Category: Reviews

Live: Jon Boden @ The Southbank Centre, London

As well as the four members of The Remnant Kings, two Edison phonographs with their brass horns accompany Jon Boden at either side of the stage at the Purcell Room. They help to “preserve memories of what’s gone before,” says…

Album: The New Pornographers – Together

It has been three years since Canada’s first supergroup, The New Pornographers, released their last record Challengers. For all that has changed in the band, however, it might as well be three days. With their new studio album – their fifth – the band have stuck strictly to the formula that has served them so well thus far in their careers.

Live: Stornoway @ ULU

Last Thursday saw the brilliantly modest Stornoway take to the stage to play a sold out gig at London’s ULU.  Without fanfare they quietly assembled before our eyes amid a collection of tassled floorlamps, and began to create beautiful music…

Live: The New Pornographers @ The Electric Ballroom, London

Last Wednesday, the New Pornographers took the stage of a packed Electric Ballroom for the first European date of their summer tour promoting new album Together, freshly released earlier this month. Together is the band’s first release since 2007 and…

Album: The National – High Violet

There’s something frighteningly well thought out about High Violet – over its 47 minute duration every song seems perfectly well placed to create the mood that the band want you to feel. Whilst it’s certainly not a concept album there…

FFS New Bands Panel: Jason Ward

West Virginia’s Jason Ward is releasing his latest single “Bless You” as a free digital download backed by “Dark In Here”. Our New Band Panel has taken a listen to both that and tracks from his last EP, Graceful Bow,…

FFS New Bands Panel: Matthew Kilford

Singer/songwriter Matthew Kilford has been creating a strong buzz in his native Oxfordshire for some time now, and the word is spreading, not least thanks to gigs with the likes of Andy Yorke, Dawn Kinnard, Seth Lakeman and also The…

Classic Album: Joni Mitchell – Hejira

“I’m traveling in some vehicle/ I’m sitting in some cafe/ A defector from the petty wars/ Until love sucks me back that way” Hejira represented a new peak of sophistication in Joni Mitchell’s writing when it appeared on Asylum Records…

Live: FFS @ The Great Escape

On paper, Brighton’s Great Escape is a rather extraordinary proposition. Take three hundred or so up-and-coming artists, sprinkle on a dusting of more established acts and spread them across a hotchpotch of 30 venues. While that’s bubbling away nicely, throw…