Hailing from the Cypriot-Turkish enclave of north London, Mavrika is reinventing classic Greek rembetika for contemporary ears. The band’s eponymous album (released on Psolista Records) covers many of the old songs by such writers as Georgios Batis and Anotonis Dalgas. But on Mavrika, the crumbly hawkings and sonic pops of old recordings are replaced with the hugely able vocalist Katina Kangaris and her lean and muscular bandmates.
Nick Cave (fresh from his score for the documentary West of Memphis, see NI 459) and the Bad Seeds are back with a new studio album Push the Sky Away (Bad Seed). A meticulously crafted affair that commands attention.
