While remaining true to the cannon of shoegaze and dream pop, Alabama’s The Sunshine Factory happily add their own ingredients to the mix with some good old fashioned DIY punk and some mellotron-heavy elements of the paisley underground. And, in doing so, The Sunshine Factory makes older music sound newer again, with juicy sonic assaults, fuzz thick enough to drive a truck through, and some light electronic … Continue reading Introducing…The Sunshine Factory
There have been some free compilations doing the rounds recently that we think are definitely worth checking out. First up is the latest monthly Cross Section mix from Clash magazine featuring, among others, Carl Barat, Badly Drawn Boy, Sky Larkin, The Heartbeats and eight more. Asthmatic Kitty have made a rather enticing October mix available on their Bandcamp page, it features Sufjan Sevens, MM fave Julianna … Continue reading Free Compilations to Check Out
We’ve already given you one track by The Black from their album Sun In The Day, Moon At Night, but to celebrate the official release of the album they’ve given us a second, titled Throwing Away. The album, their second, is a beguiling mix of rockabilly, blues, swamp, and folk songs with an awareness of many other styles. Visit their MySpace here. Download The Black … Continue reading New from The Black
Updating the psych haze of Spacemen 3 with the circular drone of Animal Collective and the off kilter melodies of The Clean with the drive of Interpol, Surf City is the perfect mix of everything you loved about the early 80s New Zealand jangle and the 60s blur of Velvets and Zombies with the shapeshifting songwriting of today. So if it’s jaw-dropping, Kiwi guitar buzz … Continue reading Introducing…Surf City
Canadian three-piece Cowlick’s second album Wires was released back in August – we’ve only just got hold of a copy, but it has been well worth the wait. They, like many before them, describe the album as wildly unpredictable, forceful, bursting with ideas. They, unlike many before them, are absolutely right! Reminding us of everything from The Gorillaz to Massive Attack to Queens of the Stone Age … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Cowlick
A bit like desert murder ballads, anything coming into our in-box calling itself ‘voodoo trash blues’ is going to get our attention. And so it was with The Black Knights, a due hailing from Salford in the north of England who recently released their debut album Sickle Cell Saturday Night. With influences from The Birthday Party to Jon Spencer to The Dead Weather, theirs is … Continue reading Introducing…The Black Knights
We have been thoroughly enjoying the lo-fi, dreamy folk and fuzzy electric meanderings of Seamonster and their EP Two Birds recently. Although it has been out for a little while and it is the track Oh Appalachia that seems to be attracting the most attention, we have become very taken with The Philosophy Of Andy Warhol, a track that blends an upbeat, slightly drone-like rhythm … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends..Seamonster
The rather oddly named (to our ears anyway) Pappy evokes images of preachers, ramblin’ gamblers and whiskey stills draped over Appalachian Mountains acoustic guitar and fiddles. His banjo figures largely into this 12-song record titled Pappy Time, but this is not a bluegrass album. Not entirely. The performances are low-key and understated, but the musicianship is of the highest order – laidback, never-in-a-rush songs, with Pappy’s … Continue reading Introducing…Pappy
We are loving this hypnotic cover of Outlaw Blues by the Morning Benders, which comes from a compilation titled Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home’. A quality line-up features J.Tillman, Laura Veirs, Castanets, Sea Wolf and William Fitzsimmons amongst others and the album is faithfully recreated right down to five outtakes from the original recording sessions. The album was … Continue reading Morning Benders Cover Dylan
In this their second release, the simply titled Trust EP (out via Park The Van Records), New Orleans natives Generationals have become a band that is audibly transitioning from a jangling, sun-kissed sound in the vein of Aztec Camera or Felt to pop drones distinctly more hypnotic, textured, and far more challenging to conjure accurate comparisons for. The shimmering hooks, girl-group choruses, and late-summer breeziness of impressive debut … Continue reading Generationals release New EP
