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Review of A Tribute to the King of Zydeco

A Tribute to the King of Zydeco

FEATURED COMPILATION

Valcour Records

Rating: ★★★★★

This autumn, Smithsonian Folkways will release a 4-CD box set, Clifton Chenier: King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco. Comprising 67...

Reviewed by Tim Cumming in issue: September/2025

Review of Cast Your Fate To The Wind: The Complete Decca UK Recordings

Cast Your Fate To The Wind: The Complete Decca UK Recordings

Marianne Faithfull

Proper Records

Rating: ★★★★

Marianne Faithfull was a complex lady. She was not just the languid pop star who recorded ‘As Tears Go By’...

Reviewed by Robin Denselow in issue: September/2025

Review of Chat Iskandaria

Chat Iskandaria

Fairuz

wewantsounds

Rating: ★★★★★

Lebanese singer Nouhad Wadie Haddad, better known simply as Fairuz, falls into that select category of ‘living legends’. After recording...

Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: September/2025

Review of Neshan

Neshan

Ān Ensemble

Nava Music

Rating: ★★★

The Ān Ensemble is a nine-piece classical Iranian group led by Sanaz Sattarzadeh, who plays tar. Most of the classic...

Reviewed by Simon Broughton in issue: September/2025

Review of El Viejo Caminante

El Viejo Caminante

Dino Saluzzi, Jacob Young, José María Saluzzi

ECM Records

Rating: ★★★★

The Argentinian father-and-son team of Dino and José María Saluzzi, who play bandoneon and classical guitar respectively, are joined here...

Reviewed by Chris Wheatley in issue: September/2025

Review of Africa Express Presents… Bahidorá

Africa Express Presents… Bahidorá

Africa Express

Top of the World

World Circuit Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Damon Albarn's Africa Express crossed the Atlantic to the Americas for the first time in 2024 to headline the Mexican...

Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: September/2025

Review of Nadir

Nadir

Sababa 5

Batov Records

Rating: ★★★

One of a number of psychedelic rock outfits to have sprung forth from Tel Aviv in recent years, Sababa 5...

Reviewed by Paul Bowler in issue: September/2025

Review of Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark

Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark

Gwenifer Raymond

Top of the World

We Are Busy Bodies

Rating: ★★★★

Welsh acoustic finger stylist Gwenifer Raymond's second album, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain (2020), saw a huge leap forward from...

Reviewed by Glenn Kimpton in issue: September/2025

Review of Gabriele Poso presents Ritmo Italiano: ‘Unspoken Sounds of Italian Tamburo’

Gabriele Poso presents Ritmo Italiano: ‘Unspoken Sounds of Italian Tamburo’

VARIOUS ARTISTS | Various Artists

Mr Bongo

Rating: ★★★★

One of Mr Bongo's stocks-in-trade is unusual compilations, and this one is certainly out of the ordinary. The Sardinian compiler,...

Reviewed by Mark Sampson in issue: September/2025

Review of De las Nieves

De las Nieves

Antônio Neves

Antônio Neves

Rating: ★★★

Neves, guitarist and arranger from Rio de Janeiro, has worked with some of the old and new masters of Brazilian...

Reviewed by Andy Cumming in issue: September/2025

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