Ben Howard – The Wolves The Wolves have been kicking around for well over a year now, but they must be getting hungry (or rather Howard’s fat cat record label Island were) as the mellow summer beach ditty with its…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Live | Ed Sheeran @ Guildford Boileroom, 19 July
Seriously deft on the loop pedal, with the voice of a choirboy-turned-rockstar and a guitar that hasn’t left his side in years, it’s not hard to see why Ed Sheeran’s show at the Boileroom sold out in less than twenty-five…
Live | Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Beirut, The Vaccines, Owen Pallett @ Hyde Park, London, 30 June
Arcade Fire played a pleasing smattering of hits, the best for me being ‘Roccoco’ (lots of good ooh-ing from the crowd), ‘Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)’, which made me a bit teary, ‘Haiti’, ‘Intervention’, ‘We Used To Wait’, ‘Keep The Car Running’ and ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’. The band have written so many good songs, and seem to nail a half-disillusioned idealism that’s very definitive of music now, agreeing with Fleet Foxes in wanting to escape ‘the sprawl’ but not being sure if that’s possible. They’re also slightly in love with the dead shopping malls, the emptiness of the suburbs; their protesting edge is questioning, searching.
EP: The Dufflefolks – Keep Safe Your Keepsakes
Last year The Dufflefolks opened The Greenman Festival after winning 2010’s Greenpoll; reaching the final as one of the fans’ choices before a judge’s panel comprising, among others, Bella Union head Simon Raymonde, Mojo editor Phil Alexander, and Stephen Bass,…
Album: Driver Drive Faster – Open House
Open House is the debut album from Manchester band Driver Drive Faster, one of the first bands confirmed for this year’s Green Man -when the group’s true inauguration into the endlessly interwoven folk circuit will undoubtedly take place. They open…
Live: Yo La Tengo @ O2 Academy, Oxford
“SPIN THE WHEEL!” No, we’re not in the audience for Wheel of Fortune, but the wheel is the key decision maker onstage with Yo La Tengo tonight. Needless to say, this tour is unlike any other, and even though the…
Album: O’Death – Outside
Folk-rock is given a sinister spin on Outside, the third full-length record from Brooklyn six-piece O’Death. As the band’s name suggests, life – and the end of it – serves as a source of inspiration, with multiple tracks rhythmically and…
Album: Bodies of Water – Twist Again
Twist Again is a bit like chocolate with chilli in it, full of unexpected combinations: the first track, ‘One Hand Loves The Other’, evokes orchestration by Philip Glass spliced with Nancy Sinatra vocals, and the result is endearingly demented. ‘Triplets’…
Album: Chad VanGaalen – Diaper Island
I never expected Chad VanGaalen to write a song called ‘Shave My Pussy’. The artist who brought us the depressingly delicate ‘Willow Tree’ doesn’t seem like someone who would employ that sort of imagery, but there it sits, capping off…
Live: Best Coast @ Thekla, Bristol
After Kurt Cobain’s death, a gathering was held where his rival, and apparent nemesis, Eddie Vedder noted that the fame of Seattle’s grunge contingency might well be down to Cobain’s genius. Whilst Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino has the same love…