by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Album | The Lumineers – Cleopatra
The Lumineers 2nd album arrives four years after the band’s debut. It’s an ample period of time between debut and sophomore releases. The band hasn’t reinvented the wheel and has indeed returned with an eleven song collection of wonderfully lively…
by Joe Sweeting • • Comments Off on Album | Bellowhead – The Farewell Tour
After 10 years, 5 albums, countless gigs and a split-year farewell tour, the good ship Bellowhead, captained by John Speirs and Jon Boden, sails off into the sunset. This live set- 2 CD’s of tracks recorded in Autumn 2015 across…
by Duncan Martin • • Comments Off on Live | John Joseph Brill @ St. Pancras Old Church, London
“The next song is a sad one… as is the rest of the set”. Drinking, drinking with people you hate, relationship breakups and mental illness. It’s fair to say the subject matter of John Joseph Brill is not the cheeriest.…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Album | Parquet Courts – Human Performance
Parquet Courts are a band you need in your life. The band signing to Rough Trade last year was both obvious and intriguing. The mostly bizarre, almost completely instrumental EP/album ‘Mona stic Living’ from late last year was anything if a…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Album | Laura Gibson- Empire Builder
Finally, this writer’s thirst for a new Laura Gibson record has been quenched. The wait at times since January 2012’s La Grande did feel at times interminable. Empire Builder comes with a story of its own, as the result of…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Live | Orla Gartland and Bry @ The O2 Academy, Islington
This week saw a couple of gems from the Emerald Isle host an intimate show at the O2 Academy in Islington. Both have enjoyed fame through the exposure of YouTube, to varying degrees. Bry (formerly BriBry, and known to his…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Live | Andrew Bird @ The Electric Factory, Philadelphia
The Electric Factory is a far cry from the clean and cool converted train station venue, Union Transfer, where Andrew Bird last played in Philadelphia supporting 2012’s Break It Yourself. The Electric Factory is quintessential Philadelphia, from the Ben Franklin logo to…
Mogwai never seem to stop working. If it isn’t releasing something fascinating from its ever expanding indie rock catalogue, then it’s doing a soundtrack, moulding its sound around a film or such. Do you remember how this band made the…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Ben Watt – Fever Dream
Somewhere in the netherworld between folk, rock and jazz, Ben Watt’s Fever Dream paints pictures using more oils than watercolors. Watt’s resulting images have a sharp focus, while catering less to current trends than some of his work with Everything…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Woodpigeon – T R O U B L E
T R O U B L E, the latest bedroom-folk-rock release from long-standing Canadian folk icon, Woodpigeon, sounds as worldly and experienced as its creator Mark Andrew Hamilton. With aural references to Scotland and South America and the Middle East,…