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1 Sille Ilves Kannel (Libahundix CD0215). Accompanying her light voice on plucked and strummed seven-string kannel (Estonia’s Baltic zither), occasionally adding bowed hiiu-kan- nel, Britain’s only, and welcome, resident Estonian folk musician with Estonia’s narrow- compass trad songs plus touches of Votian and Welsh. www.silleilves.bandcamp.com

@ Appalachia The Judgement (Own label 0 742832 464994). Quartet from Somerset playing original material that someone labelled bluegrass with a twist. Neither their playing or singing has the precision or feel of bluegrass. Some smooth singing but a bit of a drag as a listening experience. www.applachiamusic.co.uk

1 Izar Melting Pot Ensemble The Melt- ing Pot (BIEM/ncb no cat no). Scandinavian band does mediæval European dance music mixed with traditional Arabic tunes. Good, if a little restrained. Great recorder sound and technique. Not sure all the improvised pas- sages further the progress of the tunes. The two Scandinavian tunes soar. www.izarmelt- ingpot.com

1 Joi Joi Sound System (Real World CDRWG208). Back in the late 1990s, Joi were part of London’s Asian underground scene, putting out three albums which mixed Asian traditional influences with electronic dance and rock. There’s nothing wrong with any- thing on this double album retrospective, but it all sounds very much of that time. Why release this now? www.realworldrecords.com/gold

@ Midival Punditz Light (Six Degrees 657036-122321). Longstanding US based band serve up an overblown, dated blend of proggy dance and Asian influences. The sort of thing which, if heard at a festival, would send this reviewer scurrying for the nearest bar in the opposite direction. www.punditz.com

2 Fiddle & Banjo (Daniel Koulack & Kar- rnnel Sawtisky) Tunes From The North, Songs From The South (KOS Green 300). I just loved this. Old time clawhammer banjo, played with skill and taste joined with top class fiddle playing. Occasional vocals, as good as the playing, and outstanding materi- al. Examples, Red Rocking Chair and Killing Floor, both stunning. www.hearthmusic.com

1 FY5 Eat The Moon (Swing Fingers Records sf003). Tidy blend of bluegrass and country from Colorado quintet. Two good lead singers with original material. All tune- ful, precise and everything perfectly in its place. So much better than other stuff that purports to be country music. www.finnder- sandyoungberg.com

1 Saturnalia Trio Skin, Wood and Steel (New Weave no cat no). Pleasant, undemand- ing, yet curiously uplifting mediæval and modern tunes sounding at times like Robin Williamson’s Merry Band or the soundtracks to Robin Of Sherwood or Merlin. danielcrommie.bandcamp.com

1 Ifj Sándor Fodor ‘Neti’ Szegelet (Fonó FA 362-2). Tough fiddle from a genuine mas- ter, assisted by various unshackled members of the Buda Folk Band. These are vital, idiosyncratic and deliberately uneasy takes on Magyar and Roma music. Beneath drab and unprepossessing packaging, this a fasci- nating and claustrophobic recording, viscid with brilliantly joyless celebration. www.fono.hu

2 Various Artists Don’t Think I’ve For- gotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock And Roll (Dust To Digital DTD-42). John Pirozzi’s film soundtrack documents the extraordinary, tra- dition-infused pop music recorded before the Khmer Rouge began brutally eliminating artists and all traces of modernity and West- ern influence. Thrilling, mind-expanding stuff, beautifully restored and packaged by Dust To Digital. www.dtifcambodia.com

1 GentleFolk Into The Greenwood (Cun- ning Folk Recordings 001). Engaging twee(d)folk concept album about the wood- lands of southern England by former Gay Dad bassist Nigel Hoyle (aka Nigel Of Bermond- sey) and chums. “The Green Man has come to bless our garden!” they trill. Begrudge not their joy. www.gentlefolkband.com

1 The Dolomites Japan Years Vol 1/2/3 (Alien Arts Alliance A-A-A-001/2/3). Enigmatic globetrotter Stevhen Koji Baianu and cohorts hymn Japanese folkloric monsters across a trilogy of EPs with art-punk accordeon, Balkan beats, spoken-word samples and tuba. Concluding cover of Europe’s The Final Countdown is oddly jolly and jolly odd. www.dolomitesmuzik.com

@ Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Music For An Elliptical Orbit (Diatribe DIACDSOL005). He’s a member of The Gloaming, high qualifi- cation indeed, but this is formless inconse- quential artsy minimalist wobbly scraping of whispery harmonics on a low-pitched hardan- ger d’amore fiddle. 40 samey minutes; patience exhausted. www.diatribe.ie

1 Parasztünnep Parasztünnep (Fono FA361-2). Deep rural Magyar folk, but also an intimate táncház session designed for rainy days. Loose closing epic Viski Ruditól is every- thing that might have been, a proper extend- ed exploration of exhausted and exhausting fiddle playing. The rustic rap-drawl of the opener is less acceptable. But the whole is determinedly and happily miserable. www.fono.hu

1 Gillespie & Wolfe Grace Pour Down (Gillywolfe Records GWRCD01). Edinburgh- based Sam Gillespie and Becka Wolfe confi- dently present self-penned songs from the mysterious and intriguing land between lyri- cism and profundity, within a full-toned, soundscape. Think back to Sun Also Rises per- haps, with occasional middle-eastern inflec- tions. www.gillespieandwolfe.com

2 Fannie Lou Hamer Songs My Mother Taught Me (Smithsonian Folkways Record- ings SFWCD40216). Re-released 1963 field recordings of folk and gospel songs, spoken word reminiscences and preaching by leg- endary Mississippi singer and civil rights cam- paigner. This Little Light Of Mine was never sung with more power and conviction. Excel- lent 32-page booklet. www.folkways.si.edu

@ Brendan McAuley The McCartneys of Pennyburn (Own label no cat no). A concept album featuring self-compositions related to the multi-instrumentalist’s Derry ancestors during the period from 1865 to 1912, marred by weak vocals, slushy synth backings, and bland arrangements apparently generated by an Irish trad computer programme set at the wrong speed. copperplatemailorder.com/

2 Susan Grace Bates Skorsa: The Riddle of the Earth (Own label SGB1573). Debut album from young Irish harpist and singer, contains Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish tra- ditional material plus Susan’s own elegant compositions, accompanied by whistle, fiddle, guitar, bodhran, cello. I loved the Swedish tra- ditional ballad Dressed In Blue, with its beguil- ing harmonics. www.susangracebates.com

Kardemimmit

1 Kardemimmit Onni (Happiness) (Own label KARCD-01). The Finnish female quar- tet’s harmonising voices are still teenage- sounding but maturing, now bolder and more finely attuned, over their filigree of 38- and 15-stringed kanteles, in largely their own, also increasingly developed, melodies to mainly trad lyrics. www.kardemimmit.fi

1 Ross Munro Twisted Tradition (Green- trax, CDTRAX384). Scottish traditional tunes, performed on bagpipes and whistles, are given a modern electronic pop-rock makeover with the help of MIDI synthesiser, guitars, bass and drums. Sounds like a cross between Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Asturian bagpipe maestro Hevia. www.greentrax.com

1 John Somerville & Robbie MacLeod The Voyage of the Hector (FeisRois 003). Commissioned by Fèis Rois, accordeonist John Somerville has composed original, uplifting music, combining string section with tradi- tional Scottish instruments and Gaelic vocals, to evoke the dramatic voyage of a ship that carried 207 passengers from Ullapool to Canada in 1773. www.feisrois.org

1 Ross Ainslie Remembering (Great White Records, GWR003CD). These brand- new songs and tune-sets have Ross’s pipes and whistles sparring with acoustic/electric guitars, keyboard, bass, accordeon, mandolin and fiddle. The instrumental sets are confi- dently original. The songs are less convincing. www.rossainslie.com

2 Elaine Davidson Can’t Tell The River (Own label (no cat no). Cumbrian singer- songwriter sounding ever more accomplished on her third album, an able, persuasive, impressive collection of thoughtful new songs recorded in LA with a team of simpati- co support musicians striking an ideal and sensitive balance between acoustic and elec- tric textures. elainedavidson.net

1 The Waifs Beautiful You (Compass 7 4653 2). Another batch of reliable Americana- roots-flavoured songs from acclaimed Aus- tralian trio, maintaining (and possibly just surpassing) the standard set by previous offerings. Well-drilled as ever, capably per- formed but equally no surprises to captivate afresh. www.thewaifs.com

1 Farrell Family The William Morris Songbook (Own label no cat no). Eddie, Frankie and Catie Farrell pay tribute to William Morris with radical songs from across the cen- turies which Morris might himself have chosen to learn and sing. Enthusiastic, no-frills per- formances, whether a cappella or with (slight- ly pedestrian) accompaniment. Attractively packaged. www.farrellfamilyband.co.uk