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
Clare and the Reasons have announced details of their third record, KR-51, which will be released in July via the Frog Stand label. It is named after the moped they sped round the city of Berlin on when holed up there for eight months writing the album. While it still carries the meticulous orchestration and innovative songwriting the band are known for, this time it … Continue reading New Album From Clare And The Reasons
Kyle Adem is a tireless storyteller with a whole lot of questions who marries his own blend of orchestral and reflective folk, with a punk edginess. Taster track Brother Follow from upcoming album, Armour has that all too rare skill of sounding instantly recognisable – as though you know the song already, even if it is the very first listen. It is like coming home to an old … Continue reading Mad Mackerel Recommends…Kyle Adem
More trains this week, but this time I’m on one. The 12.06 from Oxford to be precise, wending it’s way slowly northwards, leaving MM in charge of the home fixtures. I’ll be stopping off at Darlo to check in with Harry, before docking in the land of MON to see my Ma. It’s a bit packed underneath my wing at the moment. It might be … Continue reading Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday (27th April)
Surely you know the score by now? The latest free Insound Vinyl News Mixtape is available for a limited time. This one features fourteen tracks from the likes of Horse Feathers, the wonderful Joe Pug, The Dandy Warhols, Estrogen Highs, Dunebuggy and more. Download for free (well in exchange for a Tweet, Facebook Like, or E-mail address) just by clicking here. Two of our favourites from … Continue reading MM Shorts 147: And Another Insound Vinyl News Mixtape
