It was with an open mind and one clog firmly on the accelerator that I journeyed with Big Sair on Tuesday evening to watch The Staves at the rather wonderful venue of The Tabernacle in London’s Notting Hill. What I might call, I decided on reflection, the perfect Mrs Mackerel gig destination. A good start. And we even made it in time. The Staves are … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s Live Review: The Staves
Insound are really pumping out the free digital mixes lately. Hot on the heels of their recent free Vinyl News mixtape now comes their free May mix. The sampler has thirteen great tracks from A Place to Bury Strangers, Alexander Tucker, Dunes, Edie Sedgwick, Eric Copeland, Exitmusic, Here We Go Magic, King Tuff, S. Carey and more! But remember kids, the sampler’s only available for the next week … Continue reading MM Shorts 150: Insound’s Free May Mix
The wonderful Handsome Family will be touring the UK in May, visiting us in Oxford and also playing London’s legendary 100 Club. Our friend Ronan of Nightshift magazine describes them far better than we ever could in his listing for the Oxford gig: The husband and wife duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks have been creating beautiful, grotesque music together for close to 20 years … Continue reading The Handsome Family Announce UK Tour
We’re not too sure how to describe what’s going on here other than to say we like it a lot. Butchers & Bakers are straight out of Brooklyn, New York, and their debut EP Count On, Count On, will be released on June 12. Try Victory March from the EP on for size – the best description we’ve seen simply says vocalist Rebecca Keith’s voice sounds “kind of like … Continue reading MM Shorts 149: Butchers & Bakers
So we exit April, which true to form turned out to be wetter than a Mackerel’s handshake. No matter, banish the blues with this scorching mix of some of the best downloads we offered in the month, plus a few new ones to get to know and love too. Download Alexander Tucker – Window Sill mp3 (from Third Mouth) Minimalist string arrangements with electronic manipulations … Continue reading Mad Mackerel’s Best Of The Month: April 2012
Hurray, the Riff Raff are back. And it’s all looking quite different. Their brand new album, Look Out Mama, is a whole lot more country and a lot less bluesy/Americana than before. Throw in a sprinkling of good old fashioned rock and roll with her new band the Tumbleweeds, and it’s a coat of many different colours that Alynda Lee Segarra wears on this outing. … Continue reading Album Review: Hurray For The Riff Raff – Look Out Mama
Tomorrow see the official release of Bobby Conn’s Macaroni, described as a delicious bowl of cheesy noodles served up for a world of war, riots, greed and revolution. Recorded with Bobby’s crackerjack band The Burglars and mixed by Bobby himself, Macaroni is a chronicle of our times, cheerfully spraying glitter on the chaos that surrounds us and as always, Bobby bravely battles despair with acid wit and showmanship. … Continue reading Bobby Conn Releases Macaroni
We’ve already posted a couple of times about The Shrouded Strangers following our discovery of Featherbed, a skuzzy slacker anthem that is nothing less than a glorious amalgam of surf guitars, krautrock rhythms and fuzzed up hillbilly stomp. It comes from new album Lost Forever, a sputtering fever-dream of disembodied pop tunes and psych sing-alongs that comes out a mere 13 years after their debut – apparently … Continue reading More From The Shrouded Strangers
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
Driven by small-town boredom and a severe distaste for contemporary pop, The Danks deliver a fistful of excitement with the follow-through of a wrecking ball in a Beverly Hills mansion. Recorded under sweltering circumstances in a Haligonian mini-mall, the quartet pounded out, among other things, the unflinchingly catchy Are You Afraid of The Danks. Try Automocar and hear for yourself. Download The Danks – Automocar … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Danks
