Singer/songwriter Matthew Kilford has been creating a strong buzz in his native Oxfordshire for some time now, and the word is spreading, not least thanks to gigs with the likes of Andy Yorke, Dawn Kinnard, Seth Lakeman and also The…
Classic Album: Joni Mitchell – Hejira
“I’m traveling in some vehicle/ I’m sitting in some cafe/ A defector from the petty wars/ Until love sucks me back that way” Hejira represented a new peak of sophistication in Joni Mitchell’s writing when it appeared on Asylum Records…
Live: FFS @ The Great Escape
On paper, Brighton’s Great Escape is a rather extraordinary proposition. Take three hundred or so up-and-coming artists, sprinkle on a dusting of more established acts and spread them across a hotchpotch of 30 venues. While that’s bubbling away nicely, throw…
FFS New Bands Panel: The Son(s)
Originally a three-piece, the Sons are now just one, who I guess we’ll call the Son. Ploughing a lonely furrow, the remaining Son is working on a new EP and our panel took a listen to the work in progress.…
Classic Album: Joni Mitchell – Clouds
Clouds was Joni Mitchell’s second album and won her a Grammy for best folk performance in 1970. I didn’t know the album’s biography before I came to write this piece because when you come to an artist with a large…
Laura Marling, Beth Orton and Thea Gilmore to play Hay Festival
We all know books are sexy, in which case the annual Hay Festival is likely to get you rather hot under the collar, with the likes of Bill Bryson, Zadie Smith and Tom Stoppard (plus many, many more) gracing the programme. But if you prefer to get…