World music
Album Review : Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers – Somanti : Vodou energy meets electro dub intensity to break new ground.
The partnership between Haitian mizik rasin (or roots music) collective Chouk Bwa and Brussels electronic beat masters The Ångströmers hasn’t exactly had a smooth ride. First connecting in 2016 around Rokskilde Festival time, the idea of fusing potent Vodou sounds with the dance informed, dub wise beat reductions felt like a good one. A couple …
Album Review : Vumbi Dekula – ‘Congo Guitar’ : The much loved Soukous musician’s honestly joyful first solo album.
The feast of goodness that is the Hive Mind Records catalogue is deftly sprinkled with a fair share of the finest guitar-centric albums from Ricardo Tavares ambient leaning ‘Congo’ to Gustavo Yashimura’s rugged and rakish ‘Living Legend’ cassette. Now comes a new addition to the mix, ‘Congo Guitar’ the debut solo album from revered fret …
Album Review : Lalalar – ‘En Kötü Iyi Olur’ : Crunching agit-electro dynamism from Istanbul
Attention, the agit-electro Istanbul trio Lalalar are crashing back through the airwaves with new album ‘En Kötü Iyi Olur’ on Bongo Joe and it’s no soft landing. This is a band geared up for impact, kicking up a fuss and pressing for a reaction with their rebooted Anatolian anarchism powered through electronic-rock, synth funk and …
Album Review: Muito Kaballa – Like A River : a refreshing burst of inventive new fusion.
A transitional album or an album about transitions, well ‘Like A River’ by Muito Kaballa is both. It marks the Cologne based collective’s move from Belgian label Rebel Up to the equally dynamic but maybe higher profile Batov Records and meets the rising levels of expectation surrounding the band within the global beat world. Led …
Track/Video : Revered Soukous musician Vumbi Dekula announces his first solo album ‘Congo Guitar’ with the joyous ‘Maamajacy’.
Incoming alert from the indispensable Hive Mind Records of a new pop thrill for the Autumn. Teaming up with Stockholm label Sing A Song Fighter they’ve conjured up the release of ‘Congo Guitar’, the debut solo album from revered fret wizard Kahanga ‘Vumbi’ Dekula, due for delivery to your turntables from 15th September. Dekula is …
Album Review: Jonny Wickham – Terra Boa: Vibrant new jazz with a Brazilian heartbeat
Well you can’t say that Jonny Wickham’s first solo album lacks ambition. ‘Terra Boa‘, out now via Fresh Sound Records sees the jazz bassist and composer leading a sizeable band through a set of originals that in his words make up a ‘love letter’ to the complex tapestry of Afro-Brazilian rhythms. Added to that he’s …
Gallery: Jah Wobble & the Invaders of the Heart – The Grand Social, Dublin 10.06.2023
The Legend that is Jah Wobble brought his band The Invaders of the Heart to Dublin’s The Grand Social as part of his latest tour, known from their blend of Dub/World/Punk & Experimental. Cormac Figgis was there to catch the action. Photos Cormac Figgis:
Album Review: ‘Yalla Miku’ – Yalla Miku : Gnawa rhythms, East African roots and post punk dynamism connect on this electric debut.
Every city has a true face, a side which, as Lydon said ‘the tourists never see” and revealing that real identity is what Yalla Miku are all about. Formed by the founder of Swiss label Bongo Joe, musician Cyril Yeterian and his band mate from the aptly named Cyril Cyril, percussionist Cyril Bondi, Yalla Miku’s …
Live Review + Gallery: WOMADelaide Day 4 (Monday, 13th March, 2023)
Day 4, and after the previous three wonderful days, there was a sense of relief entering the final day, as the constant roving from stage to stage to get the shots had taken a bit of a collective toll on my lower body. However, in the name of my art, I push through the discomfort …
News: Xylouris White announce new album, The Forest In Me, for April release, and accompany it with first single, the jaunty Latin White.
The duo of Jim White (Dirty Three and regular Ed Kuepper collaborator) and Greek laouto player, Giorgos Xylouris, collaboratively known as Xylouris White have announced news of upcoming album, The Forest In Me. It is the duo’s sixth studio album, and seventh overall following the release of their self-released Live At Columbus Theatre 2013 in …