Dodos are one of those bands who dangle in musical purgatory, regarded highly enough to have fans but not enough to have fanfare. This is a real shame because the quality of songs on their debut release Visitor and sophomore…
Category: Reviews
Album: Rubik – Solar
We’ll admit we don’t follow the Finnish music scene that closely, but were any of us to do so, we’d find Rubik somewhere near the top of the pile. Solar, released here in the UK only now, has already been…
Live: The Woods in Spring @ Komedia, Brighton
As we arrived at Komedia and went upstairs to their biggest room for the first of a series of four events running throughout the year, it became clear that The Woods was not your ordinary gig. Through a magical door…
Live: Alessi’s Ark @ The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
This is far from the first time FFS has seen Alessi Laurent-Marke perform live, but it might as well be. The shy girl whose last two gigs in Leeds were the lowest of low-key affairs in the corner of a…
Album: Austra – Feel It Break
Having been around the Toronto music scene as a solo artist and a member of the band Galaxy, as well as collaborating with a number of other artists, Latvian-Canadian Katie Stelmanis is now fronting so-called electro-goth trio, Austra. There’s no…
Album: The Antlers – Burst Apart
The Antlers’ last release, 2009’s Hospice, was many things – a story of love and loss, a tragedy, an allegory, a (say it softly) concept album – and could be described in many ways – emotional, heartwrenching, shattering, beautiful. To…
Album: The Felice Brothers – Celebration, Florida
When I think of Americana, I think of banjos, harmonica, gritty vocals with a bit of a twang. Frankly, I think of songs like the Felice Brothers’ ‘Frankie’s Gun!!’, with its old-time storyline and humming accordion. The New York band’s…
Compilation: Communion Records – The Flowerpot Sessions
There’s something that I’ve always found very compelling about music or collections of musi, which are intrinsically connected to the place in which they’re recorded. Tally that with the sheer sense of togetherness and collaboration that radiates out of anything…
Live: Unplugged Sessions at the Windmill, Mayfair
When a polite young man writes to you offering you a night of brilliant unplugged music, it’s generally a good idea to say yes. If said young man mentions pie, it’s basically impossible to keep FFS away. We were delighted…
Live: Smoke Fairies @ The Duchess, York
In the shadow of York’s great gothic Minster, the Smoke Fairies have come to weave their magic. Their haunting, ethereal music is ideal for this ancient city. While we may, in fact, be gathered in the basement of a 1960s…