Moratoria (reissue, 2004) BELLA UNION 7/10 Long-lost cult album rediscovered On its release in 2004, the debut album by London-based post-rockers Bikini Atoll was praised in these pages for its “versatile mood music”. Perhaps Moratoria was just too

Precious Bane FLUFF AND GRAVY 8/10 Alt.country veteran and multi-disciplinary artist pair up JIM WHITE has tended to favour collaboration over solo work since 2020’s M i s fi t s Ju b i l e e. He turned producer for albums by the likes of Ane Diaz an

YOU’RE getting a lifetime achievement nod at the UK Americana Awards. Are you surprised to be categorised as Americana? Not really. I’ve been doing Americana music for 10 years or more. I didn’t know I was doing it, it’s just songs I like to sing. Pr

PARK Chapel is a former congregational church on the soft slope of Crouch Hill in north London. Today, one half of the grey stone building is home to Mount Zion Cathedral, part of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim. The other half hous

Funk Or Walk (reissue, 1978) ACE 7/10 From the wild, weird world of Parliament and Funkadelic to the cool, smooth sounds of soulful sisterhood PERHAPS one of the minor, less explored planets of the George Clinton universe, the Brides started out as a

I’M NEW HERE ‘‘To be honest, I originally thought that people would think it was really fucking weird,” says Greg Mendez, as he recalls his initial feelings about “Maria” – a slight, lilting song about getting arrested in a crack den that provided hi

WHEN The Chills’ songwriter and sole constant Martin Phillipps died in July 2024, he left behind a last testament. His band’s eighth and final album, Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs, comprises fresh takes on demo tapes from the ’80s and ’90s

SKY ARTS/NOW TV 7/10 ‘‘THE most important and influential British rock band of all time,” declares this brisk new history of the Yardbirds. Define “rock”, discount the Fabs, append Zep, and it’s still a contentious claim. In this telling, which benef

“THERE was a real sense of now or never,” says Nadia Reid remembering her move from New Zealand to the UK a little over a year ago. “We just took a chance, you know? We got on the plane. I was 23 weeks pregnant. We had two suitcases, a car seat for m

AS The Moody Blues travelled across America during the late 1960s, they often encountered young men the same age as them at airports and bus stations, on their way home from Vietnam. These encounters inspired Justin Hayward to write “Question”, the s

THE figure of ‘Spanish’ Tony Sanchez looms large in Rolling Stones lore – as a friend, a fixer, a hard man and according to the title of his own memoir, Keith Richards’ drug dealer. But a recent series of exhibitions has reframed Sanchez’s legacy, re

“I ’M bringing out more of my eclectic tastes and influences on Wasteland,” says Yorkshire songwriter and folk guitarist Jim Ghedi. “The bigger, more expansive arrangements have been brewing for some time.” From fine earlier works like A Hymn For Anc

NOVEMBER 28, 1976. The crowd outside Croydon Greyhound is getting rowdy. Inside the venue, listening to the noise, Aswad are growing increasingly nervous. One of the UK’s first all-black British-born groups, Aswad are on only the second date of a roc

J’ai Vu Le Loup/A L’Entrée Du Temps Clair (reissues, 1979, ’82) MATERIALI SONORI 9/10, 9/10 Traditional French song made curious and strange FRENCH musician Veronique Chalot was, by any standards, a mysterious character. Born in Le Havre, Normandy, s

The Maori singer-songwriter was New Zealand’s answer to Joan Armatrading, recording seven albums before her untimely death at the age of 52 in 2008. “She was so inspiring,” says Reid. “I don’t think she’s ever quite got the acclaim that she deserves.

IT’S always been wise to expect the unexpected with IJean Claude Vannier; so his exchange of the trusty string ensemble for Vincent Beer-Demander’s massed mandolins on new album Jean Claude Vannier Et Son Orchestre De Mandolines somehow makes perfect

IF you really want to get away from it all, Chale Abbey might be the spot. Situated on the southern tip of the Isle Of Wight, the studio is housed within a fabulous 16th-century barn, all original oak trusses and natural stone walls. “It’s out in the

The Purple Bird DOMINO 8/10 FRIENDSHIP. Concord. Openness and generosity. If folk is an innately community-minded music, then these are surely its cornerstones, not only practically but idealistically, too. They’re certainly qualities that have shape

High Tide WORLD OF ECHO 8/10 Impressive not-rock experiments from European guitar/drum duo For a debut album, Able Noise’s High Tide is wildly confident. This transcontinental team, working between Greece and the Netherlands, makes music that’s not j

Motor-Cycle (reissue, 1969) HIGH MOON ‘‘ASATANIC-BIKER motown-psych outsider drug-rock concept album…” “As if The Velvet Underground recorded for Motown…” These are two of the elaborate, bewildering descriptions offered over the years for Lotti Golde

• 12 classic album artworks, plus quotes from Jack White, Siouxsie Sioux, Stephen Stills, Robert Plant and more – as told to Uncut • Large A3 format: a perfect gift (or treat yourself!) ORDER YOUR 2025 UNCUT CALENDAR TODAY Shop.kelsey.co.uk/CAL25UNC

A Paradise In The Hold NIGHT TIME STORIES 8/10 TRUMPETER, flugelhornist and composer Yazz Ahmed has created her most exquisite sonic world yet on A Paradise In The Hold, 10 tracks of magnetic, boundary-transcending jazz that intricately blend influen

HAVING first met the Wailers in Neasden in close to Marley, Tosh and Bunny Wailer, recording with all three at various times. Aswad members were a regular presence in the studio when Marley was recording Exodus. “Marley would notice if they weren’t t

The Land We Knew The Best is our Album Of The Month, and finds the former Walkabouts guitarist and singer making some of the best music of his life in his adopted home of Slovenia. Head to page 26 for more on the album, and an interview with Eckman.

SEAN O’Hagan enjoys looking back, if only for the unique perspective it provides. “You always hate the music that you made 10 years after you made it – ‘Oh, what was I doing?!’ But it’s really nice when you live to be 30 or 40 years older than it, be