Music

TEX Mex band Los Fabulocos debut with a heady brand of roots in the style of Los Lobos, Freddy Fender, the Hacienda Brothers and Doug Sahm's Texas Tornados.

THERE'S Balkan music, there's klezmer and there's Gypsy. In fact - purists look away - the average listener might conclude that the differences between the three styles are wafer thin.

THE coffee table brigade hijacked trip-hop just as it was being reinvigorated with the addition of acoustic instrumentation. 

EVER get the feeling you're missing something? The third and newest emission from Ben Jacobs - aka Max Tundra - is being hailed as a work of some merit, even being lauded by seasoned music hack Paul Lester as some kind of wonder.

DESPITE the fact that bluesman Joe Louis Walker seems to have been around forever, having released a string of critically acclaimed albums, he has still not achieved the international recognition of his contemporary Robert Cray.

PORTUGUESE fado diva Mariza has released her first studio album for years, following a barnstorming live recording and a gruelling world tour and it's a confident shift into new territory.

OVER the last 20 years, gangster rap has earned itself a reputation as one of the most sexist and violent forms of music and the grandfathers of this genre were NWA.

WITCHY folk duo Pumajaw have been making records for around a decade under one name or another and it seems that the rest of the British music scene is finally catching up to their hybrid of ancient folk and electronic psychedelia.

THE particular expression of US optimism that exudes from the music of the Baltimore-born, Denver-bred guitarist Bill Frisell, radiates from his new double album History, Mystery.

MIKE NEWMAN urges support for the Liverpool Festival of Working Class Music, taking place in the City of Culture this weekend.