Archive For The “americana” Category
If I wanted to listen to the Eagles, I’d get out my time machine and go back to 1974. Ok, that may be a little strong, Sam Beam is a fine songwriter and this is a fine album, albeit one with a radio friendly sheen. The thing is, I remember the early 70′s quite well, [...]
A reigning in of sorts (did you see what I did there?). Seriously, though the epic prog folk of ‘The Crane Wife’ and ‘Castaways and Cutouts’ has been abandoned in favour of a beautifully produced collection of songs, the Decemberists draw on the well of melancholia to good effect. Sadly it was for their wilful [...]
No question here, album of the year has to be ‘High Violet’ by The National. Absolutely stunning and it has to be said, streets ahead of the competition. This was the year The National really delivered. A league of their own. The next nine, reviewed elsewhere in these pages… 2. Tindersticks – Falling Down A [...]
A year without a Lambchop album is bad enough, but two is unthinkable. This is the nearest we’ll get, KORT being Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell and Invariable Heartache being a proper country record of exclusively autumnal hues. Stock up with cheap gin and set the rocking chair out on the porch, Hank Wilson would 
When Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band came howling out of LA in 1981 with this infernal brew of voodoo, punk and blues, the die was cast for others to imitate. The pounding drums and voodoo imagery fired live performances that were shamanistic in their intensity. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the real deal, a musician 
Beer, Bourbon and cheap motels. This strange collaboration just keeps on giving. The third album from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan is occasionally quite sublime; Blues and Murder Balladry of the highest order from an enduring partnership which suggests that Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s Jackson was more than just a wicked tease. Shades of 
The most disappointing thing about the new Arcade Fire album is that it is not 1972 and I am no longer a spotty loon pant clad urchin, for this release has been accompanied by as much tremulous anticipation as any release by say King Crimson or god love ‘em, Family. Happily, it is a fine 
“I got some John Coltrane on the stereo, baby…” The first paisley underground act to get signed to a major label, Dream Syndicate were the eye catching facet of a movement that included the Long Ryders, Green on Red and the Rain Parade. Where many of these bands channeled the Byrds and the garage sound 
