“This Machine Kills Fascists” was a sticker that Woody Guthrie had on his guitar at some point in his career; he meant songs can fight bad ideas. The band This Machine Kills Fascists take this one step further: opening song Kill The Fascists suggests taking more direct action, though with its upbeat tone (lots of […]
Sunjay: Devil Came Calling
Sunjay has been seen at award ceremonies: he was a young folk award finalist in 2012 at Radio Two and the same year won the young performers award at the Wath Festival, as well as being a winner at the New Roots competition in St Albans. In 2014 he was nominated three times at the […]
Artmagic: The Songs of Other England
Top rate musicians here — Sean McGhee has toured with Alison Moyet, guitarist Richard Oakes helped Suede deliver Top 10 albums, John Cale drummer Alex Thomas is on the throne — but an album that you might find a little lacklustre. The topics are inspired by McGhee’s interest in English folk music, hence the track […]
Native Harrow: Happier Now
This is a really good album. It’s greater than the sum of its parts: the tunes are ok, her voice (Native Harrow is Devin Tuel — nearly Devon Tool, of which a harrow could be an example, though we doubt that’s why she picked the alter ego) is ok and the general air is of […]
Neil Young and Stray Gators: Tuscaloosa
It’s unlikely to win any new fans but it’s a good Young album for old ones. Tuscaloosa features The Stray Gators, Young’s band between 1971-73, playing five songs from Harvest, not long released. His self-titled debut and After The Goldrush also supply tracks. Young is on top form, the band knows his moves and he […]
Sam Baker: Horses and Stars
This is one of the most remarkable albums we’ve had in some time. Baker half sings and half talks and plays gentle electric guitar, but his songs tell a powerful story of normal folk and it has a real power. He looks like a beardless Kris Kristofferson, comes from Texas and has a gravelly but […]
Chas Rigby: Pearls
This is doubtless unfair on Chas, who’s probably 6’ 4” with pecks like a gladiator, but we imagine him as one of those underweight singers with less hair than they once had, who turn out to have led interesting but ultimately tragic lives, maybe some drugs and an arrest or two, but all giving them […]
Mak Grgic: Balkanisms
Solo classical guitar albums are not our favourite bag but this one looked like it might be better than average and so it is. The Balkans are famed for their folk music, noted for complex rhythms; you normally hear it in electric “gypsy” folk or punk bands. While the album consists of Mr Grgic noodling […]
Luke Sital-Singh: A Golden State
Sital-Singh is clearly a man who is serious about making music, and is good at it. He has a sound he wants to make. As with all music now — and Amazon is appalling for this — it’s apparently become illegal to give people bad reviews unless it’s someone you want to snigger at, like […]
Jon Deak: Symphonic Tales
This entertaining album stands repeated listens; Deak is a man who clearly enjoys his music. He is the young composers advocate of the New York Philharmonic, where he founded the award-winning Very Young Composers Program in 1995. His interest in making music accessible to younger listeners is clear. Two of the works are for full […]
