by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Live | Richmond Fontaine @ Birmingham Hare & Hounds
The last Richmond Fontaine concert I went to a decade ago saw their set sabotaged by stage monitors blowing, leaving the band battling in vain to hear their own instruments. I’d not really given them a second thought since but…
by Duncan Martin • • Comments Off on Live | Oh Sister and Mahalia @ Secret Sessions, London
The top floor of the Hospital Club near Tottenham Court Road, London, was the host for Secret Sessions this week. With Secret Sessions, as the name suggests, the line-up isn’t openly advertised in advance. Instead, artists featured may mention they…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Singles Round-up | Isaac Gracie, Good Good Blood, Beth Orton, Kikagaku Moyo & Marissa Nadler
Isaac Gracie – Songs from My Bedroom EP Gracie has had everyone in the music industry in a bit of a tizz. Scavengers, I hear you say? Well, there’s certainly something here to devour. ‘Terrified’ displays a young songwriter, heart…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Album | Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Sturgill Simpson is on fire on his new record. This 9 track 40-minute record is brimming with confidence, with joy and with a funky country groove that is hard to believe at times. It’s like one giant party for the…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Album | Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros – PersonA
If Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros were to be described in a single word, that word would be communal. Whether considering singalong, clap-along anthems ranging from the seminal “Home” to lesser-known burners like “They Were Wrong”, Alex Ebert’s brainchild…
by Dominic J Stevenson • • Comments Off on Album |PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project
At the time of the whole Let England Shake album/tour cycle Harvey stated that if her next record took 10 years then so be it. That her ‘next’ record is here after half that time is something of a relief…
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…