ALBUM REVIEW – FAUNA: TAIGA TRANS

Fauna’s debut album is a vivid and vibrant brew. An outernational combination based in Gothenburg in Sweden, they also have backgrounds from France, Finland, Syria, Poland and Turkey which feed into their sound. They utilise traditional instruments such as the darbuka (an ancient hand drum played across North Africa and the Middle East) and the […]
Altın Gün translates from Turkish as “Golden Day.” The Amsterdam-based band provide an impressive example in how to evolve a sound over the course of a career. Starting off as a predominantly Turkish psych groove band on their 2018 debut, ‘On’, they swiftly received recognition for its 2019 follow-up, ‘Gece’, which was nominated in the […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ALTIN GUN: GARIP

ALBUM REVIEW – NUSANTARA BEAT: NUSANTARA BEAT

While group names can often be random, Nusantara Beat has chosen one that encapsulates its ethos. Nusantara means all the islands that make up Indonesia and dates back to when kings wanted to unite the whole archipelago. Today, it means unity, many cultures coming together as one. Accordingly, Nusantara Beat mix the rhythms and music […]
Noura Mint Seymali’s third album and her first in nine years is a highly focused and impressive blast of desert psych. ‘Yenbett’ is a successful blending of tradition with innovation. A Mauritanian griot, Seymali comes from a significant musical family: her father, Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, was a renowned composer and scholar; and her stepmother, […]

ALBUM REVIEW – NOURA MINT SEYMALI: YENBETT

ALBUM REVIEW – CERYS HAFANA: ANGEL

Sometimes artists kindly try to do journalist’s work by describing their music. On Cerys Hafana’s Instagram page, their music is described as “sad Welsh harp pop”. As a description, this barely scratches the surface of what can be heard on their latest album, ‘Angel’. Whilst they indisputably sing in Welsh and play the triple harp, […]
Until recent months, my knowledge of Slovenian music was non-existent. Now, thanks to tak:til / Glitterbeat unveiling diverse musical delights from around the globe, I can name two acts worthy of attention. October sees the release of ‘In the Wind of Night, Hard Fallen Incantations Whisper’ by avant-folk trio Širom, a trio utilising over 20 […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ETCETERAL: KIMATIKA

ALBUM REVIEW – BRIGHDE CHAIMBEUL: SUNWISE

When I was growing up in England, bagpipes were often subjected to ridicule. Whilst this could in part have been due to their tonal contrast with conventional pop music of the time, there may have also been the unthinking residue of anti-Scottish prejudice that led to the instrument’s widespread mockery. Fortunately, in recent months, Glitterbeat […]
AMMAR 808’s ‘Club Tounsi’ is a classic example of a culture clash that works magnificently. It is a mix of bass-heavy, floor-shaking dance rhythms from the TR-808 drum machine of Denmark-based producer, Sofyann Ben Youssef, combined with the Mezoued folk tradition of his native Tunisia. Mezoued takes its name from the goatskin bagpipes that provide […]

ALBUM REVIEW – AMMAR 808: CLUB TOUNSI

ALBUM REVIEW – LOS PIRANAS: UNA OPORTUNIDAD MAS DE TRIUNFAR EN LA VIDA

A huge amount of music appears in the Silent Radio inbox. Whilst these releases are often a source of joy, they usually take a familiar form. As such, it is a delight to be confronted with something that sounds if not unique then distinctly unusual yet is also instantly pleasing. Such accolades can be applied […]
As post-punk and artists influenced by that era have been a large part of my musical diet for the past 40 years, it is understandable that music broadly linked to that genre has become jaded to my ears. Under those circumstances, it makes the excitement generated by Gdańsk, Poland trio Trupa Trupa’s new EP all […]

EP REVIEW – TRUPA TRUPA: MOURNERS