Mad Mackerel Recommends… Ryley Walker

We had an e-mail from a reader recommending we check out Ryley Walker. So we did. Turns out he is a little bit special. While only 24 years old, on his debut album (released this very day) All Kinds Of You, he delves much further back than that to the fingerpicked style of classic British folk artists, American primitive guitar and classic pastoral psychedelia. The results are … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends… Ryley Walker

Round-Up Time Already…

Now that the new year is slowly grinding into gear and starting to pick up some momentum, we are starting to see some really tasty new releases being promoted. Here is our pick of a few new tunes from new records that we are really looking forward to… First up, we have another gorgeous track from Marissa Nadler’s new album July, and a live taster of … Continue reading Round-Up Time Already…

Videos of the Day: The National || L.A. Salami || Miss Quincy & The Showdown || High Coast

Films today from indie heavyweights The National and their video for the brilliant Sea Of Love, and from rising UK troubadour L.A. Salami we have the sparse but engrossing video for Old Queen’s Head, (pick up a free download of his track Deformation Days below too). We have some appropriately vintage film footage for Miss Quincy & The Showdown’s video for Silent Movie, and lastly, a chilly … Continue reading Videos of the Day: The National || L.A. Salami || Miss Quincy & The Showdown || High Coast

MM Shorts 321: More From Lapland

Lapland, the engrossing and introspective folky project of Josh Mease, has made another track available from his self-titled debut album, which is due out at the end of March. Mixing styles from electronica to jazz, soul and indie, this track Where Did It Go? is a sweetly hypnotic strum in classic Fleetwood Mac style. See our previous post featuring Lapland here. Continue reading MM Shorts 321: More From Lapland

The Blog Sound Of 2013: Long List Announced

Shortlist and winner announced 3rd January 2013 The Blog Sound Poll was first published in 2011. The concept of the poll wasn’t to criticise the established BBC Sound of list, but simply an experiment to see if UK music bloggers could come up with its own list of emerging artists that was more representative of their community and give the artists that were nominated some extra … Continue reading The Blog Sound Of 2013: Long List Announced

New Album From Mice Parade

Candela is the new full-length from Mice Parade, which will see a release early next year. It is a record that omniverously references source material from across the globe, and rebuilds it all into the distinctive, inimitable voice that Mice Parade has come to represent, and where there are plenty of heady moments of pop brilliance amongst abstract, restrained eloquence. Download This River Has A Tide, and … Continue reading New Album From Mice Parade

MM Shorts 177: The Appleseed Collective

With their heady blend of bluegrass and gypsy jazz, The Appleseed Collective croons a sentimental folk duet with their latest single Something New (Changes) from forthcoming album Baby To Beast. With some whimsical fiddle playing and washboard flare, this is a the tale of a couple yearning for something to change, a daydream of what’s to come. Download The Appleseed Collective – Something New (Changes) … Continue reading MM Shorts 177: The Appleseed Collective

Introducing >>> Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards

Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards play something they define as “steampunk-doom-jazz” and their latest single is, nominally at least, a double A side featuring the tracks Nancy and In My Laboratory. The former is more jazz than steampunk, as it meanders laconically along telling a surreal tale of giant eyeballs, librarians and obsession – you could picture it on the banks of the Seine in … Continue reading Introducing >>> Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards

Ten Bandcamp Treasures

Trawling Bandcamp can from time to time reveal the most extraordinary treasures – more often than not they are free or a nominal ‘pay what you want deal’ and so here are ten of the bands that have been tickling the Mackerel’s fancy recently. First up is uncompromising garage-punk noiseniks The Bats Pajamas who have featured on MM before and have a new EP called … Continue reading Ten Bandcamp Treasures

(FESTIVE FEATURE) THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS No 1: TWILIGHT HOTEL

MAD MACKEREL’S TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS For our first ever Festive Feature on Mad Mackerel, we asked twelve of our favourite bands and artists of 2011 to answer twelve questions and we will publish them over the next twelve days taking us up to Christmas Eve. Kicking us off on Day 1 are Twilight Hotel who released the superb When The Wolves Go Blind album … Continue reading (FESTIVE FEATURE) THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS No 1: TWILIGHT HOTEL