Communion, a club night and record label set up by Kevin Jones (formerly of Cherbourg) and Ben Lovett (of Mumford & Sons), was originally intended to promote upcoming musicians in the London circuit. This launch saw its grasps expanding to…
Category: Reviews
EP: Esben & the Witch – Marching Song
Esben & the Witch hail from Brighton but are named after a Danish fairy tale about a young boy- an outsider in his own family, although he seems to be the most gifted and wise of his brothers. As in…
Album: Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern – Essex Arms
It was a struggle to write this review. Every now and then an album comes along that you just want to say “I love it, you’ll love it, please go and buy it” and leave it at that, in case…
Live: Mumford & Sons @ Hammersmith Apollo 9/10/10
Mumford & Sons have come a long way in the past three years, from playing tiny rinkydink venues they gathered fans through word of mouth and associations with more established acts like Laura Marling and Noah & the Whale. Tonight…
Live: Blonde Redhead @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Setting the scene for this evening was Londoner Porcelain Raft, whose charmingly low-fi dreamy sound paved the way for the main event -revered art-rockers, Blonde Redhead. The band came on to the stage in a wash of copper orange and…
Album: This is the Kit – Wriggle Out The Restless
It is apt that Wriggle Out The Restless is released by Dreamboat Records, as listening to This Is The Kit is not unlike drifting down a sunlit river on a warm day. Not that all the tracks are slow –…
Live: Mt. Desolation @ Scala 27/09/10
England has had folk pretty much down to a pat for some while now. In fact, the last few years has seen the English folk scene go from strength to strength – developing its own distinct sound, breaking the mainstream…
Album: Antony & the Johnsons – Swanlights
Antony and the Johnsons, the brainchild of Antony Hegarty, are ready to tug at more heartstrings. Swanlights, their fourth album, is the most ambitious and wide-ranging of their recent releases and follows only a year and a half after the…
Album: Timber Timbre — Timber Timbre
Taylor Kirk’s one man folk project Timber Timbre has just seen its first UK release with his self-titled eight-track album. With his early recordings made in a timber-framed cabin à la Bon Iver, the Canadian artist builds around core themes…
Festival: Bestival 2010
As an Isle of Wight native, I’ve seen Bestival grow from a small, sparky young thing in 2004 to the vast, fiery dragon it is today. I worried that my favourite festival was about to grow so big that it…