We are distraught to announce that Bloom Festival, which we at FFS heights have been looking forward to for some months, has been cancelled. The festival, which was due to take place at Chepstow racecourse from 14th to 16th August,…
Author: Lynn Roberts
Lynn founded For Folk's Sake in 2008. Her favourite artists are Joni Mitchell, The Leisure Society and The Mountain Goats. She plays keyboards in Joe Innes & the Cavalcade.
Decemberists to play Hazards of Love at London shows
The Decemberists are to play two UK gigs in November, their first in two years. The shows, both in London, will see the Decemberists play the whole of their recent album, the ‘rock opera’ Hazards of Love along with favourites from their back catalogue.
New Sufjan Stevens album for October release
Sufjan Stevens is set to continue his mission to musically document the United States of America after a painfully long break from recording. This time, however, his subject is not an American State. It’s not even a town. It’s just a road.
Conor Oberst to retire ‘Bright Eyes’, takes Monsters of Folk on the road
Conor Oberst, the man behind the wonderful Bright Eyes and in front of the not-so-wonderful Mystic Valley Band, has announced he plans to retire the Bright Eyes name.
Supergroup Monsters of Folk, in which Conor plays with Bright Eyes chum Mike Mogis, folk legend M Ward and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, are popping over to Europe in November, including a date in London on 17th.
Gideon Conn documentary on TV tonight
Manchester’s finest folk-hip-hop troubadour is to spread his sweetness on telly boxes all over the country tonight with a folkumentary on Channel M.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary is part of the series ‘Hitting Home’ produced by students at Salford University.
Album: She & Him – Volume One
She & Him are not a band willing to live by clichés. By all means, the first collaboration between a guitar-wielding bluesman and a Hollywood starlet should be equal parts dull and self-indulgent. Volume One breaks the formula effortlessly from the heartbreaking opening vocals by actress Zooey Deschanel, one half of a team completed by M. Ward. The key is the wide range of influences audible in every track – there is as much room on Volume One for the softer side of Motown as there is for the livelier side of Les Paul and Mary Ford. ‘Why Do You Let Me Stay Here’ takes its leaf out of the latter’s book, a charming and energetic track in which one can hear every ounce of joy that the band have squeezed out of putting together their album.
Album: Slow Club – Yeah So
Before this debut album arrived to review, I already had 12 Slow Club tracks on my iTunes, which gives some idea of how prolific they’ve been already. So here are 12 more (13 if you include the secret track), and, mostly, they’re a very welcome addition to the Slow Club cannon.
Album: Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Stephen Wilkinson, AKA Bibio, is one hell of a busy guy, only six months after releasing Vignetting The Compost, his fifth release on Mush Records, he’s back on a new label (Warp) with Ambivalence Avenue a fascinatingly beautiful hybrid of folk and electronica.
EP: Beth Jeans Houghton – Golden
How gorgeous is the new Beth Jeans Houghton EP? Still relatively new on the scene, Newcastle’s BJH brings an air of 1920’s to her understated alt-folk.
Live: Bombay Bicycle Club
Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman jerks around the stage like Chris Martin. Which is a bit weird. It is good for the band, though, for without his eccentricity, a four-piece who’s debut album is a glorious indy-blues stomp would look distinctly out of their depth in the live arena.