Sound Portraits from Bulgaria: A Journey to a Vanished World review – songs rescued from the edge of history
Martin Koenig’s wonderful collection, recorded in rural Bulgaria between 1966 and 1979, is quietly heroic
Son of Town Hall: The Adventures of Son of Town Hall review – folk fun with a steampunk twist
Being overearnest is an occupational hazard for folkies, but one that doesn’t afflict Ben Parker and David Berkeley. The pair are accomplished musicians (from London and Santa Fe respectively) but believe a little theatre doesn’t go amiss, dressing like extras … Continue reading
Land of Kush: Sand Enigma review – the disorientating sound of Egypt
Sam Shalabi’s ambitious project offers up a heady mix of free jazz, Arabic classical, postpunk and panglobal folk music
Lankum: The Livelong Day review – the Irish folk songbook uprooted
Folk standards get extreme makeovers on the Dublin four-piece’s latest, cementing their place at the forefront of the form
Maz O’Connor: Chosen Daughter review – fine, female-focused folk
(Restless Head/Hudson)
Black String: Karma review – elegant South Korean folk jazz
South Korean music is on something of a roll. From popular boy bands such as Super Junior to the array of improvisational acts at this year’s forthcoming K-Music festival in London, there’s a newfound confidence in play. Black String are … Continue reading
Hiss Golden Messenger: Terms of Surrender review – songs of despair turned to hope
MC Taylor’s 11th album was written in depression but finds notes of hope – and a musical sound that fuses old with new
Red River Dialect: Abundance Welcoming Ghosts review – alert, anti-colonialist folk
Songwriter David Morris brings alternate seduction and disquiet on this worldly album steeped in the British landscape
Show of Hands: Battlefield Dance Floor review – folk stalwarts keep it fresh
For anyone aspiring to longevity in popular music, the west country duo of Steve Knightley and Phil Beer offer valuable lessons. The pair got together in 1986 and this, remarkably, is their 18th studio album. It helps to have a … Continue reading
The Waterboys review – breathless, hair-prickling Big Music
Pan-Celtic post-punk returns with a dash of tambourines and a swirl of mysticism as Mike Scott leads his genre-hopping crew
Cam review – everything about this country star rings true
One of Nashville’s most potent truth-tellers does a remarkable job of fusing west coast liberalism and country tropes in a show underpinned by modern dictates
Prom 49: The Lost Words review – Beethoven to beatboxing as climate crisis set to music
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s bestselling book inspired this ambitious family Prom that celebrated the natural world
Rowan Rheingans: The Lines We Draw Together review – tracing extremism’s slow creep
Drawing on stories about life in 1940s Germany, this handsome album contains a powerful narrative about racism and intolerance
Širom: A Universe That Roasts Blossoms for a Horse review – pan-global steampunk faux folk
Three classically-trained musicians from Slovenia make meticulously plotted episodic music that sounds lopsided
Karine Polwart’s Scottish Songbook review – from Big Country to John Martyn
The C90 cassette unspooling on the sleeve makes an apt motif for an album that is both a tribute to Scottish pop and a personal testimony from Caledonia’s reigning folk queen. Not that there’s much folk involved; most of the … Continue reading