Brendan P. Lynch: Tunes from the Hearth (Independent)
Don't be thrown by the antiseptic hearth of Fingal's Thatch Cottage Preservation Society, because this fiddler has the diverting folk virtuosity of a man far older and further north-west of Ballyboughal, north Dublin. He brings rogue's-technique bluegrass to the reels, full of fast, scratchy bow action and throwaway chords; or waltz-coloured airs which half-remind me of Tommy Peoples. Other airs labour under a leaden slumber, trying to be synthy-sweet, and the songs, well, they're grand. He builds better on vigorous old jigs or the slow Shetland, Wild Rose of the Mountain, with its baroque trills, schmaltzy vibrato and the clever little drop of the octave, shaking out the emotion. Phoo, yeah.
- Mic Moroney
Carlos Nunez: Os Amores Libres (BMG)
It's hard to know what breakaway republic you're entering with each star turn in this big-production famefest around this Galician piper: Hector Zazu; Mairtin O'Connor and Frankie Gavin; Donal Lunny; Paddy Keenan's pipes swaggering over a slam-cajun megapub Raggle Taggle Gypsy from Mike Scott; or Liam O Maonlai's Fifth Brigade, making no mistake about bishops snuggling up to fascistas. Flamenco handclaps smatter Irish jigs, while Juan Manuel Canizares' guitar challenges Nunez's lathery rock and roll meltdowns. The pizza gets dull betimes (Jackson Brown's vocals, Afro-Celt Simon Emmerson's "enthnodance"), until Nunez lifts your scalp with a Scottish bagpipe, or butterflies away on ocarina - lovely touches, often buried under 14 layers of wallpaper.
- Mic Moroney