The Decemberists might be pushed to beat their own mid-00s output, but this is a band that has stayed true to their roots and continue to make compelling folk music. Their new record comes exactly four years since The King…
Diagrams is the latest project of Sam Genders, previously of Tunng, but for me Chromatics is sharper and more interesting than Tunng’s more diffuse work. ‘Phantom Power’ starts out jaunty, gently articulate, all Belle-&-Sebastian-eqsue, rattling along like a red bicycle with a bell…
Los Campesinos! are a band that can do no wrong. Since the release of ‘Hold on Now, Youngster’, way back in 2007, the band has gone on to make four further LPs, and a smattering of EPs released through bi-annual…
Beans on Toast can be an acquired taste. I don’t mean the light lunchtime snack – most of us have enjoyed that since childhood – but the singer-songwriter. His lo-fi folky ramblings come with pretty basic vocal stylings, an overwhelmingly…
English-born with a Welsh name (Cariad means ‘love’), and living in Brooklyn. It provides an eclectic background which is clear to hear in Cariad Harmon’s excellent self-titled effort. Before we get to Harmon’s warm, expressive voice, her supreme guitar work…
Two years between albums tends to be a perfectly reasonable turnaround for most artists, but for Jim Noir it feels like an unnecessarily long delay. After all this is the man who released 13, yes that’s right 13, EP’s during…
Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014 ——————————————- What’s Your 20? Essential Tracks 1994-2014 The end of 2014 gives us a grand old gift from one of America’s very finest. For those who love Wilco comes the definitive and essential rarities…
The first thought regarding this record is that In The Fullness of Time is the result of a classy operation. It sounds like a band not just in love with Neil Young at his peak but able to turn that…
Twenty years ago, Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller and Eric Babcock founded a roots, indie and punk rock record label in Chicago, self-funding a debut compilation release featuring artists from clubs and independent labels around the city. The booming country scene…
The two north-east musicians, best known for their respective work with Maxïmo Park and Field Music, offer up an unusual departure with a project based on Smith’s travel writing. Originally commissioned for, and performed at, the 2013 Festival of the…