Mad Mackerel The Last Five Years – Polly Pocket Picks Her Favourites

Believe it or not, Mad Mackerel has been around for more than five years now. During that time we’ve posted more than 4,000 times, and offered more than 5,000 songs for your listening pleasure. And more than three quarters of a million people have paid MM a visit during our lifetime on Google’s (godawful) blogspot and since April 2010 on WordPress. We asked some of … Continue reading Mad Mackerel The Last Five Years – Polly Pocket Picks Her Favourites

Introducing >>> No Desert Blues

With a name like No Desert Blues you would be forgiven for thinking that the band would hail from the wide open landscapes of Texas, or could be found playing some run down roadshack in the depths of the midwest somewhere. Wrong – they hail from leafy, rural Hampshire in dear old Blighty, but it doesn’t make the impact of the chiming, robust Americana of … Continue reading Introducing >>> No Desert Blues

MM Shorts 385: Honeyslide

New Critical Heights signings Honeyslide are set to release the follow up to their sold-out debut cassette the Honeyslide EP with a double A side 10″ featuring two lead tracks Drippin and Deep Architecture, plus two further tracks, Untitled #240 and Sugar Routine (which we posted back in January). Swathed in reverb, bathed in noise and drowned in dreamy vocals, Honeyslide blend the experimental with the … Continue reading MM Shorts 385: Honeyslide

Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: May 2013

Here is our round-up of our favourite downloads from May’s posts together with a few newbies that, together, make a mix of twenty tracks that is as eclectic as it is perfect! Enjoy. High Coast – Talvatis Sweetly picked Americana. . Landmarks – Cuscutta Lovely, unhurried, slice of woozy, psych-pop in the grand traditions of Spiritualized or Mercury Rev. . Black Manila – Père Lachaise Addictive blend of classic … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: May 2013

Live Review: The Felice Brothers Deliver The Greatest Show On Earth

The Felice Brothers & Willy Mason | Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London | 30 May 2013 Afterwards, as I drove the motorway miles home from the capital, the Twitter feeds awash with “best gig ever” messages, I was thinking that, in many ways, The Felice Brothers remind me of The Clash. Ian and Jimmy Felice, a rustic Strummer and Jones feeding from each other and the … Continue reading Live Review: The Felice Brothers Deliver The Greatest Show On Earth

Vandaveer Offer Up Omie Wise

Mark Charles Heidinger of macabre folksters Vandaveer recently participated in our 5:1 Interview series, which in turn came on the back of the recent release of their brilliant album of reinterpreted and re-imagined murder ballads, Oh, Willie, Please… The band have made a second track from it available for free download – so here is the perfectly told, tragic tale of the murder of Omie Wise. He … Continue reading Vandaveer Offer Up Omie Wise

Introducing >>> Happy Families

Drenched in feedback and white noise masquerading as guitar, claims that New Forgetting from Happy Families is one of the loudest debut singles for some considerable time is not one we’re about to dispute. While it is true to say it is a wall of sound unashamedly built on the legacy of classic influences like The Velvet Underground, Suicide, Joy Division, Spacemen 3, The Jesus And … Continue reading Introducing >>> Happy Families