There is something exceptionally Icelandic about Pascal Pinon right from the start of Sundur. You can hear Sigur Ros, Björk and the fascinating island’s landscape and culture deep inside the bones of the band and the music it makes. It’s…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
Whether hailed as the heir of folk jazz legends Tim Buckley and John Martyn or touted as the leader of the new generation of Cosmic Americana acts, there’s a weight of expectation on Ryley Walker’s shoulders. And there’s enough on…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Live | AnnenMayKantereit @ Spandau, Berlin
Allow me to introduce the band… AnnenMayKantereit is a young German rock band, THE hope of German music perhaps. The band is already very popular, in no small part due to the singer Mr. Henning May’s distinctively rough vocals, and…
by Joe Sweeting • • Comments Off on EP | Ezra Furman – Big Fugitive Life
Summertime seems perfect for a dose of infectious, jaunty and well crafted rock and roll songs, and for the second summer in succession, Ezra Furman has taken up the mantle of releasing one of the ‘songs of the summer’ ™…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Ed Harcourt – Furnaces
I’m not sure I believe Ed Harcourt when he says he’s a ‘beast of a man’, as he claims on ‘Loup Garou’, the third track of his new album, Furnaces. In my admittedly limited experience of man-beasts, they don’t go…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Live | Cambridge Folk Festival 2016
“I’m having such a lovely time I could almost cry,” Kate Rusby declared in the middle of her main stage set on Saturday evening. Looking around at the thousands-strong crowd in front of her, it seemed the feeling was mutual.…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Singles Round-up | Haley Bonar, Agnes Obel, Wilco, The Veils, Angel Olsen
Haley Bonar – Stupid Face Bonar gets better with each album, stronger, more confident, more competent as a songwriter. ‘Stupid Face’ is further proof of this along with a handful of brilliant songs that have preceded upcoming long player Impossible…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Blossoms – Blossoms
Blossoms have no small dreams. They want success on the grand scale of like Oasis, the Beatles, and (dare I say it) Abba. On their first disc, they have the kind of radio friendly sound that’s mature beyond their years.…
Wild Beasts are back in the groove, more so than ever before. After a short hiatus between 2011’s Smother and 2014’s Present Tense, the band now looks as relevant and pumped up as ever. There’s a significant change in sound,…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Live | Flo Morrissey, Billie Marten, Rachel Sermanni @ Wonder Women, London
Four hundred years ago, on the banks of the river Thames, entertainers used to tread the boards of a theatre called The Globe. This week, at a site a few hundred yards away from the original, entertainers are still treading…