For one reason or another, none particularly joyful, it has been a while since we’ve posted and it is sad to be dragged back to the keyboard to pay our own, insignificant tribute to the wonderful Stefan Cush of the Men They Couldn’t Hang who died of a sudden heart attack earlier this month. Folk-punk pioneers, TMTCH were a band I spent many happy times … Continue reading RIP Stefan Cush (of the Men They Couldn’t Hang)
Busted Jukebox, Volume 3 from MM faves Shovels & Rope came out digitally at the end of last weekend via Dualtone. Physical copies will see a release on the 30th April. Amongst the covers on the record is this beauty – the Beach Boys’ In My Room, for which the duo are joined by the wonderful Sharon Van Etten. Absolute gem of a cover. You … Continue reading Shovels & Rope Cover The Beach Boys
Singer-songwriter and all round good egg, Joe Pug will release a new album, The Diving Sun on the 19th March. The record began as a process of collecting archived session files for a B-sides album which morphed into an obsessive remix and finally became a full-on album process with entirely new songs. The Diving Sun brings together some lost gems from various studio sessions along … Continue reading Joe Pug – Crescent Bridge
The Underground Youth, Manchester-born, Berlin-based group led by Craig Dyer have shared For You Are The One, the latest single to be lifted from their forthcoming album, The Falling due out 12th March on Fuzz Club Records. Their new record sees the band trade their visceral post-punk melancholy for a more refined and stripped-back sound that, instead, enters the world of romantic, shadowy folk-noir. Stream … Continue reading The Underground Youth – For You Are The One
In 2018, longtime friends and collaborators Jeremy Earl of Woods and Glenn Donaldson of Skygreen Leopards met in Northern California to record an album under the name Painted Shrines. The album, titled Heaven and Holy, will finally see release this year, coming out on 5th March via Woodsist Records. Recorded in a week, it is a collection of hazy folk rock and drowsy psych-pop, which … Continue reading Introducing >>> Painted Shrines
If ever there was an album that you wish didn’t need to be released then it is J.T., Steve Earle & The Dukes’ deeply affecting record of his son Justin Townes Earle’s songs together with one original, the moving Last Words. Earle said making the record “wasn’t cathartic as much as it was therapeutic. I made the record because I needed to. It’s the only way … Continue reading Steve Earle & The Dukes – J.T.
Here are the annual choices of the past year’s top tuneage from the admirable Chris T Popper. 10. Protomartyr – Processed By The Boys The first song from their new album Ultimate Success Today was everything I’d been waiting for. Loud reverb with a clumping sense of doom from the ever reliable Joe Casey. He’s singing about a future so scary it can’t be that … Continue reading Chris T Popper’s Favourite Tunes of 2020
Now the dust has settled on the last fucked-up year, the inestimable Dr Roddy is the first to share his favourite tunes that saw him through lockdowns 1 and 2, and are probably sustaining him right now in lockdown 3, along with those Breakfast Club and Mannequin re-runs… So without further ado… 10 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Automation With that guitar mantra … Continue reading Dr Roddy’s Favourite Tunes of 2020
Here is the final part of this year’s countdown of our favourite tunes of 2020. Many thanks to MM stalwarts Chris T Popper and Dr Roddy (whose personal selections will come in the next couple of days) and to anyone who has read / listened and discovered something new in a year that truly sucked. Happy New Year and here’s to a better 2021. … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Tracks Of 2020: Part 4 (25-1)
Here is part 3 of our countdown of our favourite 100 songs of 2020. 50 Peel Dream Magazine – Emotional Devotion Creator 49 Slow Weather – Great White Male 48 Blackbird & Crow – The Witch That Could Not Be Burned 47 Frances of Delirium – Quit Fucking Around 46 Adia Victoria – South Gotta Change 45 Dream Wife … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Tracks Of 2020: Part 3 (50-26)
The Mad Mackerel 