Author: Ian Parker

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

FFS New Bands Panel: We Happy Few

They’re being slightly disingenuous with a name like We Happy Few. Because this London band deal in the blues. Our panel went in to see if they could still manage to come away with a smile on their face. Damien…

FFS New Bands Panel: Heart Shaped Circles

The Heart Shaped Circles have put debut EP Evelyn’s Vineyard on the ol’ interweb for free, so should you be interested? Our panel went in to find out… Louis Gilbert: Wearing his heart on his sleeve, this songwriter sounds a…

FFS New Bands Panel: The Fast Sails

On their myspace page, the Fast Sails describe themselves as a mix of happy hardcore and Dutch pop, but whatever the source material, our panel found that the result is a quirky, folky pop. Alice Sage: This girl has an…

FFS New Bands Panel: Ben Keeler and the 500 Club

Ben Keeler and the 500 Club have been steadily making a name for themselves in their hometown of Chicago over the past few months and with their debut album Water, Water now finished, they’re looking to expand their horizons. The…

FFS New Bands Panel: Mathew Gray

So far, all we have to go on for Manchester singer-songwriter Mathew Gray are a handful of bedroom demos. EPs are on the way, so the panel took a listen to see whether they’re likely to be worth the wait.…

FFS New Bands Panel: Swann

Sadly, it often takes us much longer than we’d like for bands to actually get their reviews published in this section. From first writing to us to actually seeing the panel’s reaction on line can take several weeks. We wish…

Album: Paul Heaton – Acid Country

You know where you stand with a Paul Heaton album. There will be bitter boy-girl duets, radio-friendly hum-along tunes, references to drinking and a song name checking lots of places. While at times the return the themes can seem a…