Kevin Locke Earth Gift (Ixtlan Recording Consortium, 2008) Finding sanctuary from the daily grind became a whole lot easier with Kevin Locke’s latest CD Earth…
Spellbinding Lakota Spirit
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena's Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena's Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
Electronica Veneer and Cool Indian Lounge
Bombay Dub Orchestra 3 Cities (Six Degrees, 2008) Following up on their self-titled first release, Bombay Dub Orchestra has returned with their second release 3…
No Honor in Cheating Musicians
Reading several news sites every day, I can usually find at least one interesting music-related story. Although most of the music headlines are taken up…
Savagely Swinging Maestro
Taj Mahal Maestro (Heads Up International, 2008) It’s never a question whether I’m going to like a Taj Mahal CD; the question is exactly how…
Raabe’s Plucky Optimism and Stinging Irony
Max Raabe and Palast Orchester Heute Nacht Oder Nie (Tonight Or Never) (SPV Recordings, 2008) In 1920s and early 30s, before Germany turned an ugly…
The Ry Cooder Anthology:
Ry Cooder The Ry Cooder Anthology: The UFO Has Landed (Rhino Entertainment, 2008) ‘Getting the goods’ and ‘I’ll take one with everything’ takes on a…
Bewitching Hiding Place
Julie Fowlis Cuilidh (Shoeshine Record/Cadiz Music, 2008) Julie Fowlis’s Cuilidh out on Shoeshine Records/Cadiz Music is replete with all the sparkle of this Gaelic singer’s…
Sizzling Desert Blues
Terakaft Akh Issudar (World Village, 2008) The Malian soul is rich and inescapably musical. You’d need no more proof than Terakaft’s second offering of Akh…
Sparking Passions
Various Artists The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies (World Music Network, 2008) Before you even lay a finger on the play button…
Savagely Cool
Elsiane Hybrid (Nettwerk Records, 2008) The creative forces behind the Montreal project Elsiane, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Elsieanne Caplette and drummer Stephane Sotto, have hit the music scene’s…