Review by Stephen Taylor

Well stone me. You wait 30 years for a new Gil Scott Heron album and then two come along at once.

Lou Bond may me new to you and me, but hiphopapotamuses have been sampling him for decades. This self-titled re-release gives those of us that don’t have access to the bargain vinyl [...]

Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should declare an interest. Since Ys was released I have inhabited the music of Joanna Newsom in the same way a fish inhabits water. A big, strong, noble salmon, probably. Could also be a goldfish too though, given my regulation 21st [...]

No one likes to feel like they’re being sold something. Goitres, BO, casual racism and an evangelical passion for civil war re-enactment. All of these finished lower than a clipboard and a cheeky grin in a recent poll of antisocial personal features that I just made up in my head. The Destroyers at first [...]

Hazel Davis meets Mercury Prize nominee and honey-voiced songbird Lisa Hannigan

“Gobsmacked. Surprised. Never imagined it.” This is folk musician Lisa Hannigan on her recent Mercury Prize nomination for Sea Sew, her self-embroidered debut album. I call her a folk musician but she balks at the term. “I wouldn’t really describe myself as that,” she [...]

Iconic singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) wowed the Cropredy crowd last weekend with a selection of new and old songs (but not Father and Son).

His first festival appearance for 37 years, Islam joined Fairport Convention on stage for the closing gig of the festival, which takes place over three days annually in Oxfordshire. [...]