OCTOBER 2025 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the October 2025 issue – OUT NOW!
JAMES EMMANUEL
Born and raised in Benin City, Nigeria, a five-year-old James Emmanuel is walking past the local mechanic when from the garage radio blasts a song that captivates his young ear. Since his father is a preacher and consequently very strict about the Emmanuel family steering clear of so-called ‘devil’s music’, James has never heard anything like it. He is smitten.
“That was the first time I heard Sexual Healing, the first time I heard anything by Marvin Gaye,” says James, smiling wistfully at the memory. “I had no idea what type of music it even was. I loved it… ”
ALFA MIST
Girl buys cupcake. Boy knocks it out of her hand. Girl shoots boy in the head. A sugary treat meant more than words can say. This uncommon tale of confectionery and killing is in an animé style comic written by Alfa Mist to accompany the vinyl edition of his new album Roulette. The narrative is vividly symbolic, the provocation entirely intentional.
“Obviously I want people to read it and kind of go, ‘That’s a bit excessive’,” he says in a measured tone. “But I want people to think. Revenge is definitely one of the themes on this album that I wanted people to think about from all sorts of perspectives. It’s pretty bleak in a way, but it’s an interesting thing in life that I want to talk about.”
MISS EMILY
In what turns out to be characteristic style, Canadian soul/blues/Americana singer Emily Fennell was on stage performing when she went into the labour that resulted in the birth of her daughter. She didn’t even realise at the time – it was only when she’d gone home and called the midwife that the source of the pains in her abdomen was confirmed – but the occurrence wasn’t a massive surprise, given that Emily had played close to 250 shows during her pregnancy. And after a short break for the actual birth itself, she pretty much went right back out there earning her living as a dedicated independent artist.
Miss Emily [as she is professionally known] has been doing her soulful thing for a couple of decades now, since 2014 releasing four albums and winning a number of blues awards in her homeland…
JESSE ROYAL
Long time Jesse Royal fans will remember songs like Singing The Blues and Modern Day Judas, which heralded his arrival more than a decade ago, at a time when a new generation of Jamaican artists had emerged as a part of the so-called Reggae Revival. It was a movement distinguished by these young talents’ love of roots and culture, their quest for integrity and determined attempts to uphold their island’s musical tradition, whilst seeking to expand upon it.
A new era was born allowing artists like him, Protoje, Kabaka Pyramid and Lila Iké to reconnect with audiences from around the world who’d tired of the violence, misogyny and division that had come to characterise Jamaican music in many people’s eyes…