Studio 672, the sold out 220 capacity venue in the centre of Cologne, lended itself to genius for a night; for 65 minutes the German crowd (plus a few token Brits) were treated to the insightful beauty of Laura Marling…
Author: For Folk's Sake
Album: Woodpigeon – Die Stadt Muzikanten
Some artists spend their entire careers clinging to a single sound, stretching it taut until the bones begin to protrude and reveal the fragile artistic elasticity that held the music together. Mark Andrew Hamiltons’ Woodpigeon barely manage a song without…
A Folking Good Night’s Blog: Smugglers Records Showcase
March’s A Folking Good Night was a very special one for us, as it featured the best of Smugglers Records. For those in the know this is the home of the sublime Cocos Lovers, who were one of the main…
Live review: Slow Club @ Steinbruch, Duisburg, Germany
It was beautiful; no introductions, no fade out lights or music to let the audience know the band were about to begin, just two people who suddenly began to sing together whilst walking amongst a crowd of minimal capacity. Stripped…
FFS’s New Band Review Panel: Shambles Miller
Reviewing Shambles Miller’s debut EP Shambles vs the Dragonwizard Damien Girling “Let’s begin with the most immediately interesting aspect of the music of Shambles Miller, his voice. It’s lovely and expressive Scottish twang draws one in, much the like the…
Album: Pavement – Quarantine the Past (best of)
With Pavement enjoying something of a resurgence, a reunion and accompanying tour have been agreed, it comes as little surprise that they should chose to release a collection of their greatest hits. The purpose of doing so generally falls into…
Single: Four Tet – Sing
Although not as all-powerful as first single ‘Love Cry’, ‘Sing’ is another fine cut from Four Tet’s latest opus. Clocking in at over 6 minutes, and with a 10 minute Extended version (and a fine 14 minute Floating Points remix),…
Live review: Breathe Owl Breath @ The Fungarden, Sacramento, USA
There’s something about America that leads venue owners to supply junk food alongside live music — and so a few weeks ago I found myself watching folk bands at a pizza place. Noise and tomatoey smells drifted across from the…
EP Review: Western Friends of the Sun – Grey Trouble
When coming across a band that have no more than 200 plays on their MySpace and a page as bare as the plains of Alaska, there is a sense of excitement awakening the pioneer instinct in you with that secret…
Album review: Cocos Lovers – Johannes
“The wind and the rain that follows you home/The valley surrounds and swallows you whole.” Kentish folk stalwarts Cocos Lovers’ latest album, Johannes, captures all the beauty of their live singing. From the beginning of ‘Time To Stand,’ the clear-toned…