Category Archives: Blues

Mad Mackerel The Last Five Years – Dr Roddy Looks Back

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MM The Last Five Years - Dr Roddy

Believe it or not, Mad Mackerel has been around for more than five years now. During that time we’ve posted more than 4,000 times, and offered more than 5,000 songs for your listening pleasure. And more than three quarters of a million people have paid MM a visit during our lifetime on Google’s godawful blogspot and since April 2010 on WordPress.

We asked some of the regular MM contributors to give us their top twenty songs since MM first went live and we’re also going to give you one big mega-listing shortly, but first up with their personal top twenty is the right honourable Dr Roddy.

Through good fortune and fine sailing I have been lucky enough to be involved with this blog and it has provided me with some of the finest music in genres I maybe wouldn’t have looked in. So when asked to compile a top twenty of tunes from the last five years, I kicked aside the memories of musical turmoil that is involved with the yearly top tens, poured a stiff drink and set about it with relish.

20 Dan Auerbach – Heartbroken, In Disrepair

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19 Dirty Bourbon River Band – Train Is Gone

Download Dirty Bourbon River Show – Train Is Gone mp3 (from Volume 2)

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18 Tame Impala – Half Full Glass Of Wine

Download Tame Impala – Half Full Glass Of Wine mp3 (from Tame Impala EP)

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17 Janice Graham Band – Front Door

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16 Ox – Midnight On The Island

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15 Dennis Hoppers Choppers – Good To Me

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14 Timber Timbre – Bad Ritual

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13 Nathaniel Rateliffe – Brakeman

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12 William Elliot Whitmore – Old Devils

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11 What Would Jesus Drive – The Girls Are In Charge

Download What Would Jesus Drive – The Girls Are In Charge (live) mp3 (from What Would Jesus Drive EP)

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10 The Cave Singers – I Don’t Mind
Wonderfully carefree and happy song that could so easily be heard drifting out of a doorway in Haight Ashbury with some interesting smelling smoke circa 1967. Yet this song never bows or becomes a pastiche of that, it rises above it all with its own verve and character.

Download The Cave Singers – I Don’t Mind mp3 (from Welcome Joy)

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9 Brown Bird – Wrong Black Mare
Sullen, desperate story songs are a bit of a fave of mine and to be honest I think I can trace it back to this song. A tale of woe, desperation and unpaid debts are told here with such clarity, it’s as if you’ve got drunk with Brown Bird and they have decided to spill their guts to you. You understand though, ‘coz at some point we have all backed the “Wrong Black Mare”

Download Brown Bird – Wrong Brown Mare mp3 (from

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8 Mummy Short Arms – Cigarette Smuggling
When I wrote my first review of this song I thought I had described quite well. Upon re-reading it, I can safely say that my view has changed and will probably change on my next listen to it. The insanity, confusion, and babbling of this song are what holds my love for it. It’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle, all encased in a funky B-line, foot tapping beat, gravel throated, roister of a song.

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7 Strayfolk – What Wouldn’t I Do
This is such a beautifully crafted song. Simple, but packed with a rich warm sound that feels like it lends weight to the honesty of this tale of lost and forlorn love. Perfect Americana direct from Sweden.

Download Strayfolk – What Wouldn’t I Do mp3

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6 Withered Hand – Religious Songs
A piece of lyrical mastery is on display here. A fantastic sing-a-long arrangement supports the witty word play that Dan Wilson sings with a vulnerability to his voice. This doesn’t stop him from punching the words that need emphasis. This song also ask the obvious question “How does he really expect to be happy, when he listens to death metal bands?”

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5 Tweak Bird – Weight
I love the in-your-face nature of this song. Right from the start, it sets its stall out – flat out, foot on the amp rock, and proud of it to boot. The guitar plays a gritty riff that sounds angry and frustrated, while the drummer is hell bent on punishing every bit of his kit.

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4 Grass House – A Cradle A Short Breath
The deep sombre tones that lay across this song act as a perfect partner to the bass as it pounds along at a merry old pace. It never fails to make me give a wry smile as I bob along to it’s woeful chorus of “A cradle, a short breath”.

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3 Roadside Graves – Far And Wide
I still think Roadside Graves is the best band name of this century and Far And Wide is a song that has stayed with me since my first listen – I was hooked. A great country riff lures you in and you hardly notice that the song fills with more and more sound and pleasure until it finishes and you’re left with a hole where the music once was, so you reach for the replay button, you know like musical heroin.

Download The Roadside Graves – Far And Wide mp3 (from My Son’s Home)

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2 Wooden Wand – Servant To Blues
As this track rolls effortlessly on, Wooden Wand spills his bleak melancholy tale of a servant to blues. In other words, the relationship equivalent of the Church’s pious man. I love the rhythm of this track, it almost seems to tick along like a clock. The peacefulness of this song is speared through the heart with a great screeching guitar solo, this then just seems to ebb back into the shadows it leapt from, only to be covered by the warm sound of the organ. Truly blissful…

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1 Henry’s Funeral Shoe – Stranger Dig (Everything’s For Sale)
For just two guys damn! They make some noise. Great heavy blues tinged riffs and rolling drum beats – I’m loving that all day long. There is talent and passion in abundance here. I’m sat here trying to write something for this whilst listening to it, that has had to stop, as when it plays it just grips me up and I can’t do anything other than get right into it. If you’re looking for something new rock wise I beg you to check them out, live if possible. Disappointment won’t be on the menu.

Roll Up, Roll Up: Round Up Time Again

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Round Up Time Again

Here is another collection of fifteen top tunes lovingly collected and filtered for your listening pleasure. So gather round and invest some time in these – a veritable aural treasure trove of tracks.

First up is another track of swaggering blues rock and roll in the shape of New York Avenue from the Delta Routine’s recently released album, Cigarettes And Caffeine Nightmares.

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In a similar vein, the bravely named Velvets from down under, have a big, sleazy blues sound going on with their free download of Shoot You Down.

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Darren Hayman has shortened his Long Parliament and returns with a new album of seventeenth century folk songs called Bugbears, which is due out on Fika Recordings in July. A companion piece to previous release, the very well received The Violence, have a listen to Seven Months Married.

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Graham MacRae has shared a new single from his album Dundrearies and by the sound of Game Changer, those Bill Fay and Bill Callahan comparisons seem pretty much on the money.

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Granite City is the lysergic new single from Aussie psych indie-rockers Deep Sea Arcade.

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London’s Low Moon Low are set to release their first official single with Calm Now, sweetly melodic indie-folk that errs on the side of dreamy.

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The wonderfully skewed world view of Justin Farren featured on MM back in March last year and he is back with a new album Another Bluebird Day from which we have Mostly In My Mind. This time he plays it a little straighter on the back of an upbeat folky strum and some scalpel sharp lyrics. Great stuff.

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Spectrals have given us another track from new album Sob Story. Inspired by Dave Edmunds, A Heartbeat Behind has a great riff and is full of rockabilly twang and heartbreak lyrics. No longer are the brothers low key, lo-fi merchants and it bodes very well for the album indeed.

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Two Inch Astronaut have given up Blood From A Loyal Hound for download, a convulsive rocker propelled by a muscular power-pop melody.

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Quilt hail from the eastern shores of Massachussets, where the band formed out of a tight-knit art collective in the winter months of 2009. They combine traditional folk vocal harmonies, reverb-drenched fingerpicking and meditative drum repetition in a patchwork of eclectic psych-folk ideally suited to their name. Open Eyes comes from a recent split single with MMOSS.

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Carmen Villain, aka London-based Carmen Hillestad, recently released her fiery debut album, Sleeper. Introduce yourself to the darker and more psych-oriented side of the album via Made A Shell.

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Half The Time, the A-side of recent 7″ single by Nick Ferrio & His Feelings is a psychological thriller, exploring one man’s realization that his love is unrequited and only exists within the confines of his fallible mind.

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Like the excellent Allah-Lahs, The Young Sinclairs mix folk rock and garage rock with plenty of jangle in the style of The Byrds or Rain Parade and their most recent single Hurt My Pride is a top-notch example of what they are capable of.

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Though we were late to it, we are loving the gorgeous Hymnal by In The Valley Below, a duo from Echo Park in LA who are a new musical pairing, delivering hushed swirls of male and female vocals forged with dark stories of brooding riddles and romance.

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And lastly (for now) we have a taste from Robert Pollard’s (of Guided By Voices fame) new album Honey Locust Honky Tonk. The song, I Killed A Man Who Looks Like You is already one of our favourite titles of the year so far and thankfully the tune itself more than lives up to its title.

Videos of the Day: The National || L.A. Salami || Miss Quincy & The Showdown || High Coast

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Videos of the Day

Films today from indie heavyweights The National and their video for the brilliant Sea Of Love, and from rising UK troubadour L.A. Salami we have the sparse but engrossing video for Old Queen’s Head, (pick up a free download of his track Deformation Days below too). We have some appropriately vintage film footage for Miss Quincy & The Showdown’s video for Silent Movie, and lastly, a chilly hunt for the Northern Lights accompanies High Coast’s sweetly picked Americana on Talvatis.

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Videos of the Day: The Away Days || The Detroit Rebellion || Paradise || Green Apple Sea

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Videos of the Day

Musical films today in the shape of a hazy, tripped out offering from The Away Days, some brilliant dirty blues rock from The Detroit Rebellion, and an incendiary live performance from Paradise who continue to single-handedly keep the sixties mod revival going in Portland, Oregon. Finally, take a sepia tinged road trip for the indie folk of Green Apple Sea.

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Mad Mackerel’s Best of the Month: April 2013

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Mad Mackerel's Best of April 2013

Better late than never, here is our monthly round-up of the best of our April downloads together with a handful of brand new tracks. More than twenty songs especially prepared for you to put together an eclectic and appealing mix to impress all your friends and bore your boring work colleagues.

Enjoy!

Wild Wild Wets – Criminal Blue
Tripped out, freaked out, psych pop.

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Hey Anna – Tiny Kiss
Intimate vocal harmonies perched atop poppy folkish melodies that meet soaring, atmospheric alt-rock.

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The Lost Souls Club – Son, You Look Like You Need Jesus
Taking its cue from the darker end of the psych-blues spectrum, this track gleefully careers off the road into the verge, happily making a home in the margins of mainstream rock’n’roll and spitting sly malevolence at anyone who comes too close.

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Owls Of The Swamp – Hypnotist
A masterpiece of elegiac fingerpicked folk, softly spun melody, and ghostly backing vocals.

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Young Hunting – Baby’s First Steps
Lush, woozy and seductive evoking a sense of back porch bonhomie and marijuana enhanced well being.

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Belle Mare – The Boat Of The Fragile Mind
Dreamspace of acoustic and synth textures, weaving folk with dream pop.

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Sunjacket – Alligator
Indie rock with a laconic, hazy chug and sweet falsetto chorus.

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Download Brass Bed – Please Don’t Go mp3 (from The Secret Will Keep You)
Three minutes of infectious indie-rock perfection with a soupçon of garage rock attitude.

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Amanda Jo Williams – 2000Hell
Idiosyncratic mix of twangy rockabilly and weird Americana

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The Baptist Generals – Broken Glass
Haunted, claustrophobic take on drunken folk.


Click through for free download.

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Torches – When You Gonna?
Opens with a tasty riff and settles into a nice, easy-going melodic groove that calls to mind The Shins or Spoon.

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Georgia’s Horse – Ginger
Dusty Americana shot through with a melancholy and sadness that is almost real enough to touch.

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Paperhaus – Helicopters
Perfectly judged psych-pop.

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Shawn Mrazek Lives! – Man In The Grass
A tale of self-discovery and freedom that snaps, snarls and sparkles in equal measure.

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Download Shannon and the Clams – Into a Dream mp3 (from Dreams in the Rat House)
Slow-dance-ready instrumental with darkly bucolic lyrics.

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The Builders & The Butchers – Dirt In The Ground
Sonically heavier perhaps, but just as distinctive dark-hearted folk as always. Wonderful.

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And new tracks to dive into from Morningbell’s experimental psych-tinged art rock to Honeymilk’s infectious indie, and two tracks of gorgeous stripped back folk from Dark For Dark. Finally, try the simplicity and honesty from Young Readers indie-folk, shot through with a dreamy, imaginary quality that (whisper it) calls to mind Sparklehorse or Jason Molina.

Videos of the Day: Deap Vally || Brass Bed || Lady Lazarus || Drop Electric

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Videos of the Day

Videos to start your weekend from raw blues duo Deap Vally, Brass Bed’s infectious indie pop, the experimental reverb of Lady Lazarus and the melodic distortion of experimental rockers Drop Electric.

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MM Shorts 359: The Mohawk Lodge’s 1000 Violins

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MM Shorts 359: More From The Mohawk Lodge

Here is a third track from The Mohawk Lodge’s forthcoming album Damaged Goods. In contrast to the other two we’ve already posted, 1000 Violins is a more reflective ruminative song with dark themes at its heart – it is a cathartic coming to terms with longing, pain and desperation, haunting, affecting and ultimately  rather beautiful.

Have a listen.

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Videos of the Day: GravelRoad || Treetop Flyers || The Pack A.D. || decker

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Videos of the Day

Watch our selection of excellent music videos from the deep blues of GravelRoad’s brain melting Monkey With A Wig, to the psychedelic desert-folk of decker’s live take on their track Cotton, Jane Doe and all by way of the Treetop Flyers sun-drenched Laurel Canyon vibe of Things Will Change and the wonderful Pack A.D.’s fiercely grisly video for Positronic.

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New From Black Bananas

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New From Black Bananas

Here is the first taste of Black Banana’s new split single with Tobacco and precedes news of their forthcoming album Electric Brick Wall which sees a release via Drag City later this year.

The trademark scuzzy punk blues and feral snarl that distinguished their release of album Rad Times Express IV last year remains very much to the fore on Hey Rockin’.

Listen for yourself. It is out on the 20th April and you can order the single from Volcom Entertainment.