I've just found the perfect music to mark the end of the laziest Sunday I've had in a very long time. It comes from Preludes and is taken from the recently released Berlin EP, a very beautiful blend of dreampop and folk. You can listen to the rest of the EP by clicking here, it's also available to download on a name-your-price basis from Bandcamp too, so go take a listen.
I remember first listening to CocoRosie when I was like 16 or something and being completely blown away. Not sounding too soppy, I think they really opened my mind to what music could be, and so they're a duo that really need no introduction. Along with premièring a new track, they've announced a release date for their 5th album Tales of a Grass Widow - which I'm super excited about - out May 27th. Stream Gravediggress below:
When I receive submissions from genuinely nice people it makes me really nervous, I'm like shit what if I don't like their music? I genuinely freak out. But today I received some music from a guy called Blake Cowan, otherwise known as Wickerbird.
Fortunately the music I heard turned out to be unbelievably beautiful. Like, scary good. It's folk music that seriously plays with your emotions in a secluded Bon Iver writing For Emma, Forever Ago kind of way, and any kind of music that holds any kind of power in toying with you is worth treasuring for a very long time.
This just turned up in my inbox, I can't tell you much about Jay Babin except that this is the first EP and it's actually really good. All the tracks have this distinctly folky edge but it's infused with lo-fi glitches and elements of funk that actually make a really interesting sound. There's a tag on the Bandcamp page that actually refers to it as being 'urban folk', I have to say I kind of agree with it. I'm really glad I found this. Anyway the track below is my favourite pick from the EP, you can listen to the rest here which is available on a name your price basis
If there was ever a track to say 'welcome to British summer time everybody', I think this would be it. This is the new release from Drops, it's called You Have My Word and it's coming out at the end of the month on a DIY label from my home town called heat death records. It's such a pretty track fitting in nicely somewhere between the happy folky vibes of Stornoway and a more English-y Summer Heart, with a bit of Tunng thrown in there for good measure. Good mix yes? Though I am avoiding the term 'folktronica' as much as possible, that's pretty much what it is. Stream the track below and see what you think:
This is the solo project of the singer of a band called Her Name is Calla. Blood Collects is taken from his new 13-track album We Were Animals, which was released just last week via Olynka Records. The track itself is pretty atmospheric experimental folk which is made up of some really interestingly textured sounds, it's very pretty. Listen to Blood Collects below before you go and stream/buy the rest of the album here:
I'm posting about music with a lot less of an electronic-y influence lately, which i'm pleased about cos it proves my love for the guitar is not yet dead. It's kind of like being reintroduced to an old friend you haven't seen for like a year and getting on as if they've never left.
So I've got to tell you about this Dead Bugs LP, its called Of a Feather and it's been available digitally since February, but it's gonna be released on vinyl towards the end of the year so it's worth a mention. I forgot how folk music can take you on this weird journey where one track can make everything seem so pretty and wonderful but a couple of minutes later you can be completely thrown off by another track which sends you into some hole to cry for a few hours - the contrast between Unbearable Weight and Full of Gold kind of shows exactly what I mean. It sounds pretty cheesy but I love folk music like this precisely because you can feel so much from something pretty simple.
The track I've chosen to stream below is my favourite, I can't get over the contrast of that girl's voice. You can stream the rest of the album here. It's a measly $1 to buy all 10 tracks; that's just 63 British pennies.
Spring is upon us, this means my love for folk music has emerged from its wintery sleep and is blossoming once more. This guy's called Stanley Duke and he makes some pretty nice music, perfect for doing anything that involves doing nothing. There's a whole 8-track album titled Animal Crackers via his bandcamp which is completely free to download, so I suggest you get this on some kind of portable device and go and find somewhere to lie with a beautiful view for a couple of hours:
A couple of months ago I got wind of Day Joy when we premiered their New Ordinary 7", and it really struck a chord with me - their sound was completely fascinating and those two tracks have now become staple in my music library. Today they were kind enough to drop me the details of their newest release titled the Animal Noise EP. This is beautiful experimental folk with such emotional appeal I feel nostalgic for something I'm not too aware of each time I listen. I've only had my hands on it for an hour or so and I can't stop hitting repeat. Grab the new EP as a free download here:
Her third album is due out next month, titled 'A Creature I Don't Know'. I've not heard too much of it yet but from what I can gather it's going to be note-worthy.
She's a very dark horse, pretty much literally. Her lyrics; the things she sings about can sometimes be overlooked, as often all you concentrate on is the voice itself and not what is being said. She sings of pain, weakness and things so personal you can't help but respect her. Some of which she wrote as young as 13 years old. Yet as she's matured, so has her music. And it all fits together so well.
To understand what I mean, you'd have to hear her first album (Alas I cannot Swim), which I am still very much in love with. But with 'Alas I Cannot Swim', the lyrics can easily be drowned out by the deceivingly calm and almost jolly feel to a lot of the tracks. Of course this doesn't matter, as she was only 17 when the first album was released, and for someone at an age that many would still see her as child; it's beautifully faultless. 'Cross Your Fingers' illustrates exactly what I mean:
But she didn't release her second album until she was 20, and these were 3 years of life which shined through in the entire album. I was surprised as to how much her music had matured and developed then. But now, only a year and a half later she sounds like she's lived twice as long as she actually has. Listening to 'A Creature I don't Know'; it's evident she has grown-up and become a woman. Everything is much more poetic, and highlights emotion rather than disguises it. Yet she's always been genuine and meaningful, and I'm glad with the knowledge that she's retained this quality which is key to her music. Here's the beautiful official video to the single of the same name as the album:
Just to mix it up a little, I'm going to potentially offend a lot of people who love Miss Marling. With an open mind you should treat your ears to this remix of 'I Speak Because I can'; taken from the last album of the same name - this is the 'Engine-Earz Experiment' take on what was a beautiful folk song. But I love it, it's not very often that you come across a (...dubstep) remix, which takes two styles which couldn't be more different, and combines them whilst at the same time managing to preserve the emotion and feel of the original song. This version is also original enough to form it's own kind of genius. So you can download it straight from this link. enjoy x
