Wilderness Blues is the second EP from Oxford-based indie-rock / Americana outfit, Toliesel,which takes it’s cues from Wilco at their loudest and Crazy Horse at their most melodic. There is nothing fashionable or flimsy to be found on this release, instead Toliesel give it all they’ve got with a dense and richly textured sound underpinning songs filled with disillusionment, fear and solitude. Lead single Bones is … Continue reading Introducing >>> Toliesel
Beth Jeans Houghton will release a brand new album this spring on Mute under the name Du Blonde. The new moniker announces a fresh start for Beth whose forthcoming album is a big change in musical direction – as evidenced by the short taster video below. Her 2012 album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose was a standalone piece of polymath pop, and a big favourite of Mrs … Continue reading Beth Jeans Houghton Becomes Du Blonde
2:54’s cover of a Doors classic, No Ages’s cover of a Black Flag classic and the welcome return of Other Lives heads our biggest ever weekly round up of the songs you really should have found some time to listen to already. But if not, here they are in one neat package for you. 1. 2:54 – Take It As It Comes (Doors cover) 2. WATERS … Continue reading Eleven Songs You Should Have Heard This Week
Happyness, who featured in our Best of 2014 lists, announced in January that they have signed to Moshi Moshi Records for the UK. Now their first single proper of 2015 has been named as the A Whole New Shape, and is set for release on March 30th. It’s taken from the re-release of their debut album Weird Little Birthday which includes this as one of four extra bonus … Continue reading New Single From Happyness
New York’s The Hunting Party’s new EP Sirens and Lights is released this month, and we are delighted to bring you the premiere of the latest track to be shared from it. Blue Star more than makes good on the promise of the earlier tracks the band have shared. It is a classic slice of indie-folk, beginning with Erica Lane’s sweet vocals over a sparsely plucked banjo refrain … Continue reading Premiere: The Hunting Party – Blue Star
While this may have been out since last summer, we have just gambled our remaining e-music credits on it, and discovered a marvellous album of experimental electro tinged, acoustic weirdness and freaked out psych-folk by a collective known as Silver Servants. Our attention was first grabbed by their version of the hymn Jerusalem, but cemented by the brilliant A Crow Will Remember Your Face, a maelovent, … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends… Silver Servants
A way back in the summer of 2011 we featured the pounding psych-rock of The Lucid Dream on MM, and they are shortly to release their self-titled sophomore record. Watch the video for one of the standout tracks, Cold Killer, which channels the influence of German geniuses Can and Neu. The album is released on the 30th March via Holy Are You for CD and digital, … Continue reading New Video: The Lucid Dream – Cold Killer
We’ve posted about the gorgeous banjo led folk of the Lowest Pair a few times on Mad Mackerel, but the latest track to be shared, In The During Of A Moment, might well be their finest yet. A sublime, simply picked folk tune with haunting vocals that are as tender as they are poignant. Give it a spin. The album, The Sacred Heart Sessions, is out on … Continue reading More From The Lowest Pair
Here is another track from Kings Of Lowertown, this time they have slowed the pace to a more sedate rolling blues with vocals that Tom Waits would be proud of… Listen to 6 Shots Of Orphan Barrel To My Black Heart below, and download for a pay-what-you-want deal from Bandcamp. . Continue reading More From Kings Of Lowertown
Darling Arithmetic is the third album from Villagers, set for release in April. The follow-up to Conor O’Brien’s debut, Becoming a Jackal, and its successor, Awayland – both hugely acclaimed and each nominated for the Mercury Prize – is a beautiful, intimate album entirely about love and relationships. The opening track and first single, Courage, concerns the most important kind of love – for yourself. “It took … Continue reading New Video: Villagers – Courage
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