STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
Pertinent poetic romance
MICHAL BONZCA reviews the latest releases from Rusty Shackle, Ifriqiyya Electrique, and Ruth Notman and Sam Kelly
Rusty Shackle
The Raven, the Thief & the Hangman
(Get Folked Records)
★★★★★
RUSTY SHACKLE have chiselled this set of nine songs to loving perfection.
For two years, with laudable dedication, they've researched and gathered songs that tell stories from the edge of human existence without descending into miserablism or self-pity.
Similar stories
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Read Sisters, the journal of the National Assembly Of Women, below.
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs



