Author: Ian Parker

Ian is For Folk's Sake's reviews editor. Find him on Twitter @iparky.

EP | I Said Yes – I Said Yes

Noel Gallagher can be a grumpy old git. Apparently, among the many things he has taken against – including Liam Gallagher, Christmas, and, perhaps justifiably, bands that say yes to charity gigs and then pull out – the music of…

Album | Clara Luzia – We Are Fish

If the name Clara Luzia doesn’t immediately mean much to you, you’re probably not alone on these shores. But in her native Austria, she’s something of a fixture as she returns with this, her fifth album. In 2008, after two…

#16 Sparrow & The Workshop – Shock Shock

Yesterday’s song of the day showcased Just Handshakes’ progression from folksy openings to an altogether heavier beast, and its a path that has already been taken by Sparrow & The Workshop. Their latest single ‘Shock Shock’ comes on soundcloud with…

#15 Just Handshakes – London Bound

Just Handshakes, it seems, are on the move. And we’re not just taking the name of their latest single as a sign. The Leeds band look to have dropped the ‘(We’re British)’ part of their name for something less regionalistic…

#14 Three Blind Wolves – In Here Somewhere

Three Blind Wolves showed us a wide range of influences and styles on their 2011 mini-album The Sound of the Storm. From surf rook to Celtic folk to blasting rock to hippy-dippy hand-clapping (a good thing, I’ll always say), these…

#13 Scowlin Owl – Mifune

Mifune by Scowlin Owl from Scowlin Owl on Vimeo. London-based four-piece Scowlin Owl tell us they sing songs “about the 2011 tsunami, creepy preachers, frozen cavemen, the Japanese John Wayne, the childlike love of waterslides and what Dolly Parton’s Jolene…

#12 Common Tongues – Solitary Thinker

We first featured Common Tongues on FFS when the New Bands Panel gave them the once over back in 2010. At the time, they had just the two songs on their myspace page, but an early take on Solitary Thinker…

EP | Soap&Skin – Sugarbread

You know when you put a Soap&Skin record on that things are about to get unsettling it and so it is that ‘Sugarbread’, the title track of her new EP, opens up with the muffled sounds of screaming layered over…

Premiere | Songs For Walter – Family Hold Back

Manchester’s family man Laurie Hulme, aka Songs For Walter, is off to a fine start in 2013. Already longlisted for Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition, he’s now releasing a single every month until the summer, when he plans to compile them…

#8 Valerie June – You Can’t Be Told

Valerie June’s second single off upcoming album ‘Pushin’ Against A Stone’ is a considerably more feisty affair than the first taste she offered us – the delightfully old school ‘Workin’ Woman Blues‘ (we’ve already noticed a clear aversion to g’s).…