Cloudspeakers

As World Cup fever grows to ever more mandatory proportions over the coming months, expect an increasing flurry of spurious, gratuitous and downright deluded commercial tie-ins. Far Out Recordings ... Lees meer

Fresh from winning a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Group with his ‘day job’ band Lau, this Scottish singer, guitarist and occasional songwriter releases his second solo set.After a debut as great... Lees meer

Tamikrest are a group of young Touareg musicians from the far north of Mali, where the parched landscape forms part of the Sahara desert. Their name means ‘the knot, junction or coalition&rsq... Lees meer

Released over four years after it was recorded, Ali & Toumani is the second of two lovely acoustic duet albums by the late, great desert blues guitarist and singer Ali Farka Touré and ko... Lees meer

Tommy who? Otherwise known as Thomas Gobena, he’s the bass player in New York-based ‘Gypsy punk’ band Gogol Bordello. And he has named this debut solo album (made with his own ban... Lees meer

Given the name of the group and the Balkan beats craze of recent years – which has seen Roma music gratuitously ‘sexed up’ for digital dance floors – you might be forgiven f... Lees meer

The Necks are among the world’s most consistently great exponents of improvised music. While their last album Townesville (2007) was an inspired example of what they do onstage, Silverwater (... Lees meer

Subtitled The American Radio Sessions, this double-disc set collects largely acoustic versions of classic T. Rex songs performed in 1971 and 1972, when the original glam rock pixie was trying to bu... Lees meer

It’s a cliché, but often the case, that some artists lose their edge when at their happiest. For nearly three decades – first with the band Carte de Séjour, and since 1991... Lees meer

Fans of vintage Ethiopian music will know Mulatu Astatke – also spelled Astatqé – as the most mercurial and accessible figure unearthed by the ongoing Éthiopiques reissue ... Lees meer