new releases on cd & dvd
peter.quinn |

For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”, the delightful, multilayered vocal harmonies in “Take this stone” and more, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Oh Snap is my Album of the Year.

Kathryn Reilly |

A foreign-language release steeped in Catholicism isn’t exactly what you’d expect to top virtually every end-of-year album list. But Rosalía is famed for her uncompromising attitude to both genre and delivery. There’s the smallest soupçon of flamenco in here (see "La Rumba Del Perdón") but, largely, this is pop gone to the opera. 

Nick Hasted
Alabaster DePlume, aka Mancunian Gus Fairbairn, has been an antically charming performer, confounding unsuspecting crowds with tenderly comic…
Liz Thomson
For as long as I can remember – back when I was not yet a teenager, listening to Joan Baez first as a way to learn guitar – voices and lyrics have…
graham.rickson
Fantômas was the creation of French pulp novelists Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, whose titular criminal genius made his first print appearance…

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Katie Colombus
Finding strength not in reinvention but in turning inward to listen
Kieron Tyler
Intensity, jazz-oriented psychedelia and the joys of recontextualisation
Mark Kidel
A year of wondrous variety
Tim Cumming
One among a new wave of folk artists exploring their music's outer limits
Thomas H. Green
Alongside a whole heap of other excellent music from the last 12 months
graham.rickson
Love, loss and belief collide in rural India in Aribam Syam Sharma’s 1990 feature
Joe Muggs
Softness, resilience and rewriting history in the most glorious possible way
Guy Oddy
A dubby trip hop and woozy neo-soul treat
Guy Oddy
The former child actor's past meets her present
Thomas H. Green
Hokey but entertaining seasonal barndance
Joe Muggs
Strange for something so individual to sound so familiar - but they've done it
Tim Cumming
Seasonal classics and a handful of self-penned songs light up this quietly sophisticated set
Ibi Keita
A perfect selection for sound system veterans, and newcomers too
Guy Oddy
Gallic psychedelic pop that struggles to change gears
Kieron Tyler
The Icelandic singer-songwriter acknowledges that one’s own traditions can be enough
peter.quinn
Textural variety and sonic clarity captivate from first note
Tim Cumming
McMurray is joined by Don Was and R&B singer Kem
Tim Cumming
The north African griot and her band release long awaited third album
Guy Oddy
Michael League’s jazzers reconnect with old friends
Mark Kidel
A master-class in male vulnerability
Kieron Tyler
Dreaminess and frostiness from the Gallic singer-songwriter
graham.rickson
Thoughtful micro-budget British sci-fi, deservedly revived
Sebastian Scotney
Barbra Streisand's son as singer and songwriter

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