The Gathering – A Playlist

This weekend sees the annual Gathering festival in Oxford – a brilliant event that takes in seven venues around the city and runs from the afternoon into the wee small hours. This year the line up includes such MM luminaries as Local Natives, Drenge, Waxahatchee, Temples, Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, Pyyramids, Port Isla, Wolf Alice, To Kill A King, Cheatahs and a whole host more. … Continue reading The Gathering – A Playlist

Videos of the Day: Public Service Broadcasting || The Visibles || Whales In Cubicles || Wolf Alice

Videos to enjoy today from Public Service Broadcasting, The Visibles, Whales In Cubicles and Wolf Alice. Public Service Broadcasting’s Night Mail takes its subject matter from the eponymous film of 1936, a pioneering documentary film produced by the General Post Office and the Royal Mail Group. Setting the original words of the documentary – including the much loved Night Mail poem – to a song … Continue reading Videos of the Day: Public Service Broadcasting || The Visibles || Whales In Cubicles || Wolf Alice

Mad Mackerel Recommends…Callow

Suitably enough, the taster track from San Francisco duo Callow’s forthcoming album Blue Spells is called Strange. For somewhat strange Callow certainly are. It is not the influences so much (ranging from the Velvets to Pink Floyd to Nina Simone to Pavement) as the way they are combined – strong vocals, minimal instrumentals, haunting melodies, sombre tones, and poetic lyrics work perfectly together to create a sense … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Callow

Introducing >>> Jazz Mills

Jazz Mills has lent her angelic vocals to recordings with over 30 bands and performed with even more, collaborating with artists such as long standing MM faves The Black Angels, The Kills,  Cowboy and Indian, Leopold and His Fiction, Gemini Dreams, and The Indie Annas. Influenced by the likes of Nancy Sinatra, Fleetwood Mac, Classic Disney, and the sounds of the 60s, she takes on the beachy, … Continue reading Introducing >>> Jazz Mills

Videos of the Day: Cheatahs || LIly & Madeleine || Roadkill Ghost Choir || Pincers

Videos to start the week from Cheatahs and some blurry, blown-out landscapes to accompany the psych-swirl of new single Cut The Grass, and from Indianapolis sisters Lily & Madeleine comes their studio set video for gorgeous single Devil We Know. From Roadkill Ghost Choir we have some stunning cinematography to match the emotional resonance of standout track Beggars Guild from their Quiet Light EP, and lastly the darkly … Continue reading Videos of the Day: Cheatahs || LIly & Madeleine || Roadkill Ghost Choir || Pincers

Mad Mackerel Recommends…Happy Jawbone Family Band

We’re loving I Have To Speak With Rocky Balboa by the Happy Jawbone Family Band – an oddball concoction of idiosyncratic folk, pop, rock and God knows what else, that is anchored by some of the best lyrical wordplay we’ve heard for a good long while. Eccentric it is, surreal too, but also, against all the odds, quite affecting and certainly memorable. It is the … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Happy Jawbone Family Band

Introducing >>> The Golden Furs

New York four-piece The Golden Furs have just released their debut EP of evocative and poignant indie-pop, infused with a slightly dream like quality. Simply titled, Strand, it weaves together rock, pop, folk and even a touch of dance in a way that manages to evoke Jeff Buckley as much as it does Vampire Weekend. Grab yourself the sweet harmonies and sultry vocals of single Run … Continue reading Introducing >>> The Golden Furs