by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Darren Hayman – Home Time
Long before there was a trilogy of albums on the history of Essex, the 2012 instrumental record inspired by Lidos, an EP of tunes inspired by diesel commuter trains, or Chants for Socialists, Darren Hayman used to specialise in songs…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
In these strange, unprecedented times, we reach for what we can rely on. So what better gift this Easter weekend than the early release of Laura Marling’s seventh studio record. Where several other artists have postponed release dates, wary of…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Video premiere | Modern Hinterland – The Zombies (BBC Introducing)
Since releasing critically acclaimed record The Longest Part of the Night in January, Modern Hinterland have been keeping busy with a tour and a number of acoustic and live sessions. The latest was with BBC Introducing, and we’re delighted to…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Live | Ian Prowse @ Blackpool Opera House
Across four decades in the industry – as frontman for Amsterdam and Pele, and as a solo artist – Ian Prowse may never have scored a hit but he has built up a bit of a cult following through the…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Nadia Reid – Out of My Province
Travel can bring change, it can bring personal growth, but it can also help you realise who you really are. For her third album, with the appropriate name Out Of My Province, Reid packed her passport and set off around…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Jonathan Wilson – Dixie Blur
Over the course of his first three solo albums, Jonathan Wilson has immersed himself in the Laurel Canyon groove. Hanging out in LA with the likes of David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, Wilson made records steeped…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Peggy Sue – Vices
Vices. Sometimes they can feel so good, but you know they’re usually wrong. That’s pretty much how Katy Young and Rosa Slade had grown to feel about some of the music they were making as Peggy Sue. Which is why,…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Frazey Ford – U Kin B The Sun
Frazey Ford is one of those artists you would happily listen to singing the proverbial phone book. You’d be unlikely to make out any of the names or addresses, but her rich voice, clearer in its emotion than its enunciation,…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Live | Smoke Fairies @ Soup Kitchen, Manchester
“If we started a cult now, would you all join?” It’s funny where a conversation about being stuck in a lift can go, but as Katherine and Jessica sort their tunings for ‘Elevator’, they’re apparently contemplating a new concept for…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Album | Lankum – The Livelong Day
Dropping the needle on The Livelong Day is to enter an intense world. Their third studio album is the Irish four-piece’s most uncompromising statement yet. Few bands would dare open with an 11-minute long reworking of ‘The Wild Rover?’, its…