Over the past few days our ears have invariably pricked up whenever Get Older by Tom Williams & The Boat comes on Radio 6 (which has been with increasing frequency). Some songs require a dictionary to navigate through obscure lyrics or to divine a meaning from a myriad of choice and some songs just give it to you straight. When Tom Williams spits with unconcealed … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Tom Williams & The Boat
Friday is here once again; a little late perhaps after a particularly lovely Skype with the Swiss outpost. Despite the loose remit being to concentrate on the old, this week I’ve been drawn to the new. It’s a bit like life really: we may look back and reflect on what’s gone past. But so it goes, do we move on? Do we learn anything new … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday (4th Feb)
It is fair to say we have been waiting for the debut album from Middle Brother with a more than keen sense of anticipation, them being an indie super-group of sorts, and featuring the not inconsiderable talents of MM faves Deer Tick (John McCauley), Delta Spirit (Matthew Vasquez) and Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith). And at last, here we have it. Me Me Me is the tasty, … Continue reading At last…Middle Brother offer up mp3
If Oxford can be said to have an iconic music venue then it would undoubtedly be the Jericho Tavern in Walton Street. The beer-sticky room over the pub having paid host to many of the indie greats, the indie up-and-comers, and the indie flash-in-the-pans over the past thirty years or so. And so it was there that Scottish folk experimentalists The Phantom Band kicked off … Continue reading The Phantom Band: Live Review
Unique NY folk-rockers O’Death are back with their third album Outside. Despite some really difficult personal times for the band, they’ve kept going, and if advance track Bugs is anything to go by, we should be grateful they did. There are echoes of their ramshackle and punkish best, but this time it is cocooned in something more subtle and thoughtful too. A pleasure! Outside sees … Continue reading New from O’Death
We often post about the free digital mixtapes put up by Insound and their February mix is up now. We’re pleased to say it is a stonking return to form after a couple of slightly weaker mixes – this one has nineteen tracks including Beach Fossils, British Sea Power, Cut Copy and Warpaint. We were also pleased to see that they’ve included a few tracks … Continue reading New Insound Digital Mixtape
The ever reliable Fire Records has announced the start of a Giant Sand / Howe Gelb series of rolling reissues, which will see the re-release of roughly 30 albums culminating in two box sets to be released next year. Each album will be lovingly re-issued in red and silver limited edition digipacks. The first three (Valley Of Rain, The Ballad Of A Thin Line Man, Storm) … Continue reading Fire Records Reissue Giant Sand Albums
Originally a folk duo, and now expanded into a quartet, The Uncles made a dent in some of the MM Top Tens of 2010 and are planning to release their second album in late summer. It is the follow up to their excellent debut from 2010, Replacing Words With Other Words. M4W is their latest single available to download and will also feature on the album. Download … Continue reading New Single from The Uncles
Here is our regular round up of the best of January’s posts plus a couple of new tracks for your listening pleasure – all beautifully designed to make one perfect mixtape. Download Wooden Wand – The DNR Waltz mp3 More classic down-tempo folk from greatly underrated MM fave. Download Phosphorescent – Are You Ready For The Country? mp3 Riff-heavy, mean-assed cover which brilliantly captures the double-edged viciousness … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: January
Danish indie-folk quintet, Alcoholic Faith Mission will be releasing their new 5 song EP entitled And The Running With Insanity in North America on March 29th. Though they hail from Denmark, the band was actually formed in Brooklyn in 2006 by high school friends Thorben and Sune. Last year, their third and most renowned album, Let This Be The Last Night We Care, was released in the US … Continue reading New EP from Alcoholic Faith Mission
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