Sharon Van Etten has a voice that could make angels weep. This is her simply stunning contribution to the Music For The Builder compilation, a collection of songs coinciding with the upcoming film The Builder, and released by Jagjaguwar on 27 July. It is called I Couldn’t Save You, and it is languid, lonely and desolate. Just about as stark a heartbreaker as you could … Continue reading Sharon Van Etten on Jagjaguwar Compilation
Howe Gelb is one of those wonderful, but rare, musicians that seems to plough his own furrow oblivious to commercial gain or sensibilities and we love him all the more for it. Boasting a body of work of such immense range and diversity means his output is sometimes challenging, often brilliant, occasionally bizarre, but always interesting, where genres and ideas proliferate, overlap and overflow. His … Continue reading New from Howe Gelb And A Band Of Gypsies
One of MM’s favourite labels, Woodsist, release a compilation on 20th July called Welcome Home Diggin’ the Universe: A Woodsist Compilation. It will only be available on LP and cassette only, without seemingly a download option, and will feature new tracks from many of the top notch acts on their roster including The Woods, Ducktails, Alex Bleeker, The Fresh & Onlys, Moon Duo, and others. Bar … Continue reading New Woodsist Compilation Looks Good
Nothing ever stays the same forever. And nothing is ever forgotten. (I got that last one from Robin of Sherwood – remember that TV series? Thought that might lighten the mood.) This is a twilight offering before the clock strikes twelve. My mood is very much Close Your House Down, but here’s Late In the Evening. It’s always good to offer a choice. Which one … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday
This year, one of MM’s fave labels, Young & Lost Club have put out a whopping fifty singles. They are celebrating by whittling thirty four of them down to a compilation of the greatest hits and misses! And it is a cracker. The compilation includes Noah & The Whale, Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Larrikin Love, Johnny Flynn, Bombay Bicycle Club and many, many more bands that have gone … Continue reading Free Mixtape from Young & Lost Club
Rhode Island residents The Benedictions play what is often called called devil music. They must do because their just released album is called The Benedictions Play Devil Music. On this occasion it’s hard folk, hard blues, hard country. It conjures images of grizzled old timers with whiskey eyes stamping their boots on beer-soaked wooden floors before heading back out into the dusty desert. It is authentic, … Continue reading Introducing…The Benedictions
Judging by their press one-sheet alone, The Victor Mourning are one of those bands that MM tends to like a lot. It talks of performing dark, thought provoking, starkly haunting songs that tell the tales of grief-torn outcasts, of confidences betrayed, of piracy, and murder. It goes on to mention a song about a man who eats nothing but locusts and Campbell’s soup, another about a … Continue reading Introducing…The Victor Mourning
Once you get past the slightly silly name (it took us a while), the music of Peter Wolf Crier is something special to behold. Their album Inter-Be is as much distorted country blues as it is intimate folk, as much delicately introspective as it is intensely passionate. However you want to describe it, the album is truly a marvellous piece of work. Download the sweetly … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Peter Wolf Crier
Flaws (released, 12th July) is the stunningly beautiful, new acoustic album by Bombay Bicycle Club. Having finished recording their debut LP I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose in February 2009, the band went straight back into the studio days after they submitted the master for I Had The Blues, and started the initial recordings for this album. Flaws is characterised by a … Continue reading Flaws Video from Bombay Bicycle Club
Harlowe & The Great North Woods are another band from Portland, and another playing the kind of warm, mellow folk that seems so dominant in that neck of the woods. And they are another who do it extremely well. They have a six track self-titled EP out now and the track we have for you, Roses, is a song that envelops and soothes with its … Continue reading Introducing…Harlowe & The Great North Woods
The Mad Mackerel 