I dig the way this track dances so lightly across the speakers. There’s a baroque folk feel, a touch of the pop nous of Harry Nilsson and a freak folk freedom going on. The Nielsen Family Band know their way around a charming and clever melody on ‘Fragile Flowers’, it sits on a solid backbeat … Continue reading
‘I’m Made’ is a brand new track from Stone Jack Jones and featuring the vocals of Adia Victoria. Dense, desolate, driving psych country folk and blues sounds are the order of the day here. It reminds me a lot of New Zealand band The Renderers who trade in a similar form of gothic psych country. … Continue reading
Here’s some bewitching and baroque English folk that possesses hints of Kate Bush, Aldous Harding and Joni Mitchell. Loris and the Lion (songwriter Georgia Harris and musician/producer Rich Bond) create a rich, shape-shifting piece of hallucinogenic Albion folk. What begins as an ornate and sparse sound is gradually transformed as elements are added to the … Continue reading
We like the dark side of folk music, the weird and wonderful sounds that conjure up spirits from the shadows of the heart and mind. Underworld Orchard are a group featuring Hannah Olivegren (Zomes), Steven Strohmeier (Arbouretum, Beach House) and Baltimore experimental music fixture Liz Downing. Together they weave a magical, hypnotic sound, a serenade … Continue reading
Carver Baronda is a New Orleans-based songwriter who has featured on a couple of compilations and released a cassette of her home recordings. ‘Devotion’ comes from her first studio release – a four song EP called Spooky Love. The ramshackle, organic vibe of the song is what pulled us in. It wanders along, taking in … Continue reading
A new weird and wonderful track from Frog, out of Queens, NYC. They’re loose and ramblin’, gloriously ramshackle in the vein of Meat Puppets, Sparklehorse, Silver Jews, Modest Mouse and more. This song sounds like a lost Neil Young outtake from the 70s where the off-kilter vocals draw you into a parallel universe where … Continue reading
Frog are a band out of Queens, NYC and they mix up a cool blend of wonky, askew Americana. Firmly operating on the cosmic side of the tracks, without sacrificing song-craft and hooks, the duo released their new LP Whatever We Probably Already Had It a couple of weeks ago. You can hear bits of The … Continue reading
Micah P. Hinson has a new album on the way, due out on October 26th. When I Shoot At You With Arrows, I Will Shoot To Destroy You includes this fine song, ‘The Sleep Of The Damned’, a ramshackle slice of loose limbed rock ‘n’ roll with a backwoods vibe and reference points in the region of Smog … Continue reading
Aldous Harding blew many people’s minds with her debut, self-titled LP three years ago. Since then she’s been keeping busy with plenty of live shows and more recently, completing the recording of its follow-up, Party. It was recorded by PJ Harvey’s right-hand man John Parish and the first single is the dramatic Horizon. It’s a … Continue reading
Across eight albums, Devendra Banhart has explored all corners of folk and esoteric pop music with both authenticity and free-form eccentricity. He’s played it straight and pure, joyous and playful; all the while pushing the boundaries, from instrumental ragas to songs with artfully obtuse titles such as ‘Tit Smoking In The Temple Of Artesan Mimicry’. … Continue reading
A decade ago, Devendra Banhart was the poster child for the American acid-folk movement that rose out of a close-knit community. As with all scenes, the different members went on to pursue their muses into contrasting and varied territory with Banhart continuing to explore eccentric song form. At first he took it into a more … Continue reading
Darren Cross made his name as a founding member of collage pop provocateurs Gerling but these days he’s one half of folk noir duo Jep and Dep and a solo artist trading in dark avant-folk. Surprisingly, this is Cross’ debut solo album and in many ways it embraces his past and present musical explorations with … Continue reading
Elvis Perkins has been floating around the music business periphery since his very good debut solo LP Ash Wednesday came out in 2007. His latest which was released in February is I Aubade which is a much denser, layered and raw collection of folk ruminations that veer towards the eclecticism of a band like Califone … Continue reading
2014, what another great year for Americana music, especially here in Australia where the scene seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. An example of that was Love Police launching the inaugural Out On The Weekend festival in Melbourne with a smaller version in Brisbane and a ton of sideshows in Sydney. All reports … Continue reading
Will Oldham has released the second single from his 2014 album Singers Grave a Sea of Tongues and it finds the ever mercurial songwriter and sometimes actor shimmying and preening with an impressive beard extension. Of his new album we said: It sits comfortably between his folk and country domains and is laden with austere … Continue reading
