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…
Category: Reviews
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…
Live: Horse Feathers @ Jericho Tavern, Oxford 15/09/2010
If you are into music that feels like soft breezes, echoes thrown into the wind, elegant caressing of the bow and haunting velvety voices, Horse Feathers from Portland, Oregon is your band. Their style is earthy and stable, relying on…
Live: Mountain Goats @ Koko, 09/09/10
A man with clunky glasses, turned up jeans, bare feet and a nice bottle of Chablis isn’t everyone’s idea of a god. In fact, it’s not a far cry from most people’s idea of Elton John. Nonetheless, just such a…
Album: Kris Kristofferson – Please don’t tell me how the story ends
Please don’t tell me how the story ends is a collection of Kris Kristofferson’s early recordings and demo’s. Kristofferson is clearly a charismatic man who seems to have lived many lives. In his time he has been a pilot and…
Album: Polly & The Billets Doux – Fiction, Half-Truths And Downright Lies
Polly and the Billets Doux are on dangerous ground. The sort of jazzy blues-rock that is pulled off by the likes of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Erin McKeown is hard to do without falling into the twee trap.…
Album: Paul Heaton – Acid Country
You know where you stand with a Paul Heaton album. There will be bitter boy-girl duets, radio-friendly hum-along tunes, references to drinking and a song name checking lots of places. While at times the return the themes can seem a…
Singles round-up: Lissie, Avi Buffalo, Dreamend
Lissie – Cuckoo Bouncy, accessible country-pop about driving around in a truck in small-town America, being totally wild, rebellious and free. “Let’s go driving, ‘cause there’s nowhere to go!” Yeah! It all sounds really fun, and really bad for the…