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The Willows are a folk roots band from hailing from Cambridge, who shot to prominence when their debut album Beneath Our Humble Soil was championed by legendary BBC DJs Mike Harding and Bob Harris, who subsequently invited them in for a BBC Radio 2 live session. Considerable national acclaim followed including 4.5 stars in Maverick… Read more »
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Chicago-born and Sheffield-based folk outlier Jon Boden has announced his fourth solo album, ‘Rose In June’, which is due for release November 1st on Hudson Records. Alongside the album announcement Boden is sharing the lead single and title-track. A traditional song telling the tragic story of two fishermen named Andrew Davidson and John Allen, captain… Read more »
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If there’s a league for being in lots of bands at once – what does a poor folkie have to do to earn an honest pound? – beside Benji Kirkpatrick and Graeme Taylor, Simon Care’s surely Premiership material; have melodeon will travel. Forming Banter a couple of years back, a positively hopping debut revealed a… Read more »
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After just over a year playing music together, Julu Irvine & Heg Brignall have taken the folk scene by storm with their unusual and fresh approach to folk music. Their songs, which are a mixture of traditional and original, are reflections of the world around them. Their harmony-rich songs tell tales of struggle and triumph… Read more »
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Belshazzar’s Feast has brought some traditional folk music, a touch of classical, a smidging of jazz and music hall and swathed it all in a wrinkled anorak of merriment, to give their fans (‘all six of them’) a unique live experience for the the last 26 years. Paul Hutchinson (accordion) and Paul Sartin (oboe, violin and… Read more »
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Well that came out of nowhere, Cave casually let drop the fact that the 17th Bad Seeds album would be released just a few days prior. No grand announcement, just a reply to a fan on his website. And it is so refreshing to actually be surprised, we so easily forget the thrill of discovery… Read more »
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How do you turn an album launch into a global event? That must have been the task set to the marketing team behind the launch of the new album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. How do you create an ‘experience’ in an age where the bulk of music consumption is digital, where we… Read more »
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Playing music for our times, Faustus take traditional English music, rip it up, put it together again and move it on. A vigorous rhythmic impetus and rock/prog rock influence propels the sound into the here and now and a range of instruments deployed in unconventional ways gives a unique texture, depth and variety to the… Read more »
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Our Reviews Editor, Simon Jones, rounds up some of the albums that escaped our reviewers this month… Head Canon – Thom Ashworth From download EPs to finally a debut album proper Thom Ashworth is a singer full of ideas and one worth noting is that he plays bass as a lead instrument. Introducing more of… Read more »
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It’s been three years since their last release but fans of Show of Hands need wait no longer as ‘Battlefield Dance Floor’ has made its appearance. With thirteen tracks to ponder, the album has the core duo of Steve Knightley and Phil Beer augmented by the almost ever present, Miranda Sykes, as well as Cormac… Read more »
