I have to confess I was unacquainted with underground folk/rock crooner Donovan Quinn until an e-mail from Northern Spy Records arrived announcing his signing to the label and a two record deal. The first of these, Honky Tonk Medusa is released on Valentines Day and is described as a story of decaying American cities, Internet age entropy and equal parts romance and loneliness. We are … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Donovan Quinn
You know the score by now. Each month Insound release a free monthly digital mix which is around for a week or so and which you can get for the price of an e-mail address or sometimes a Facebook like. Either way it is worth it because they are unfailingly good and there are always one or two new gems to discover along with some … Continue reading Insound’s Free January Mix
Valentine’s Day sees the release of Hearts & Arrows, the new record from a pretty new incarnation of Danny & The Champions Of The World. To mark the occasion they will be heading out with Billy Vincent on The Pubs Rock Tour (dates below) and are also giving away You Don’t Know (My Heart Is In The Right Place) for free as well. The record is … Continue reading New From Danny & The Champions Of The World
Story Books come from the Isle of Sheppey, just off Kent’s eastern coastline. There is not much information to be found about them at the moment, but this demo for Peregrine is a perfect introduction. It is melancholic, sombre, downbeat, bleak even, and yet there is something curiously uplifting about the song – it may be the rich warmth of Kris Harris’s voice, or the … Continue reading Introducing…Story Books
The new single from brother and sister duo This Frontier Needs Heroes is called, appropriately enough, 2012. It is another lovely example of their authentic, tumbledown Americana that they seem do so effortlessly. Wonderful stuff – have a listen. a Continue reading MM Shorts 72: New From This Frontier Needs Heroes
Cheyenne Marie Mize introduced herself internationally on the 10″ release Among the Gold with Bonnie “Prince” Billy – an inventive take on a variety of late 19th century American parlor music handpicked by her and Will Oldham. We first discovered her when we posted her Valentine’s Day recording – a lush and spine-tingling cover of said same Bonnie Prince Billy’s I Called You Back from his 2006 release The Letting Go. Her … Continue reading New EP From Cheyenne Marie Mize
Clash Magazine regularly offer up their free Cross Section digital mix of new music and the latest is well worth taking a moment to download. It features tracks from Beth Jeans Houghton, Catherine A.D., Stealing Sheep and Rough Fields amongst others. They also have a link to an excellent free Cargo Records sampler of the best of their 2011 offerings – artists include Wire, Howe … Continue reading Free Clash Magazine Digital Mix
We came to the Black Oil Brothers via the excellent Big Rock Candy Mountain blog a good while ago. Their EP with Bethany Saint-Smith titled American Honey was a brilliant example of evocative, dusty, backwoods Americana. By chance browsing BRCM and their end of year Best Of list over Christmas (and well worth a visit it is too), we came across them again and discovered … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Black Oil Brothers
Well I started off writing the old looking forward, looking back, eating less, drinking less, spending less routine. But then I thought bollocks, why state the obvious when I never do anyway? January comes around with increasing swiftness the older I get, so it’s with a wince of mental planning and a little bit of trepidation that I look forward to this year’s thrills and … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday (6th January)
In all the craziness of Christmas our in-box got overwhelmed with videos from all sorts of interesting folk. So here’s your chance to give them a viewing and pick up one or two nice mp3s. Those Lavender Whales have come up with a novel way of showcasing their track Growth In Question from their new record, Tomahawk Of Praise, which is due for release on … Continue reading Mega Video Round-up
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