: June/2025

The Harry Smith B-Sides

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Harry Smith’s legendary six-LP series, Anthology of American Folk Music, surely stands as the most influential collection of early 20th...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: December/2020

Luci e Guai

Crimi

Raised in Lyon with the tunes his Sicilian grandmother sang to him, Julien Lesuisse set out in search of his...

Reviewed by Robert Rigney in issue: June/2021

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & Friends: The Black Ark Years

VARIOUS ARTISTS

When Trojan Records became part of the giant Universal Music, reggae collectors might well have feared that the previous stream...

Reviewed by Neil Foxlee in issue: Jan/Feb/2011