americana
Album review: The Long Ryders – Final Wild Songs
If the Flying Burritos invented country rock then the Long Ryders pretty much created Americana so it was always bizarre there was no decent retrospective of their impressive back catalogue. Now they have courtesy of Cherry Red who have pulled together a four CD box set with tracks selected by singer/guitarist Sid Griffin and bassist …
See: Half Japanese release video for Hold On
Damn you, Half Japanese. Despite almost 40 years of off-kilter alt-sort-of-punk, they still manage to catch the imagination and surprise. The band have just released the new visuals for their track ‘Hold On’ taken from their forthcoming album ‘Perfect’ which comes out on 22nd January via Joyful Noise. It’s typically off kilter, passing to the …
See: Quiet Hollers release video for Mont Blanc
Louisville five piece Quiet Hollers song Mont Blanc was one of the stand out tracks on their recent self-titled album, which dropped back in October. It’s classic indie/americana, built on aching violins, twinkling guitar lines, this almost static piano and this shuffle, meaning it floats somewhere between heart-breaking and drop dead gorgeous. The new video, …
Not Forgotten: Wilco – Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
The live double album was considered heavyweight currency back in the 1970s. In an era when using extended guitar duals and a drum solo to expand a zippy four minute studio based rock work out into a multi-layered live epic was not frowned upon, the live rock experience could rarely be contained on just the …
Not Forgotten: The Band – Music From Big Pink
The Band are an acts whose heavyweight reputation promises far more than it actually delivers. For all the revisionist history since, in truth they only released two truly world class albums, Music From Big Pink and their eponymous second. That said, those two albums are probably responsible for influencing more Americana acts than anyone else …
Cattle & Cane, Leadmill, Sheffield, 20.10.2015
Cattle and Cane believe that their music needs to be experienced in a smoky late night bar for full impact. Either that, or the Leadmill have serious problems with their smoke machine being stuck on maximum. Anyway, wandering into the smoke-filled Leadmill, I watched the first UK headline tour from Cattle and Cane. I was …
Album Review: Small Feet – From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean
From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean is the debut album from Stockholm trio Small Feet, aka Simon Stalhamre (vocals/guitar) alongside Jacob Snavely (bass) and drummer Christopher Cantillo. Essentially a vehicle for Stalhamre’s songwriting, it’s been a long time coming as the bands focal figure battled demons, learning English from the TV after …
See: We Came as Strangers release video for ‘Still Life’
Experimental rockers We Came as Strangers have released a new video for the track Still Life, taken from their forthcoming third album, Eyedom, out on August 31st. Originally formed as a side project for the four-piece, with Guitarist Justin Sandercoe explaining “I wanted to do a proper band where we all write the songs and …
Album Review: Pearl TN – A Dog Called Rat
A ‘Dog called Rat’ is the second album from Pearl TN, self-styled ‘Purveyors of Mountain Pop’ with a pedigree in music spanning several decades and genres. It was recorded at Charlie Harts ‘Equator Studios’ as well as at Jools Hollands ‘Helicon Mountain Studios’. Jools is a staunch supporter of Pearl TN and has given them …
Live Review: Calexico – Albert Hall, Manchester – 30th April 2015
Calexico made a welcome return to the UK after a couple of years’ absence in support of their brilliant new album – Edge of The Sun – and we were there to see them at Manchester’s Albert Hall. This was only one of three British gigs for Calexico so the venue was packed to the gills with people of …