We’re going to keep the tempo up today, so following the start given to us by the frenzy of the Ten Kens earlier, we can now offer you Cardiac Arrest In D from Hillstomp. And if the title of the song doesn’t tell you all you want to know, they go on to describe themselves as Mississippi trance blues, a bit from the hills of … Continue reading New from Hillstomp
For Posterity is the second album from Toronto four-piece Ten Kens. Having not come across them before, the blurb with the release mentioned inspiration from psychedelia to hardcore, which had to make them worth a listen. Now, we also know better than most that the blurb can often bear no relation to the sounds coming from the speakers. But not this time! Johnny Ventura, the … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Ten Kens
No falling asleep on the job this week and waking up and finding out Friday’s gone and Saturday’s in its place. This week I’ve been quite excited (yet again) over listening to the new offering – Hawk – from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan (whose name must be spoken in hushed tones in this house). A review will follow just as soon as we know … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday
Last month we posted a couple of excellent tracks by The Vitamin Sees, now Stuart from the band has been in touch with this offering from another band he is involved in called Viva Stereo. Knee High Boots comes from the bands fourth long player, Roar Lion Roar and while it doesn’t quite have the recurring visceral impact of The Vitamin Sees it still packs … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Viva Stereo
We’ve come across a number of excellent freebies recently and thought we ought to share some with you. First up, top record label Suburban Home have been releasing a series of excellent mix cds for a while now, which this time (volume 5) they have made available as a completely free download. Containing 30 tracks from bands old and new – Townes Van Zandt through … Continue reading Some Great Free Stuff
Big Blood are entirely new to us, although they have released a handful of CD-Rs (see Dontrustheruin here), Dead Songs is apparently their first CD and vinyl release proper. The only track we’ve heard is this one, e-mailed through to us from a source we can’t quite identify, but whoever you are, we’re most grateful. Lay Your Head On The Rails II comes across like … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Big Blood
Devotionals is the new solo project by Tyson Vogel of Two Gallants, a band that MM likes an awful lot. His self-titled full-length debut reached stores a couple of days ago in CD, digital and limited edition vinyl formats through Alive Records. Devotionals music is based around Tyson’s guitar compositions, with Anton Patzner invigorating the musical space with his violin mastery, and they are joined … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Devotionals
Our friend Scottish Kate is back with a new post and a new discovery. I’m not big on winsome troubadours. Odds and sods, here and there, mostly, sometimes, but not always, picked up from Mr and Mrs M. But what I like most about music is its ability to surprise, for an artist or track to come out of leftfield and grab you. Which is … Continue reading Introducing…Simon Lynge
If we’re being honest, until recently the appeal of Ariel Pink had passed us by somewhat…call us heathens or all manner of other things, but we couldn’t quite fathom the exulted status and unequivocal praise they seemed to garner from every quarter. However, we have overcome our prejudices to become big fans of the Before Today album and particularly Revolution’s A Lie which is one … Continue reading New Tracks from Ariel Pink
We were recently turned onto Javi Garcia & The Cold Cold Ground by Ninebullets.net and have been listening to their debut long player Southern Horror (which also includes the Madly In Anger EP) with great enjoyment ever since. Not quite the southern gothic country you might expect from the name and the album cover, although it has elements of that, there is also full on … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Javi Garcia & The Cold Cold Ground
