"Loose" Album Review

It's fair to say that if you were playing a quick game of 'pair the artist with a fantasy producer', you'd not put Nelly Furtado together with Timbaland. "Eh? That Portuguese/Canadian woman who sang "I'm Like A Bird" with Missy Elliott.php's producer? That'll never work..." would probably be the reaction.

Yet it's not such an unlikely pairing as it sounds. Furtado was in a hip-hop outfit before she became famous, and both of her previous albums have displayed enough variety and... »»

"Folklore" Album Review

There's nothing new about Western pop stars dabbling in the music of South America; Sting, David Byrne and Paul Simon being but three luminaries who have drawn on the continent's rich musical traditions. What makes this album so novel, however, is that it comes from a mainstream star, one more accustomed to the front cover of teeny magazines, rather than in-depth 16-page features in Mojo or Rolling Stone... »»