Reviews

For 'Fly Rasta' Ziggy Marley is reunited with The Melody Makers (his two sisters Sharon and Cedella and Erica Newell) giving the album the vibe of his older work.

Yours truly got to know Argentine musician Daniel Melingo thanks to 'El Gaucho', the soundtrack by Gotan Project's Christoph Müller and Eduardo Makaroff for the eponymous 2010 documentary by Andres Jarach.

Now things around Ziggi Recado seem to have quieted down somewhat, it's the ideal time for new Dutch reggae talent to step into the limelight.

If you like the recent wave of reggae bands and artists from the United Kingdom (The Skints, Hollie Cook, Shanty, City Kay, Gentleman's Dub Club, The Meow Meows .

It seems somewhat unlikely when listening to 'Karibu' (Swahili for "welcome"), but Famara is actually a Swiss singer of Caucasian descent.

The Andre 'DJ Frass' Gordon produced 'My Journey', I-Octane's second long player, could have been a more than solid new roots album - because let us be clear instrumentally it's absolutely up to scratch - were it not for the fact that Octane's voice got an unmistakable Auto-Tune treatment for just about every track.

Karim Baggili is a Belgian musician of Jordanian-Yugoslav origin who initially focused on the guitar, but has now also discovered the Arab oud.

To our own surprise 'Santalegria', already the third album of this Catalan band around ex-Dusminguet accordionist and vocalist Joan Garriga, is our first introduction to La Troba Kung-Fu.

Jaro Milko, a musician of Czech descent who grew up in Basel, Switzerland, began his musical career in the Balkan-scene among other things as a member of Swiss band Prekmurski Kavbojci.

Yours truly is certainly not averse to a dash of corny lovers rock now and again, but the honeyed verses Terry Linen produces on some of the songs of the Lloyd and Michelle Campbell produced 'Welcome To My World', are a bridge too far (opener 'As If I Didn’t Know', 'Have To Get To Know You', 'Your Body Is Here' and absolute stinker 'Porfavor').