Let Drum Beat’s debut album – Lua Cheia – was recorded in the Navegas Cantareira Studio housed within a tropical forest in Brazil. The London based all female group consisting of Alba Cabral, Béa Shantifa, Lizzie Ogle and Tuca Milan have created an album that is charming and simmering with...
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Macumbadaboa, the collaborative release from the afoxe collective Grupo Bongar and music producer DJ Maga Bo is a rootsy and catchy take on African and Brazilian rhythms, steeped in Afro-Brazilian heritage and fused with electronic music. Grupo Bongar are from the Xambá community in the coastal city of Olinda, north-east...
Cykada’s first album release, Cykada, is a colourful mix of styles and activity, condensed into five instrumental pieces. The compositions they have created are both unexpected and groovy. The drum kit sounds melodic and the FX helps to transform the musicians’ possibilities. Cykada take on a lot of music styles:...
Sociativa (Jarring Effects) is a punchy, electronic and beat-heavy rendition of older Brazilian pieces (mostly from North East Brazil) which have been remade for a modern audience. Definitely made for sub-woofers and loudspeakers, the heavy bass frequencies interact with traditional styles in an exciting fashion. Sociedade Recreativa is a collaboration between...
Le Jardin (The Garden) is a soft electro-pop album created in collaboration by Anglo-Brazilian singer Nina Miranda and Brazilian producer Daxuva (Pedro Ferraz) – the debut record under the Daxuva moniker. The album sets itself within a collision; on one side you see the soft, sensual aspects of a garden,...
I had the pleasure of meeting Afrocidade in September and accompanying them as part of their London tour, watching them play at Rich Mix, run a dance workshop at the Black Cultural Archives and perform at Brixton Hootananny. The band took me in as a friend and as a member...
Zeca Pagodinho is an established samba performer with over 30 years’ experience, who cut his tooth playing in rodas de samba and writing music for G.R.E.S. Portela, one of the oldest and most well-known samba schools in Rio de Janeiro. Fifteen albums later, in the styles of samba and MPB, and...
Boomtown Fair is a lot of fun. It is an immersive and well-detailed festival that puts a great deal of effort into making Boomtown feel like a real town. This year, Boomtown placed participants at the final chapter of a political framework, questioning where the wealth and power between Boomtown...

Preview: Boomtown Fair 2018 @ Matterley Estate (Winchester; Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th August 2018)
Boomtown Fair is not just an ordinary festival but a truly immersive experience. It’s now in its tenth edition and this year has the theme ‘The Machine Cannot Be Stopped’. It creates a performance environment which follows a story, drawing from previous chapters of the Boomtown tale to involve you...
Sun Ra‘s Of Abstract Dreams is a previously unreleased album from jazz pianist and bandleader’s archives. This four-piece recording (released in March by Strut Records) was performed for WXPN-FM radio station between approximately 1974 and 1975. The compositions in the album are always surprising and contrasting, led by Sun Ra...