The Diamond Center are psychedelic folk-rockers who pair a wall of reverb and noise with an eerie gothic country creeper, creating an unique blend that is hard to put a finger on. Influenced by albums spanning the musical spectrum, they hint of Phil Spector and Joe Meek’s experimental studio style, the live rawness of the Velvet Underground, as well as the nouveau psych-folk stylings of … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…The Diamond Center
It’s been a long time since MM has used the word cretin, despite it being a prime insult of choice during long-ago school days. So who better than MM fave Wooden Wand to resurrect it into our daily vocabulary. Following (for him) a rather lengthy silence since the outstanding Born Bad album, he has self-released Wither Thou Goest, Cretin in a limited edition of 200 … Continue reading Wooden Wand releases Wither Thou Goest, Cretin
We’re a little late to the party with this one, but like us, some of you may not yet have experienced the myriad charms of Boy & Bear, and if you haven’t then you need to. Simple as that. An Australian five piece, that you would probably best label as folk-rock, they have recently released their debut five track EP titled With Emperor Antarctica, and also toured … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Boy & Bear
We’ve put Jason Ward’s acerbic Bless You up on MM a couple of times already. Now he is releasing it as a free digital single and download and we have the b-side for you too. It’s called Dark In Here and also comes from his excellent Graceful Bow EP. Ward says, “This is an instance where the blogosphere gets to act as the gatekeeper, releasing the … Continue reading Jason Ward releases Bless You
A little while ago we posted about Gaoler’s Daughter and gave you their excellent track Nine Pieces Of Silk. We then got hold of their equally excellent The Only Way To Travel EP, which boasted the (you guessed it) excellent song Jumbo Jet. Now they are preparing to release a new EP titled Alchemy which is out on the 6th June. We’ve had an advance … Continue reading New from Gaoler’s Daughter
We first became aware of Mountain Man via Alex Bleeker & The Freaks superb cover of their song Animal Tracks. Once we had finally realised it was a cover, we tracked down the original and were equally impressed. Now the band, of which none are men, are following their limited self-released CD with a ‘proper’ debut long player, Made The Harbor, which will be out on … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Mountain Man
Indulge me today. My youngest boy was six on Tuesday. Blessed with an excellent fledgling taste in music, his current faves includes Jason Ward, Stornoway and Dr Dog. Perhaps being named after MM’s all time hero, Joe Strummer (or Joe Drummer as our Joe called him for some time), has helped. So much personality packed into one so small. Anyway, enough of these frivolities, we’ve … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday
Lo-fi hipsters Male Bonding are from the UK, and have recently signed to US indie legends Sub Pop. Their debut album is titled Nothing Hurts and early indications are that it is going to be a superior mix of reverb laden fuzzy pop and high velocity punk – that’s the same mix which is so common at the moment admittedly – but that which, to … Continue reading Mad Mackerel tries a little Male Bonding…
After a long hiatus of around five years, dark-hearted, pyschobilly, goth-rockers The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster are back with a new album Blood & Fire out on the 17th May on, appropriately enough, Black Records. A single, Love Turns To Hate precedes it by a week. We picked up this taster from the album via the NME and it is absolutely mental. Spitting fury and … Continue reading New from Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Strayfolk are a Swedish band who play as genuine a style of Americana as you are ever likely to hear. What Wouldn’t I Do has been released by net label Bad Panda Records under a Creative Commons license as a freebie and we’re absolutely loving it. The song is a mellow mix of gently fingerpicked acoustics and yearning lyrics simply and beautifully delivered. A perfect example … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Strayfolk
