Reviews

High Words

Jewish Monkeys

My first inclination was to award this album a single star. These songs are annoyingly catchy, and they're annoyingly unfunny,...

Reviewed in issue July/2017

Khamira

Khamira

Khamira is a coming together of Welsh folk and Hindustani classical styles through the unifying medium of jazz. Seven musicians...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

Peace in the World

Guo Gan & Aly Keita

Ordinarily, the success of collaborations between disparate traditions is contingent on both the sonic compatibility of the instruments and the...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

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 in issue June/2017

L'Odyssey

Vocal Global

This excellent debut album from Middle Eastern/Caribbean duo Vocal Global qualifies as true world music in every sense. Israeli Noga...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

Attic Mornings

Claudia Schwab

Her second full-length release, following 2014's crowd-funded Amber Sands, finds the Austrian-born, Sligo-based violinist and vocalist joined by Swedish percussionist...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

¡Caramba!

Bigre!

For their sixth album, this French band took on quite a project. After two visits to Cuba, leader and trumpeter...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

Jorjuna

Kazut de Tyr

Drawing on this Breton band's travels throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Jorjuna is named after a ten-beat rhythm...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

Lawless, Winged & Unconfined

Hamsa

Clarinettist Merlin Shepherd, a central figure of the British klezmer crowd, presents us here with a new band, Hamsa, and...

Reviewed in issue June/2017

Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock

75 Dollar Bill

This second album by the New York duo 75 Dollar Bill made the year-end ‘Best Of’ lists in several UK...

Reviewed in issue June/2017