". . . Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith, finds the adept jazz saxophonist exploring a dance-amenable mix of material that combines the organ jazz sound of Jimmy Smith with the roiling New Orleans rhythmic traditions of second-line brass band music. . . . on 2nd Line Smith Handy finds the perfect balance of foot-tapping New Orleans parade rhythms, exploratory jazz improvisations, and blues-inflected, organ-soaked grooves." -- 4 of 5 AllMusic
". . . Daylight/Dark . . . remains rooted in honky tonk, country gospel, hillbilly blues, and outlaw country, performed without artifice or nostalgia. While the sound is modern, it's worlds away from the slickly produced, mixed-genre mess that is contemporary country. . . . He is a hell of a singer: tenderness, grit, passion, and pain are woven inseparably in the grain of his voice. . . . While Daylight/Dark is technically a concept album it's more representatively a songwriter's record, telling stories of people we not only know, but perhaps have been. . . ." -- 4 of 5 AllMusic
". . . This is no ordinary "world fusion" exercise. This is a modern pop record whose roots and rhythms are deep in African, Caribbean, and Latin traditions. After recording these tracks, Kidjo went to Africa with a six-track tape recorder and captured eight Beninese women's choirs in a variety of languages, Cotonou's fabulous Trio Teriba, and the Merti Samburu choir from Kenya, who are featured on "M'baamba (Kenyan Song)," a traditional song given a cooking, punchy modern arrangement full of whomping, entwined low-end basses, intricate guitar lines, and soaring organ. . . . There are several milestones in Kidjo's nearly 30-year recording career; Eve is certainly one of them." -- 4 of 5 AllMusic
"Irish singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow turns expectations upside down on Post Tropical, his follow-up to debut, Early in the Morning. Though that record reached number one and went platinum in the U.K. with its quirky, folksy meld of soft vocals and acoustic and electric guitars. McMorrow shifts gears entirely here. Recorded in a Texas studio between the Rio Grande and Mexico, its production textures are made up of electronic beats, electric guitars, synths, samplers, and piano and other sundry instruments, mostly played by the artist. At the humid center of it all is McMorrow's tender, quietly passionate and soulful falsetto, hovering, haunting and diving into lyrics that are fraught with longing, desire, hope, passion, and sometimes desperation. Post Tropical is, at heart, a poetic soul record, albeit of the 21st century variety -- there isn't anything remotely retro here. . . ." -- 4 of 5 AllMusic
". . . Born and raised in Sabougla in the hill country of Mississippi, Welch worked over 30 years in the region's logging camps, spending his nights and days off playing picnics, house parties, and jook joints, developing a raw and urgent electric guitar style that put him in a long line of Mississippi trance guitarists that included R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. When the blues gigs began to get rarer in the mid-'70s, Welch simply packed up his approach and blues prowess and took them to the churches, developing a style that combined the grit and dirt of Mississippi blues guitar with the passionate urgency of Southern call-and-response gospel, which puts him squarely in the lineage of another great gospel guitarist, Mississippi Fred McDowell. This debut set, released when Welch was 82, is pretty much his church set done up straight with no frills in a recording studio, and it's a stunning and fiery thing to hear. . . . this is an album of redemptive gospel blues that crackles with urgency, passion, and relentless energy. . ." -- 4 of 5 AllMusic
". . . 2014's So Long, See You Tomorrow, finds the band building upon the dance-oriented sound of 2011's A Different Kind of Fix while still remaining faithful to their melodic, introspective indie rock roots. Once again centered around the lead vocals of Jack Steadman, the album was purportedly written while Steadman was traveling through Europe and India, and many of the songs on So Long, See You Tomorrow contain samples of the various sounds, music, and rhythms Steadman encountered on his trip. And while there are definitely Bollywood-esque qualities here, . . . the results are never overt or heavy-handed. These are organic, living productions that touch upon rave culture and world music while remaining rooted in melodic songcraft. . . . Ultimately, So Long, See You Tomorrow is highly engaging, thoughtful, kaleidoscopic pop music for citizens of the world." -- 4.5 of 5 AllMusic