Folk
See: Shirley Collins releases video for Death And The Lady
To go 38 years without releasing an album might be considered lackadaisical. But “Lodestar” from Shirley Collins beats even Vashti Bunyan for discography gaps. Now revealed from that record is the video for “Death and the Lady” – a creepy pastoral view of Britain featuring green fields, horses, but then also charnel houses, skulls and …
Album Review: Matt Berry – The Small Hours
Matt Berry has is someone who has stealthily raised his reputation in the music industry in recent years without the wider world really noticing, slowly but surely increasing his audience size by word of mouth, putting out a new album every year since 2013 and playing rapturously received gigs. While The Small Hours hasn’t received …
Wilco : Schmilco
I can only imagine that at some point in an artist’s life taking yourself and your art so seriously can get pretty heavy. Eventually real life will start to outdo you in the drama department and what you once took so serious doesn’t seem all that important anymore. Health crisis, getting older, losing loved ones …
Not Forgotten: Cat Stevens – Teaser and the Firecat
Teaser And The Firecat is in many ways the twin of the superb Tea for the Tillerman, which has been one of my favourite albums since my early teens and one that meant so much to me over the years, that I didn’t want my illusions of Cat Stevens shattered by finding out that the …
Album Review: Dolly Parton – Pure and Simple
I can’t remember a time when I hadn’t heard of Dolly Parton. As I grew up during the 80s, Parton always seemed to be part of the cultural background noise, and as the years have progressed she has seemingly remained a constant fixture. As my taste in music developed through the years, Parton was never …
Album Review: Pascal Pinon – Sundur
Pascal Pinon prove that absence makes their songwriting grow stronger with the chilling beauty of new album’ Sundur’. If Pascal Pinon’s 2013 album ‘Twosomeness’ was about sisters Ásthildur and Jófríður Ákadóttir being together, new album ‘Sundur’ – from the Icelandic proverb “sundur og saman” meaning “apart and together” – reflects on their separation. While Ásthildur …
Album Review: Peter Nordberg, Om man inte är här
Peter Nordberg puts his acoustic guitar to one side and fills your mind with detailed electronic soundscapes you can’t help but explore. It is not easy reviewing music when the lyrics aren’t in your native language. But music transcends the spoken languages communicating with you through tonal variations of vocals and instruments, timbre (musical texture), …
Live Review: Benji Tranter’s Dirty Laundry, Edinburgh Fringe Preview
Benji gently plays with his audience, sometimes sassing them, marvellous! His wit on stage is quick and sharp catching the audience off guard like a rabbit in headlights. His subtle lyrical humour and delicate vocals are comparable to Sufjan Stevens and Flight of The Concords in a most perfect melange. Shunting you through the soundscape …
See: Billy Bragg and Joe Henry release video ahead of Shine A Light
A preview of the Shine A Light project, looking at the history and songs of the American railway, Billy Bragg and Joe Henry have released a video of the recording of “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore”. It’s part of a fascinating trip on the US railroad, in particular the route from Chicago to LA. …
Live Review: Woodburner at the Yoke
The ‘need to know’… Festival name: Woodburner at the Yoke Location: Yoke Farm, Upper Hill, Hereford. Setting: Rough woodland and soft fields. Transport: Train to Hereford/Leominster and then buses, taxis or lifts if you have a lovely friend and/or some surplus booze. But, I hear in the future there may be organised minibuses so watch …