By Maxazine South Africa 
Dozens of new albums arrive at Maxazine’s editorial staff every week. There are too many to listen to, let alone review. This ensures that too many albums are left behind, and that’s a shame. That is why we post an overview of albums that arrive at the editors today, with short reviews.
Photo (c) Jorge Fakhouri Filho
Skye Newman – SE9
South London is currently the most fertile square kilometre for pop music, and Skye Newman is the proof. “SE9”, named after the postcode of her youth, combines the two EPs that the London singer-songwriter released in 2025 and 2026 on Columbia Records into a single fourteen-track project. The opener “Man of the House” is a top-tier radio hit, the kind of song that could come on every hour of an entire summer without losing its shine. “Crawling” sings with meaning, leaning back into the beat in a way only someone with real control over their voice can. And in “Family Matters” the spirit of Amy Winehouse rises unmistakably to the surface, though Newman has a wider range than her predecessor. The comparison with Duffy is equally inevitable. “SE9” brings nothing new under the sun. It does not matter either. This is the kind of voice and confidence that does not need explaining. (Jan Vranken) (8/10) (Columbia Records)
Emmet Cohen – Universal Truth
Of course, it is no coincidence that “Universal Truth” is released in the week Miles Davis would have turned one hundred. The record is nothing less than a tribute to Miles and John Coltrane, with pianist Emmet Cohen carefully and respectfully breathing new life into a number of standards. He does so with an impressive line-up, including guest contributions from bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist George Coleman. The risk of egos clashing on such a record is not entirely imaginary, yet nowhere do you feel this is an all-star ensemble at work. The album crackles from the very first notes in the bebop opener “Budo”, and certainly also in Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” with a standout performance from trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. The best is still to come in the suite consisting of “Eternal Glimpse”, “Compassion” and the title track. In “Compassion”, you hear Miles. The tone, the playing of the notes that are not there, the feeling, the refinement, it is all there. And where the spirit of Miles hovers over the suite, in the closing “Blue Train” we are allowed to indulge in the authentic John Coltrane sound. As if he recorded it himself, without it becoming a forced, overworked copy. Brilliantly played. (Jeroen Mulder) (9/10) (Mack Avenue Records)
RaiNao – Marcriá
RaiNao, stage name of Puerto Rican Naomi Ramírez Rivera, releases her second studio album “Marcriá” via Rimas Entertainment. Sixteen tracks in which guaguancó, bomba, jazz and reggaeton find each other without ever sounding forced. That is more impressive than it may seem. The highlight is “Dando Vueltas”, an elegant, jazzy bossa nova on which RaiNao’s light, agile voice is joined after two and a half minutes by the 95-year-old Cuban legend Omara Portuondo, whose voice is instantly recognisable. A meeting between generations that does not become sentimental, but simply works. “Tornasol” shows the other side: hypermodern production that literally pulls at the legs. “Marcriá” is the best Latin American album of 2026 so far. The production alone is groundbreaking. The fact that the songs align so seamlessly with it makes this a rare case in which ambition and execution move in step. (Jan Vranken) (8/10) (Rimas Entertainment)
Ana – Motivated by Death
Ana, a Melbourne symphonic metal outfit that calls itself ‘couture metal’, debuts with “Motivated by Death” via Eclipse Records. The ambition is clear: eight tracks, mastered by Thomas Johansson, its own comic book universe, and a System of a Down cover as a closer. On paper, impressive. In practice, the album collapses under the mix. The vocals are so heavily processed that they drown in a wall of keyboards, and whoever assigned the keyboardist the mixing duties made a poor decision. The guitar parts obediently follow pentatonic paths every metal fan has heard a thousand times; the breaks are predictable down to the exact beat. “Hate Me” and “Following the Wind” show what Ana can do when the arrangements allow space, but that space is scarce. A band with potential that gets in its own way. Death as motivation apparently works better as an album title than as a mixing philosophy. (Anton Dupont) (5/10) (Eclipse Records)
Véro La Reine – Ekang Héritage
Véro La Reine, born Véronique Mékongo in Essazok, Cameroon, now presents “Ekang Héritage” from 2013 on streaming platforms. The bikutsi tradition of the Béti, one of the most vital and female-driven musical forms in Central Africa, deserves to be taken seriously. This album does not do that. The opening track “Bongo ya za” immediately sets the tone: a voice with intonation issues over a generic backing that sounds as if it came from a cheap MIDI library. The claimed recordings in Yaoundé with local musicians are not audible in the result. This sounds like a home production, which it most likely is. Véro La Reine writes, produces and sings everything herself, and that is audible. Bikutsi music has great names: Anne Marie Nzié, Messi Me Nkonda Martin, Les Têtes Brûlées. Artists who never moved to Vienna yet still carried the music into the world. Next to them, “Ekang Héritage” sounds like a well-meant but fragile hobby project from someone who loves the tradition but lacks the voice and means to honour it. (Elodie Renard) (5/10) (Ebele Music)
