summary 
Monday, 21 May
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
Thursday, 17 May
Recommended release
By all rights, the name of Iñigo Ugarteburu should be far better known than it is right now. His debut record, an exquisite labour of love some six years in the making should correct that matter. 'Back & Forth' is a sumptuous, heartfelt and beautifully affective piece of work entirely composed and produced by the virtuosic Spanish ex-pat with the aid of "fifteen musicians, three sound engineers, two illustrators, a graphic designer and dozens of friends." Drawing from a rich well of Spanish folk influence and accented with a fresh, sparingly minimal aesthetic, Iñigo uses a broad palette of guitar, horns and woodwind, ukulele, har… Read more
THURSTON MOORE / MEG BAIRD / D. CHARLES SPEER / VARIOUS
Oh Michael, Look What You've Done: Friend Play Michael Chapman
TOMPKINS SQUARE
CD // £11.99
Cat. Number: TSQ2707
This one's been a long time coming, a glorious collection of tributes to British folk idol Michael Chapman, curated by Tompkins Square and Chapman's wife herself. We've got a fantastic amount of good material here, with Thurston Moore, Bridget St John, Meg Baird and Hiss Golden Messenger among others providing intriguing takes on the singer songwriter's fine catalogue of work. Each artist takes it into their hands to make the songs their own and while some are more successful than others, some serve to illumin… Read more
Thursday, 10 May
One Little Plane is the solo moniker of Aussie singer-songwriter Kathryn Bint, but coming from Kieran Hebden's Text label you probably know that 'Into The Trees' is far more than JUST a singer-songwriter record. Hebden even gets involved as he takes the reigns for production duties, and Radiohead man Johnny Greenwood even pops up for a spot of collaboration. Bint's songs are elevated well by the glossy, assured production, and what might have been a more stripped-down record is multi-layered and deeply unusual. At times I'm reminded of Belly or Throwing Muses, Bint's voice has that coo-… Read more
Simone White may have shot to fame thanks to a leg up from a certain German car manufacturer, but there's nothing overtly commercial about 'Silver, Silver', her latest full-length for Honest Jon's. Something like a cross between Stina Nordenstam (in the vocals) and the Cocteau Twins (in the textures), White has an undeniable warmth and charm, and never succumbs to the MoR territory many in her field have nudged into over the course of their careers. 'Silver Silver' is packed with weird production tics and off-kilter melodies giving that while still a 'pop' album, there's room for the ambient… Read more
Tuesday, 08 May
"Following their album of Spanish folk songs Anda Jaleo (Fire 2010), Josephine Foster and the Victor Herrero Band have created a superb follow-up entitled Perlas (Pearls) due out on Fire Records in May. It is a jewel of a collection, with songs and poems selected by Josephine herself, gathered from dusty old scores and brought vividly to the present with warm performances full of flesh-and-blood emotion. Made with a variety of stringed instruments and simple percussion, the songs were recorded live in the studio on to analogue tape by Paco Loco in Puerto de Santa Maria,… Read more
Thursday, 03 May
LEE HAZLEWOOD
The LHI Years : Singles, Nudes And Backsides (1968-71)
Light In The Attic
CD // £10.99
Cat. Number: LITA084
"With his handlebar moustache and booming baritone, Lee Hazlewood was one of the defining stars of the late '60s. Though he's perhaps best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra (including writing mega-hit "These Boots Are Made For Walking"), Hazlewood did stunning work away from that particular glamour queen and found latter day champions in Beck, Sonic Youth, and Jarvis Cocker. As a true legend of the great American songbook and a rebellious pioneer who left behind a lengthy trail of echo laden pop masterpieces, Lee's influence continues to reverberate t… Read more
Monday, 30 April
Trembling Bells meets Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on what is, for our money, one of the finest releases either act has put their name to. The 'Bells trade in their ghostly, none-more-British folk style for something more American in flavour, summoning all those amazing, lavishly orchestrated country-soul albums cut in LA and Nashville in the 1970s - think Micky Newbury, Jimmy Webb, David Wiffen, et al - but with such gusto, and attention to detail, that it never feels like mere pastiche. Lavinia Blackwall's vocals, ordinarily so ominous and eldritch, sound alternately rom… Read more
Tuesday, 24 April
Okay I'll admit it; this wasn't what I was expecting from Cian Nugent's debut album 'proper'. I've heard his music before, and while he can clearly play guitar better than most pretenders to the Takoma throne, I'm getting somewhat bored with the seemingly endless stream of Fahey-esque guitarists out there. Well thank goodness that 'Doubles' is so much more than that as Nugent uses the Fahey/Rose axis as merely a jumping off point, and like James Blackshaw has managed to come up with something gorgeous out of the ashes. The first piece begins simply enough, but as it progresses we're greeted by the … Read more
Delightful Brit folk long-player from The Memory Band singer and Owl Service contributor Nancy Wallace, who previously recorded an EP of '70s disco anthems, all arranged in a pared-down acoustic style in keeping with her folk background. Rather than sounding irritatingly kitsch or like an unnecessary novelty, the Young Hearts EP (for that was its title) actually came across as strangely poignant - largely due to the honesty and steadiness of Wallace's voice, and now these same elements light up this excellent debut solo album. Old Stories combines original compositions with new… Read more
Thursday, 19 April
JAMES YORKSTON & THE ATHLETES
Moving Up Country: 10th Anniversary Edition
Domino Recording Co
CD // £10.49
NOW: £7.99
Cat. Number: REWIGCD79
Review to follow shortly…
Monday, 16 April
Review to follow shortly…
Thursday, 12 April
"Featuring members of Black Twig Pickers, D. Charles Speer & the Helix, Brightblack Morning Light, and more. Hiss Golden Messenger is Durham, North Carolina-based songwriter M.C. Taylor, in partnership with multi-instrumentalist and recordist Scott Hirsch, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. The pair have been playing music together for nearly two decades. Poor Moon is the fourth proper Hiss Golden Messenger release, and serves as the best summation thus far of Taylor's lone journeys through the dark night of the soul. "God is good, and it's understood," he sings. "But he moves in mysterio… Read more
"In the 1950s, while audio recording was still an astronomically expensive art, limited to the laboratory-like environment of the professional studio, a few forward-thinking artists began to experiment with the idea of home recording. Sun Ra in Chicago and Les Paul in New York made history away from the studios. And deep in Appalachia, folk singer John Jacob Niles recorded a series of EPs in the place where he was most comfortable singing— his living room. Niles's decision may have seemed strange to people around him; he was internationally known, had released music on RC… Read more
Thursday, 05 April
"Hush Arbors and Arboretum have each been exploring for years now the intersection of progressive folk and psychedelic rock, albeit filtered through their own distinct sounds. It was only a matter of time before their paths would cross. Keith Wood and Dave Heumann met at a show in Baltimore and discovered their mutual appreciation for each other's music. The two bands planned a joint European tour, and recorded Aureola to further showcase and celebrate their complimentary sounds… "These new songs… are like a re-awakening, a groggy hello to a forgotten world, or a blissful hangover full of melancholy love and promise."
Alexander Tucker is the consummate album artist. His sixth LP and second for Thrill Jockey beautifully builds upon deep roots established ever since his eponymous debut, following an astral trajectory of evolution and progress which already reached deeply impressive headspace on last year's 'Dorwytch'. Again accompanied by long-time friend and collaborator Daniel O'Sullivan, and contributions from Frances Morgan and Karl Brummer, his vision of Folk, Prog, Psyche Rock and Ambient Pop is resolved with a lushly psychedelic lucidity on 'Third Mouth', while becoming ever more pop conscious. It'… Read more
Tuesday, 03 April
Rough Fields follow up a string of widely acclaimed EPs in 2011 with their folksy debut album. ""Edge Of Firelight" reveals Rough Fields' full musical scope, as the ten tracks sweep from deep, pulsating sub-grooves ("Summer On the Haight") and intense, epic crescendos ("Girls In Cars") to atmospheric sun-diwn jams ("Geese") and concrete exploration ("Border Navigation"). There's coherence throughout, though, not least in the album's faithful adherence to Rough Fields' usual sound sources - found objects, broken instruments, environmental sounds, sonic defects and thick, layered textures."
Thursday, 29 March
**Limited edition Amaray DVD-sized case packaged with 48-page storybook and drawings** XL contrast Adele's ubiquity with a fascinatingly raw and individual debut from the widely touted Willis Earl Beal. Entirely home recorded on rudimentary equipment, 'Acousmatic Sorcery' is a document of modern day outsider blues/songcraft quite unlike any other we can think of. Well OK, he sounds a bit like Jandek or Daniel Johnston, but that's mostly just down to his recording apparatus and straight to tape arrangements. This guy's applied for X-Factor - he even got through to boot camp: check th… Read more
Thursday, 22 March
JOZEF VAN WISSEM & JIM JARMUSCH
Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity
Important Records
CD // £13.99
Cat. Number: IMPREC348CD
Rebel renaissance Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem meets American filmmaker and guitarist - and friend and collaborator - Jim Jarmusch on five beautifully engrossing, time-dilating duets recorded in Brooklyn in late 2011. Jarmusch has previously appeared on Van Wissem's 'Concerning The Beautiful Human Form After Death' but this is their first full length collaboration, yet you'd never guess it. Patiently attuned to each other's presence, the pair weave exquisite melody and tempered feedback with an instinctual understanding, conducting themselves in a … Read more
**Richly textured, near-operatic and passionately delivered composition on Elfin Saddle's third full-length. Located somewhere between psyche-folk, post-rock and modern classical** "The Montreal group, led by multi-instrumentalists Emi Honda and Jordan McKenzie (who also share vocal duties), has always shown a profound engagement with issues of environmental sustainability and the emotional impact of economic/political ideologies that continually foreclose on the possibility of genuine, progressive renewal and redirection. The band's music-making – and the parallel art practice on display in Ho… Read more
**Includes lucubrate liner-notes in Gaelic and English** Alasdair Roberts and Mairi Morrison nourish the roots of Gaelic Scottish tradition with a fine collaborative album. Mairi is from Bragar on the far westerly Isle Of Lewis, and although she now lives in Glasgow, she retains a strong knowledge of traditional songs from her home. Ceol's Craic - a Glasgow-based club devoted to promoting Gaelic arts in the city - brought the pair together for 'Urstan' (a Lewis word for a dram of whiskey to celebrate the birth of child) , a suite of mostly traditional standards together with a fe… Read more
Thursday, 15 March
"Recorded quickly, over a 5-6 week period, in intense 2-3 day session int he studio, 'On This Dark Street' may prove to be Kevin's finest work to date. Gloriously bleak, deliciously dark and with his trademark gallows humour firmly in place… Kicking off with 'Taking It To The Streets (Again)', Tihista references heartbreak, murder, manslaughter, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, The Beatles, drinking, drugging and falling off too many tables and more heartbreak, to devastating effect. Not until closer 'Country Road' does he finally turn on the lights with a pop standard you would … Read more
CD // £12.49Sophomore album from Nashville's heavily accented singer/songwriter Luke Roberts. His arrangements are now fleshed out with rich contributions of fiddle and mandolin from Billy Contaraz and backing vocals from Emily Sunblad, and polished to a fireside glow by Lambchop-affiliate Marky Nevers and Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk. "'Roberts' vocals are tender and bruised, and their smallness can be legitimately heartbreaking... These songs are fiercely internal, which also makes them remarkably hard to shake" - Pitchfork; "...a sparse but striking debut... a small masterpiece o… Read more
Thursday, 01 March
"Quite A Way Away"is a singer/songwriter album, but the fact that it’s on Taylor Deupree’s 12k imprint should tell you it’s a great deal more than that as well. Glaswegian troubadour Dickson, who has played in Vashti Bunyan’s touring band and collaborated with Max Richter, writes and performs songs rooted in classic, cyclical folk-rock structures, with a finger-picking style openly indebted to Nick Drake and Bert Jansch. The similarities with the former extend further, to the deep blue timbre of his vocal phrasing and the melancholic ambience in which he sets his songs. His songs evince… Read more
After numerous guest appearances singing for F*cked Up, The Constantines and Doug Paisley, amongst others, Toronto's Jennifer Castle takes centre stage on her solo debut 'Castlemagic'. "It's full of rambles, waltzes and ballads, wandering with equal parts feedback and quiet, through dark melodies; wistful, and straight out of a hzed dream or some offbeat 70s AM station. The songs have a kind of familiarity, as if they were always there. Castle is backed by an assortment of musicians - pedal steel, percussion, vibraphone. She handles guitar and piano herself, but it's her voice which is ultimately the guide."
Wednesday, 29 February
"The Clearing is Bowerbirds’ third album - a much bigger, bolder and broader record than its predecessors. Recorded with Brian Joseph (Bon Iver) in Wisconsin, from the first song onwards, this is a band willing to make a statement and develop all the finest moments heard on the previous two records."
Monday, 27 February
Review to follow shortly…
