americana
See: We Came as Strangers release video for ‘Still Life’
Experimental rockers We Came as Strangers have released a new video for the track Still Life, taken from their forthcoming third album, Eyedom, out on August 31st. Originally formed as a side project for the four-piece, with Guitarist Justin Sandercoe explaining “I wanted to do a proper band where we all write the songs and …
Album Review: Pearl TN – A Dog Called Rat
A ‘Dog called Rat’ is the second album from Pearl TN, self-styled ‘Purveyors of Mountain Pop’ with a pedigree in music spanning several decades and genres. It was recorded at Charlie Harts ‘Equator Studios’ as well as at Jools Hollands ‘Helicon Mountain Studios’. Jools is a staunch supporter of Pearl TN and has given them …
Live Review: Calexico – Albert Hall, Manchester – 30th April 2015
Calexico made a welcome return to the UK after a couple of years’ absence in support of their brilliant new album – Edge of The Sun – and we were there to see them at Manchester’s Albert Hall. This was only one of three British gigs for Calexico so the venue was packed to the gills with people of …
Live Review: Justin Townes Earle – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds. 03.02.2015
Sobriety clearly agrees with Mr Townes Earle as he takes a full house on a relaxed tour through his career highlights with some unexpected detours along the way. The highly intelligent Townes Earle has been refreshingly open about his struggles with serious substance abuse, and in the past it has led to gigs resembling a …
Album review: Justin Townes Earle – Absent Fathers
‘Wish I could say I know you/’cause lord, I Wanna Understand/Need you to now there’s nothing I want more in this world as a man.’ If you kick off you latest album with those words, and then call it Absent Fathers, then you are pretty clearly laying out your agenda. Justin Townes Earle is the …
News: The Handsome Family – UK & Ireland Tour 2015
What a year this has been for Rennie and Brett Sparks. Before Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson starred in one of the most exciting and talked-about TV series of recent memory (all-time ? of course not, that’s still Buffy), The Handsome Family were strong, personal favourites for plenty of people; but now they’re household names. …
Premiere: Fighting Caravans release video for “Bootmakers to the King”
We’ve been able to keep a close eye on Leeds quintet, The Fighting Caravans. Preferring to stay out of the live setting while they hone both their sounds and their songwriting, their growing number of fans have fed off scraps, the odd gig here and there, Middlesbrough and Sheffield seemingly the furthest they’ve been so …
Boss Caine – The Rhythm and the Rhyme (Part 3 of Backseat Mafia On Tour: York)
Years ago when Gomez first emerged there would always be at least a strain of suspicion running through reviews. For the generous, the fact that this group of adolescents wrote about life experiences they couldn’t have had, in places they might only have seen as wide-eyed tourists, channeled through one particular singer who sounded like …
Album Review: Smoke Fairies – Ghosts
There’s something otherworldly about Smoke Fairies. Their name, taken from the Summer mist that collects in the hedgerows of the lanes in the duo’s, school friends Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies, home county of Sussex. But it’s their ghostly goth-folk, coupled with a healthy dose of Americana, and looked over by the shadow of 4AD …
Live: The Handsome Family – Greystones, Sheffield 21.05.2013
It is difficult to describe a Handsome Family gig because is it so much more than the sum of its parts. It’s not just the marvellous music, or the magnificent lyrics. It’s not just the humour or the bonhomie tinged with darkness, nor is it the fact that your are watching a couple, Rennie and …