In the second in our series of interviews with Schmercury award nominees we speak to Devon Sproule – a Canadian-born musician now living in Virginia, US. As well as her beautiful albums, she’s an absolute joy to watch live, with a natural musicianship and easygoing charm. FFS’s writer Chris Woolfrey called her latest album,...
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Anais Mitchell leapt into our consciousness with last year’s stunning folk-opera Hadestown, a sprawling masterpiece with a lengthy cast of distinguished contributers, not least Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, the Low Anthem’s Ben Knox Miller and Ani DiFranco. Lush instrumentation and a mix of jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel helped tell the tale of the...
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There’s not much lovelier than a stroll along Southbank in the Spring sunshine, so it seems the perfect place for the 4-month long Festival of Britain, starting this month at the Southbank Centre. The festival will feature music of all genres, as well as comedy and talks. Below we choose our top ten of...
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First things first: Hadestown is wonderful. Despite being released just a year ago, it’s safely in my all time favourite albums list and there it shall stay. It’s an incredible record, a sad and affecting story told through smartly-observed characters with beautiful melodies and orchestration. It’s Anais Mitchell retelling of the story of Orpheus...
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Last Sunday FFS appeared on 107 Spark FM’s Poison Oak show. I called in to talk to the very nice and excellently named Rachael Devine and recommend some artists old and new. I’ll be back on tonight between 7 and 9pm. Tune in if you’re Sunderland-based or you can listen live online if you’re...
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Schmercury nominee and For Folk’s Sake favourite Anaïs Mitchell is bringing her beloved folk Opera Hadestown to London and Glasgow this January. Both shows have been selling super fast and the Union Chapel date is currently sold out. Good news though- if you weren’t able to get tickets and live near London Anaïs is...
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It’s hardly news to FFS’s regular readers that Brian’s a pretty inconsistent character. He flits about, willy-nilly, with little concern for the wellbeing of his mixtape devotees. You might be relieved to hear that he’s turning over a new Horse Chestnut leaf in 2011, but that relief might be short-lived when you realise he’s...
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When I was an undergraduate we would sometimes play the ‘would you rather…’ game. Andy and Maggie play it in Extras (‘Would you rather be a penguin who’s a bird but can’t fly or a flying fish that’s a fish that can fly a bit?’, for example). I once asked the table (all literature...
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We’re delighted to announce that the wonderful Cocos Lovers are your choice for our Schmercury Best Album Poll. The Lovers’ debut LP Johannes was shortlisted alongside 11 other albums from the past year, and thanks to a groundswell of internet support, pipped Laura Marling’s I Speak Because I Can to top position. Our Editor’s...
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It’s the last day of voting for our Mercury spoof the Schmercury poll… Don’t miss the chance to vote for your favourite.
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