APRIL 2026 ISSUE
APRIL 2026 ISSUE A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the April 2026 issue – OUT NOW! Click to buy this issue and read more… MAMAS GUN Back in spring 2022 we made Mamas Gun’s splendid last studio album, Cure The Jones, one of our Soul Albums Of The Month, some eight months later also including it in the top 10 for the year. Now, with the arrival of a new set, DIG!, we’re not only installing them once again in said SAOTM slot, but also promoting the lads – that’s drummer, Chris Boot, guitarist Terry Lewis, keysman Dave Oliver, bass player Cameron Dawson and songwriting frontman/vocalist Andy Platts – to our cover. They deserve it, I somewhat grovellingly tell them at the beginning of a Zoom call with Messrs. Dawson and Platts, because this one’s even better. The pair both break into beaming smiles before Mr. Platts responds, ‘Well, I’m very glad it’s that way round and not, ‘The last one was absolutely brilliant, but this is rubbish!’” Click here to buy and read more… RUNKUS Runkus was so-called because according to his mother, he was “fussy” in her womb. He was causing a stir in there and so a neighbour named him “Runkus” – a Jamaican variation of “ruckus.” It’s definitely catchier than Romario Bennett but, musically speaking, he’s been causing a ruckus ever since early singles Victim and One Shot appeared on playlists more than a decade ago. In 2016, German label Oneness Records released his debut album Move: In, containing tracks like Ride, shared with Treesha and Royal Blu, and Skin Tone. “Jah never make no mistake when He mek yuh,” he informed us, before asking, “Where you get your skin tone from?” By then, the first wave of Jamaica’s Reggae Revival had already changed perceptions of what we could expect from a younger generation of artists, most of whom sought to expand on what their predecessors had achieved. They were standing on the shoulders of giants but if they felt inhibited, they certainly didn’t show it. Click here to buy and read more… NTJAM ROSIE I have been a professional musician for almost 18 years; it was about time I had a project that really zoomed in on what moves and drives me personally as a mother, a wife, a believer, a musician, and as a black woman from the African diaspora. This album is me coming home, embracing my eclectic self. I did therefore not feel the need to give the album a title other that my name. I know who I am, and I invite the listener to get to know me… Click here to buy and read more… ISAIAH J. THOMPSON “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you, be gracious to you, show you favour and give you his peace.” It is with these words that pianist Isaiah Thompson signed off an excellent set at Ronnie Scott’s last month, and the blessing, which is passed from Moses to Aaron in the Old Testament, made perfect sense, given that the 28-year-old pianist says he is now closer than ever to God. His faith is strong. “I grew up going to church, but I wasn’t a believer. I’ve been walking with the Lord for maybe five or six years now, and it’s changed everything for me,” the New Jersey native with the ready smile told me backstage after the gig. What was the reason? Click here to buy and read more…
Black News 
APRIL 2026 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the April 2026 issue – OUT NOW!
MAMAS GUN
Back in spring 2022 we made Mamas Gun’s splendid last studio album, Cure The Jones, one of our Soul Albums Of The Month, some eight months later also including it in the top 10 for the year. Now, with the arrival of a new set, DIG!, we’re not only installing them once again in said SAOTM slot, but also promoting the lads – that’s drummer, Chris Boot, guitarist Terry Lewis, keysman Dave Oliver, bass player Cameron Dawson and songwriting frontman/vocalist Andy Platts – to our cover. They deserve it, I somewhat grovellingly tell them at the beginning of a Zoom call with Messrs. Dawson and Platts, because this one’s even better.
The pair both break into beaming smiles before Mr. Platts responds, ‘Well, I’m very glad it’s that way round and not, ‘The last one was absolutely brilliant, but this is rubbish!’”
RUNKUS
Runkus was so-called because according to his mother, he was “fussy” in her womb. He was causing a stir in there and so a neighbour named him “Runkus” – a Jamaican variation of “ruckus.” It’s definitely catchier than Romario Bennett but, musically speaking, he’s been causing a ruckus ever since early singles Victim and One Shot appeared on playlists more than a decade ago.
In 2016, German label Oneness Records released his debut album Move: In, containing tracks like Ride, shared with Treesha and Royal Blu, and Skin Tone. “Jah never make no mistake when He mek yuh,” he informed us, before asking, “Where you get your skin tone from?” By then, the first wave of Jamaica’s Reggae Revival had already changed perceptions of what we could expect from a younger generation of artists, most of whom sought to expand on what their predecessors had achieved. They were standing on the shoulders of giants but if they felt inhibited, they certainly didn’t show it.
NTJAM ROSIE
I have been a professional musician for almost 18 years; it was about time I had a project that really zoomed in on what moves and drives me personally as a mother, a wife, a believer, a musician, and as a black woman from the African diaspora. This album is me coming home, embracing my eclectic self. I did therefore not feel the need to give the album a title other that my name. I know who I am, and I invite the listener to get to know me…
ISAIAH J. THOMPSON
“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you, be gracious to you, show you favour and give you his peace.”
It is with these words that pianist Isaiah Thompson signed off an excellent set at Ronnie Scott’s last month, and the blessing, which is passed from Moses to Aaron in the Old Testament, made perfect sense, given that the 28-year-old pianist says he is now closer than ever to God. His faith is strong.
“I grew up going to church, but I wasn’t a believer. I’ve been walking with the Lord for maybe five or six years now, and it’s changed everything for me,” the New Jersey native with the ready smile told me backstage after the gig. What was the reason?
