The year’s most cutting-edge sounds included ambient Americana, Ethiopia’s ‘honky-tonk nun’ Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Alice Coltrane disciple Surya Botofasina and field recordings of goats eating mangosThe best
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This survey of the modern pedal steel guitar took the instrument beyond Nashville and
HAWAII and into other worlds: ambient Americana, microtonal minimalism, sitar-like improvisations, desert blues, death metal, slow-motion jazz and much more. It features the likes of BJ Cole, Maggie Björklund, Susan Alcorn and Barry Walker Jr. Read the full review