Artists
27 April 2008
Mary Hampton
Brighton's Mary Hampton has been described by The Guardian as "a woman who appears to have spent much of her life attempting to imitate the shimmer of wind-chimes". Certainly the way that her music sounds innovative while being part of a long folk tradition adds to its sense of otherworldliness.
More info here: www.myspace.com/maryhampton
27 April 2008
Benjamin Wetherill
Combining gentle fingerpicked folk with malevolent drones and electronic treatments adds Benjamin's Wetherill's music a genuinely unsettling quality.
More info here: www.myspace.com/benjaminwetherill
27 April 2008
Matt Bauer
Kentucky-via-Brooklyn singer Matt Bauer plays spooked-sounding appalachian folk music, not unlike Sufjan Stevens meets Grizzly Man.
More info here: www.myspace.com/mattbauer
30 March 2008
The No Sorrows
Heavy electric folk, like Richard Thompson's mid-'70s live band crossed with Dinosaur Jr in full flight...
More info here: www.myspace.com/thenosorrows
24 February 2008
Ain
Young Irish explorer of sleepy backwoods blues in the dark spirit of Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt and downer-era Neil Young.
More info here: www.myspace.com/notain
27 January 2008
Meg Baird
A member of Philadelphia psych-folk collective Espers, Meg Baird has recently released her debut album, ‘Dear Companion’ on the Wichita label. A collection of traditional folk standards, well-chosen covers and originals, it’s a starkly beautiful set that easily stands up alongside the work of Meg’s forebears like Sandy Denny or Jacqui McShee.
More info here: www.myspace.com/pennsylvaniawildlife
27 January 2008
Sharon Van Etten
Brooklyn’s Sharon Van Etten plays acoustic folk-blues that is all the more affecting for its sparsity.
More info here: www.myspace.com/sharonvanetten
27 January 2008
Lucie Wren
Lucie Wren’s debut 7” came out on the Sacred Harp Library label recently and earned her comparisons to Vashti Bunyan, Tara Jane O'Neil and even Billie Holliday.
More info here: www.myspace.com/luciewren
16 December 2007
Rameses III
Rameses III are Spencer Grady (guitars, noises), Steve Lewis (guitars, percussion), and Daniel Freeman (keyboards, processing). They have played with Jack Rose, David Grubbs, Christina Carter (Charlambides), Fursaxa, James Blackshaw, Sir Richard Bishop (of The Sun City Girls) and they have releases out on Important Records, Type Records and Music Fellowship amongst many others.
More info here: www.myspace.com/ramesesiii
16 December 2007
United Bible Studies
Balancing a love of the unadorned folk beauty of Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs and Vashti Bunyan with more experimental tendencies inspired by krautrock and free-jazz, UBS are a revolving collective of musicians, many of whom meet for the first time onstage. They were joined at this show by Sharron Kraus.
More info here: www.myspace.com/unitedbiblestudies
25 November 2007
Donovan Quinn & The Thirteenth Month
A member of San Francisco's Jewelled Antler Collective as well as country-psych types Skygreen Leopards, over the course of numerous self-released CD-Rs, Donovan Quinn has built an audience for his excursions into acid-folk, crystalline sunshine psych and backwoods droning.
More info here: www.myspace.com/donovanquinnthe13thmonth
28 October 2007
The Garden City Project
Inhabiting the previously unimagined mid-point between The Free Design and The Copper Family, Hackney collective the GCP's lush, jazz-tinged folk is the perfect soundtrack to the onset of Autumn.
More info here: www.myspace.com/thegardencityproject
23 September 2007
Lawrence Arabia
New Zealand native Lawrence Arabia happens to be the architect of one
of the year’s best albums – his debut is the perfect blend
of mannered pop and sly wit that will appeal to fans of Sufjan Stevens
or The Magnetic Fields. This gig is rescheduled from the July ITP.
More info here: www.myspace.com/lawrencearabia
26 August 2007
Pamela Wyn Shannon
Massachusetts-based musician Pamela Wyn Shannon's inventive and intricate guitar work has been described as "a tiny chamber orchestra working in unison at the end of her hands," and her vocal style has a delicate lilting sensitivity. She has attracted international attention with her progressive pastoral folk music. Her unique compositions have an elliptical quality which creates its own timeframe, rules, and kingdoms, and are reminiscent of the magic found in UK '60s artifacts and Appalachian folk music.
More info here: www.myspace.com/pamelawynshannon
24 June 2007
Saint Joan
Five musicians from Nottingham, France and Hungary play songs about the sea and other things in a style that recalls The Tindersticks and The American Analog Set in a collision with folk-rock adventurers Jerry Yester & Judy Henske.
More info here: www.myspace.com/saintjoan
24 June 2007
Cherry Mash Cherry
A project involving Owen Hills (aka Wooden Spoon) and Tai Shani that lays forth a haunting decrepit psych-folk blues that recalls Shirley Collins in the dark woods of the Appalachians.
More info here: www.myspace.com/cherry0mash0cherry
24 June 2007
Robert Jesse
Fingerpicking guitarist and singer both solo and as a member of the Moon Music Orchestra, Jesse's recent split 7" with Simon Lord is monumental and highly recommended. We eagerly await his return to In The Pines.
More info here: www.myspace.com/robertjesseuk
20 May 2007
Alessi
16-year old Alessi writes songs in a little room in London on her guitar, Grizelda. Then she adds flourishes of glockenspiel, autoharp, keyboards or shell percussion until they sound like someone managed to capture a good-natured ghost on tape.
More info here: www.myspace.com/alessimusic
22 April 2007
The Singleman Affair
Following in the footsteps of such artists as Skip Spence, John Martyn, Tim Buckley and Fred Neil, to experience The Singleman Affair is to witness him as he breaks apart and falls, lifting his head, as Orpheus sings from afar.
More info here: www.myspace.com/thesinglemanaffair
25 March 2007
My Two Toms
Quite literally two men called Tom, this Bristol act make music to be listened to on front porches smoking a pipe made from an old piece of corn cob: like Alan Lomax's recordings of Appalachian Mountain music beamed forward in time from the dusty past.
More info here: www.myspace.com/mytwotoms
25 March 2007
Nathan Octavia
From the Epping forest, Nathan Octavia plays lo-fi but supple folk.
More info here: www.myspace.com/nathanoctavia
25 February 2007
John Power
For his second solo album, former La’s and Cast man John Power wanted, in his own words, to “get back to the old, original reasons for playing”. The result was an album of gentle but captivating acoustic folk, ‘Willow She Weeps’. Do not miss.
More info here: www.johnpower.uk.com
25 February 2007
Pete Greenwood
Blackheath-based purveyor of delicately fingerpicked homespun folk.
More info here: www.myspace.com/petergreenwood
28 January 2007
The Monk's Kitchen
We’re pleased to have one of our favourite London bands returning to bring in the new year at In The Pines. The Monk’s Kitchen don’t yet have any records out – although they’ve just signed a deal with the 1965 label - but their hazy driving-around-with-the-window-down country-rock will prove affecting to anyone with a heart and one or more ears.
More info here: www.myspace.com/themonkskitchen
AUDIO Head For The Hills
28 January 2007
Will Cookson
London finger-picker and singer-songwriter appearing for the first time at In The Pines. Echoes of early Transatlantic artists like Steve Tilston resonate through these subtle and intimate songs.
More info here: www.myspace.com/willcookson
03 Dec 2006
The Moon Music Orchestra
An orchestra, but in the school band sense rather than the London Philharmonic way, this London-based septet write songs that on first listen appear ramshackle but have hearts of oak. Lineup alphabetically Charlotte King, Daniel Orcese, Danny DC, Findlay Brown, Robert Jesse, Steve Jones, Tom L. Hinkley. And sometimes James Mathe (Barbarossa), Simon Lord (Garden).
More info here: www.myspace.com/theholymoonmusicorchestra
03 Dec 2006
C Joynes
Cambridge-based solo guitar wizard and purveyor of timeless drone, Anglo-naïve folk and rustic improv.
More info here: www.myspace.com/cjoynes
19 Nov 2006
Nick Garrie
Nick Garrie's 1970 album 'The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas' is a lost
classic of baroque pop-psych. Its bewitching, literate songs, recorded
in Paris with a 56-piece orchestra, remain haunting almost 40 years
after they were written. But shortly after it was made, Nick returned
to his studies at Warwick University, only releasing albums
sporadically in between running a ski club in the Swiss Alps, managing
a balloon company, teaching French language in secondary schools and
touring occasionally with Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens. Now reissued
by Revola records, '…J.B. Stanislas' is sure to win Nick new fans who
cannot afford the £800 original vinyl copies change hands for.
More info here: www.myspace.com/nickgarrie
05 Nov 2006
Sid Griffin and the Coal Porters
After his first band – LA Paisley Underground legends The Long Ryders – split, Sid Griffin relocated to England to form his country rock band The Coal Porters. They released four albums before Griffin decided to reconvene the band as an acoustic bluegrass act. Their first record as an acoustic band was 2004's wonderful 'How Dark This Earth Will Shine'.
More info here: www.sidgriffin.com
08 Oct 2006
Pete Molinari
A native of Chatham in Kent, Pete Molinari learnt his craft the way that folk singers used to: by moving to Greenwich Village and living hand-to-mouth playing bars and coffeeshops. His debut album, ‘Walking Off The Map’, was recorded live in one take in his next-door neighbour Billy Childish’s kitchen.
More info here: www.petemolinari.co.uk
08 Oct 2006
Eamonn McNamee
Combining the looks of a young George Best with the songs of a young Ryan Adams (and not, thankfully, the other way around) Eamonn McNamee has already made a name for himself in his hometown of Belfast as a young man with a bagful of great songs.
More info here: www.myspace.com/eamonnmcnamee
30 July 2006
Congregation
Benjamin Prosser has been writing and recording songs for many years, self releasing his tunes, and also having released solo lp 'Blues for Harpo' on Sexton Ming's 'Rim' label. Most recently he released a 7" on the Fitzrovian Phonographic label, one side featuring his current band The Tap Collective. Victoria Yeulet currently sings with the Television Personalities, has toured providing backing vocal's with San Francisco's The Husbands,as well as working on her own solo vocal projects. Together they make songs that draw from their mutual loves of old-time, blues, country,folk, gospel, r'n'b and rockabilly which they practice on wooden floors with tape players, voices, pedals and tea.
More info here: www.myspace.com/congregationband
30 July 2006
David Thomas Broughton
David Thomas Broughton has been a fixture on the Leeds music scene for a few years with his own unique blend of off-kilter folk. Using looped guitars and vocals and with the addition of a drum machine, he creates, as The Guardian put it, 'layer upon layer of musical quality'. The effect is bold, beautiful and honest and to quote Leeds Music Scene 'there really are no comparisons'.
More info here: www.birdwar.com/broughton.htm
30 July 2006
Fionn Regan
Dublin-based singer-songwriter Fionn Regan has been compared to Donovan,
Nick Drake and Woody Guthrie and his gentle wordplay and
recently-woken demeanor remind us of a better, gentler time. We're glad
to welcome him back for a second show at In The Pines on the eve of the
release of his debut album on the Bella Union label.
More info here: www.fionnregan.com/
16 July 2006
Adrian Crowley
Fresh from a tour with Adem, today Dublin-based singer Adrian Crowley plays a rare London solo headline show. Although Adrian has been compared to Tim Buckley, Nick Drake and Van Morrison, his dark arrangements and understated vocals mark him out as a bold talent of his own. Following the Steve Albini-produced ‘When You Are Here You Are Family’ and 2004’s ‘A Northern Country’, Adrian is currently at work on a new album.
More info here: www.adriancrowley.com
2 July 2006
Nancy Cunliffe
Last year's 'The Wheel Turning King' EP from Wigan singer-songwriter Nancy Cunliffe was one of 2005's best releases, so we're really excited about her performance this Sunday. She's been compared to Vashti Bunyan, Sandy Denny and Jacqui McShee, but the deft way Nancy incorporates Far Eastern gamelan influences into her Celtic-sounding folk makes her more exotic than her Britfolk forebears.
More info here: www.nancycunliffe.co.uk
18 June 2006
King Creosote
After the sold out scala show..and before the shepherds bush empire show, KC arrives at In The Pines on the back of the release of the universally acclaimed KC RULES OK!! Kenny (playing solo) promises to play an exclusive set today including songs from the album, fence classics and even the odd cover version thrown in for good measure.
More info here: www.kingcreosote.com
18 June 2006
Men-an-tol
Pete and Richie met whilst eschewing the shackles of the nappy. They
shortly after fell into a cauldron of Cornish Magic being stirred by
Lucy and it had a permanent effect on them. All three sat by the Stones
and foresaw a man named Mike with moss for hair and shonky rhythm
paddling across the Irish Sea. They met in a palace made of Ice, picked
up pieces of wood and soothed the air with warm sound. They now
sometimes gather round a Japanese pillar of granite called Susumu that
vibrates at a constant bpm. They have come to blow the fiery rams horn
conch, and the sound it will burn bright.
More info here: www.men-an-tol.com
04 June 2006
Paris Motel
Paris Motel is Amy May and a revolving cast of musicians who play spectral soundtracks to films that have yet to be made. These are songs to fall in and out of love to.
More info here: www.parismotel.co.uk
21 May 2006
Cortney Tidwell
Nashville’s Cortney Tidwell has her roots in her home town’s alt.country scene, but her love of jazz, electronica and blues means that her records to date have been notable as much for their discreet boundary-pushing as Tidwell’s spectral voice. Her wonderful new album, ‘Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up’, features a guest vocal appearance from Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, but today she will instead be joined onstage by an omnichord (it’s a small child’s keyboard, apparently).
More info here: www.everrecords.com/cortneytidwell
7 May 2006
The Fine Arts Showcase
The Fine Arts Showcase is Gustaf Kjellvander, whose recent ‘Radiola’ album blended together Swedish folk music, electronica and psychedelic rock to be one of the year’s most beautiful records. Gustaf played his first gig at school aged 12, so has had a bit of practice at this kind of thing.
More info here: www.thefineartsshowcase.se
16 Apr 2006
Adam Green
Former Moldy Peach Adam Green has a gig in Manchester tonight, but employing the same hard-working approach that sees him lauded in the current issue of Cosmopolitan Germany he's agreed to play a special low-key lunchtime gig for us first. No autographs afterwards, though - this man's got a train to catch.
More info here: www.adamgreen.net
16 Apr 2006
Viking Moses
Viking Moses is one man, Brendon Massei. Over the last ten years Brendon has played with Devendra Banhart, Will Oldham and Cat Power amongst others. Now with a new album 'Crosses' about to be released by Poptones in the UK, Massei is here on his first-ever UK tour. Be warned, though: the fragile atmospherics of his recorded work are normally abandoned in favour of frenetic grunge when played live.
More info here: www.vikingmoses.tk
02 Apr 2006
Roger Dean Young and the Tin Cup
Equal parts Walt Whitman and Neil Young, Roger Dean Young was raised on the wide Canadian prairies. He spent time as a teacher and a coppersmith before embarking on a career as a musician - the first fruits of which can be found on the wonderful recent 'Casa' album (Loose records). Today joined by his band The Tin Cup, expect a beguiling blend of Appalachian folk, country-jazz and all-out rock.
More info here: www.loosemusic.com
19 Mar 2006
The Memory Band
Originally starting out as a computer-based vehicle for Stephen Cracknell to arrange his beats and loops, when Stephen took The Memory Band out on tour, they gradually morphed into an analogue folk band. Their self-titled first album was released on Spinney records, the people responsible for reissuing Vashti Bunyan’s ‘Just Another Diamond Day’ ‘Apron Strings’ is their second album, is out in May and features contributions from Adem and Al Doyle from Hot Chip.
More info here: www.thememoryband.com
05 Mar 2006
Princes In The Tower
Frontman with psychedelic folk act Circulus, Michael is also a dedicated scholar of early music. This afternoon he will be playing a special set of amplified medieval lute songs on the electric guitar, forming a unique opportunity to see why he was employed for many years at The Medieval Banquet theme restaurant in St. Katherine’s Dock.
05 Mar 2006
Dan Sartain
Busting outta Birmingham, Alabammy, 23 year old Dan Sartain is a troubadour on course to collide into greatness. His One Little Indian/Swami debut, "Dan Sartain Vs. The Serpientes", culls recordings past and present to put forth a cohesive work that showcases this unsuspecting talent. Ranging from ramshackle, bent, rock n roll, delineation that combines aspects of punk's forefathers/mothers with the greasy mind of a fourth generation coal miner, to beautifully sparse arrangements of eloquent despair, to downright perverse inclinations, "Dan Sartain Vs. The Serpientes" at times sounds as if Jonathan Richman wanted to be Hank Williams instead of Lou Reed or if The Voidoids were fronted by Hasil Adkins. Don't get me wrong. This ain't country-fried bar room pap that reeks of the post-punk midlife crisis. This is the true voice of a man/boy searching and unaware.
AUDIO Tryin To Say
VIDEO Dan Sartain Live
19 Feb 2006
The Left Outsides
Formed in Camberwell, London in Summer 2004 'The Left Outsides' are Alison Cotton (vocals, viola, recorder, melodica) and Mark Nicholas (vocals, guitar, bass, glockenspiel). To date, all recordings have been self produced using 4-track analogue tape machines and acoustic instruments. A recent recording, a cover of the Brian Jonestown Massacre song 'The Ballad of Jim Jones', was featured as part of the BJM covers project. The Left Outsides also form part of London psyche-folk ensemble 'The Eighteenth Day of May'.
More info here: www.theleftoutsides.com
19 Feb 2006
Wooden Spoon
Pastoral freeform guitar from the school of Fahey & Basho, filtered through an English folk sensibility. Wooden Spoon released a well-received cdr last year on Digitalis Industries' Foxglove imprint, and is to feature on Bo' Weavil Recordings forthcoming 'Free London' compilation. "This is the kind of music you fear isn't made anymore, if it ever was" ...theunbrokencircle.co.uk
05 Feb 2006
Euros Childs
Having been in Gorkys Zygotic Mynci since he was fifteen years old, the idea of working as a lone wolf was always going to take a bit of getting used to. So Euros took over a room in his parents' house in Pembrokeshire for three months and put the whole album together in four track demo form, before heading to Gorwel Owen's Ofn studios in Anglesey (home to landmark recordings by Super Furry Animals among others) for the final sessions.
The record he made there combines the infectious playfulness of early Gorky's releases such as the legendary Tatay, with the beautifully realised folk-pop of the band's later years. And while it's a delight to hear long-departed founder member John Lawrence back in the fold playing pedal steel on the afore-mentioned "Donkey Island", it's the confidence with which Euros establishes himself as a solo performer that is particularly exhilarating.
More info here: www.euroschilds.com
05 Feb 2006
Currituck Co.
Kevin Barker's musical persona, Currituck Co, is usually described as 'psychedelic folk', and this guitar virtuoso's schooling in and expression of this genre is deep and wide. Constantly exploring the arcane and atavistic techniques of his instruments, his ear is also on the song as a basic form for reaching an audience.
Based in his home recording studio at Marlborough Farms in Brooklyn, his most recent visit to the UK was as a member of Antony & The Johnsons' band. The night before his performance at In The Pines, he will be performing at the Barbican as part of Vashti Bunyan's band.
More info here: currituck co.
05 Feb 2006
Directorsound
"Holed up in his Dorset village, Directorsound has been carefully melding together a masterpiece of delicate piano and acoustic pieces that flow like a gentle, anarchic stream of consciousness. The gentle reflective tone is only broken by sudden outbreaks of furious triumph, as the one-man ensemble seems to go to war with itself. There's a loose connection here with Geographic label-mates like International Airport, Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Bill Wells, but make no mistake this is highly original stuff -- the result of Nick battling against, and revelling in the limitations of his equipment and somehow making beautiful music out of nothing."
More info here: www.dominorecordco.com
22 Jan 2006
Voice Of The Seven Woods
Rick Tomlinson has decided to unpack his suitcase and attempt to commit his very own hybrid blend of instrumental progressive folk to magnetic tape under the name 'Voice Of The Seven Woods'. For these eagerly awaited solo sessions he has enlisted the skills of a drummer in a quest to create the authentic sound typified by the likes of Terry Cox in Pentangle with an added rhythmic influence of Turkish Psychedelic bands first heard in the mid 70's. Drummer, 'Chris Walmsley' who has recorded with forward thinking groups like Broadcast and as part of Jane Weaver and the Meadows is the perfect reactionary accompaniment to Ricks sporadic flirtations with time and tempo through baroque-jazz-rock, acid folk and South-Eastern psychedelia.
AUDIO An Hour Before Dawn
Spiral
22 Jan 2006
Rural Tradition
I try and make songs that capture what it might be like to be sat in the cabins of rickety boats bobbing up in the mist, or lonely, dusty attics in grand old houses in the country. I think about that kind of thing a lot. Most of the tunes are very short, often just a minute or so in length, but they're always just long enough I think. I play them as best I can, but there are still lots of mistakes. I'm sure you'll spot them.
Dorset Paeans
Rural Tradition's online journal
11 Dec 2005
British Sea Power
Following a year in which they have played in a treehouse in Oslo, a shipyard in Barrow and in Cornwall’s Carnglaze Caverns, we’re more than happy that British Sea Power’s final gig of 2005 will be at In The Pines. Although there might not be space for their usual stuffed animals on the Harrison’s tiny stage, expect instead some well-chosen covers alongside their unique and stately brand of amplified rock music.
More info and mp3's here: www.britishseapower.co.uk
11 Dec 2005
James Blackshaw
When UK-native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something spiritual takes place. This unassuming 23 year-old is transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, and Glenn Jones. Blackshaw traverses between Eastern and Western scales; simple and incredibly intricate picking patterns; waves of fast, powerful rolls and glass-fragile harmonics. Making instrumental, solo, acoustic music that remains consistently interesting and moving is a difficult task. Yet, time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, constantly breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat limited medium.
More info and mp3's here: shoryobuni.f2g.net/sunshrine/
11 Dec 2005
Greg Ashley
We're proud to welcome back Houston-turned-Oakland psych master Greg Ashley. Like fellow Texan-bred Roky Erickson and Mayo Thomson, with a little infused Syd Barrett and Skip Spence (and maybe even a little Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel), Ashley creates atmospheric pop meanderings that are filled with sentimental purpose and dark fuzzy edges. On par with the workings of the mightily enigmatic Brother JT, Ashley recorded this all himself, played it all himself, and sang it all himself, except for one song by his friend John.
More info and mp3's here: Birdman Records
11 Dec 2005
Andrew Hockey
His appearance at the Green Man festival was one of the weekend’s highlights. Now with his album ‘Songs From The Dandelion Clock Vol.1’ about to be released, we’re very pleased to have Cardiff’s Andrew Hockey playing at In The Pines.
More info and mp3's here: Slow Graffiti
11 Dec 2005
Emma Tricca
Artist Saffron Summerfield describes Tricca's music: 'To say that Tricca's music resembles that of a Baez or Mitchell would be too easy and, in this case, limiting to the musical style and breadth. Combining traditional folk nuances with modern combinations of instrument and rhythm, Tricca sings without naivety, subtly creating a seductive and powerful experience.'
More info and mp3's here: www.emmatricca.com
27 Nov 2005
The Singing Adams
Frontman for Cambridge country legends The Broken Family Band, Steven Adams combines a wry humour with rootsy cool. His first solo album as The Singing Adams is released on November 28th.
AUDIO Minus Nines
27 Nov 2005
The Superimposers
Dealing in the aural equivalent of Ketamine-laced Rainbowdrops, The Superimposers plunder the sunshine pop of the 1960's and, like Brian Wilson, find that however good the weather, there'll always be shadows.
13 Nov 2005
Sharron Kraus
British singer/songwriter Sharron Kraus is very much in the school of subdued yet haunting, at times foreboding progressive British folk music of artists that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s such as Shirley Collins and Bert Jansch. Though the emphasis is on her acoustic guitar, the arrangements also intelligently add fiddle, bass, banjo, and other instruments.
More info here: www.sharronkraus.com
13 Nov 2005
Fursaxa
Fursaxa is composed of West Philly-based solo artist Tara Burke. A previous member of the band UN, Burke is now one of the epicentres and key collaborators of the North American free-folk movement, along with such luminaries as Jack Rose, Charalambides, Ben Chasny and the Jewelled Antler Collective. With her hypnotic, echo-y churchbell chanting, Burke possesses a power-filled vocal sound that harkens back not only to those other polar queens of disaffected freakout psychedelia Nico and Barbara Manning, but she is also akin to and inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine mystical abbess. With the low drone of chord organ and Farfisa, detuned ringing guitar, and endlessly looped, multiply-tracked vocals applied with heaps of delay, Fursaxa sounds like a tripped-out medievalist perched upon a poppy petal. Burke has an alchemical knack for turning folk into lo-fi, and then into sheer psych and back again, but more importantly, her music is pure humming narcosis.
More info here: www.fursaxa.net
AUDIO Japonica
13 Nov 2005
Alexander Tucker
Alexander Tucker began as vocalist in post-rock hardcore five piece ‘Unhome’ who released one album: ‘A Short History of Houses’ on Unlabel and a split single with ‘Papa M’. Unhome split in late 1999, Tucker went on to tour with Detroit space rockers ‘Fuxa’. For many years Tucker had been developing a shambolic approach to acoustic and free-noise electric guitar and began to play solo shows using tape loops, detuned guitar, Dictaphones and field recordings processed through fx pedals. In early 2000 Tucker recorded a solo album of acoustic finger plucking, spooked vocals and a psyche-electronics, which was picked up by Tom Greenwood of Jackie-O-Motherfucker and released under his U-sound archives label. Tucker played as a part of JOMF on their last UK tour.
30 Oct 2005
The Eighteenth Day Of May
Part of what separates The Eighteenth Day Of May from their peers in the world of indie rock is a deep-rooted love for the pioneers of the folk revival. Traditional singers like Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy and Jean Richie have influenced the inclusion of songs in the group`s current stage set, while electric folk innovators such as Pentangle, The Trees and the early Fairport Convention have undoubtedly laid foundations for the group to build on. The group has little in common with the folk-scene of today, however, mainly due to their inability to "play it safe". Still relatively young (the group members are all in their late twenties and early thirties), the group has an experimental, musically ambitious edge- equally inspired by the Velvet Underground's drone and feedback and the more dreamy qualities of psychedelia. The group's own material is inspired partly by this approach and partly by the storytelling aspect of traditional songs and murder ballads.
More info here: www.theeighteenthdayofmay.com
AUDIO Dawn
The Highest Tree
30 Oct 2005
Chris T-T
Chris T-T is an English songwriter. Since 1999, he's released four
studio albums, one live collection and a pile of singles and EPs. In 2003 Chris quit his day job of six years (at the Press Association)
to make music full time, following the success of his fourth album
London Is Sinking. There are only so many sickies you can pull.
Chris upped sticks and left London, after seven years in the city.
He now lives in Brighton on the south coast. His last two albums, The 253 (2001) and London Is Sinking (2003)
form two-thirds of a trilogy about London.
More info and mp3's here: www.christt.com
16 Oct 2005
James William Hindle
James Hindle has three albums of beautiful folkpop under his belt, each of which seems to have surpassed its predecessor. His latest, Town Feeling, ventures a little further into Americana with an inimitable British slant and features an all-star cast including members of Espers, The Ladybug Transistor, Currituck Co., Vetiver and Of Montreal. Fresh from a US tour with Bart Davenport, In The Pines are flattered and frankly thrilled to have the chance to host his talent before he returns to the states for the Current 93 festival.
More info here: jwh.hinah.com
AUDIO Town Feeling
You Will Be Safe
02 Oct 2005
Lucky Luke
Occupying the mid-point between The Velvet Underground, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Fairport Convention, Glasgow's Lucky Luke have already released one album - 'Patrick The Survivor' is one of 2005's very best. Today will be a special set from Simon and Morag, stripping their songs down to the barest bones.
More info and mp3's here: www.luckyluke.com
02 Oct 2005
Singing Loins
Self-described "authentic raw folk from the Medway delta", The Singing Loins comprise singer Chris Broderick and guitarist Chris Allen and deal in music best described as bare-knuckle. Originally formed in 1990, the pair made four excellent albums, including two for Billy Childish's Hangman label - recorded in Billy's toilet. After touring much of the UK and Europe the Loins split in 1996 but reformed early last year for a one-off show at Chatham's Tap And Tin.
AUDIO Shut Your Mouth
18 Sept 2005
Bilkis
With only a handful of gigs to their name, East London duo Bilkis blend spooky Joan Baez-isms with harmonies and Indian drones, making music that is fragile and otherworldy but totally captivating.
AUDIO Water Garden
Blue Bird
04 Sept 2005
Marc Meon
Marc Meon plays folk-infused pop songs. "In my head I hear Kraftwerk meeting Nick Drake and discussing the intricate pulchritude of pulses...or at least bicycles." He has been the trusted sidekick to Adem (Domino Records) from the start and formed Psychedelic popsters Octopus. He has played with and produced They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them and is currently working on an album with Jim Reid (Jesus & Marychain.) You can usually catch him at Mentasm, a psychedelic folk night run from the depths of his warehouse. He is currently finishing his album, due out in Spring.
14 Aug 2005
Josephine Foster
Marrying ghostly Appalachian folk to avant-garde arrangements, Philadelphian opera school dropout Josephine Foster's wonderful recent album 'Hazel Eyes I Will Lead You' moved NME to call her a "14th Century Joni Mitchell", while other critics have compared her to Shirley Collins and Grace Slick. Whatever: Josephine is truly a one-off.
More info and mp3's here: Locust Music
14 Aug 2005
Mi And L'au
Young God records artists Mi And L'au wrote their debut album in a tiny log cabin in the Finnish countryside. Somewhat fittingly, it's an alternately chilly and intimate collection that variously recalls early Nico or Chet Baker and moved Devendra Banhart to write a song in tribute to their genius.
More info and mp3's here: Young God Records
31 July 2005
Absentee
Absentee are laurie earle (bass/b.vocals), babak ganjei (guitar/lap steel), jon chandler (drums/percussion), dan michaelson (vocals/guitar/piano), melinda bronstein (vocals/keyboards/melodica/glocenspeil). They play gigs and make music. They like donkeys. Their debut Memphis Industries release is the mini album Donkey Stock. It's the sort of music that gets played when people finally start kissing in a movie and also the kind of music when one of them gets knocked down by a car in the final quarter.
More info and mp3's here: http://www.memphis-industries.com/absentee.html
17 July 2005
Napoleon III
Surround sound electrocoustica from Leeds, with extra glitching, tape-reel brass sections and melodies to deafen yourself with.
AUDIO Celebrity Standups
17 July 2005
Duke Garwood
"Voodoo" Duke Garwood was born south of the river, some time last century. Already compared to Mark Lanegan, Devendra Banhart and the Reverend Robert Wilkins, Garwood could be considered part of the new psychedelic folk scene emerging in the US. But he isn't. His songs cover classic blues themes. His live shows are incredible, and he already counts among his fans: The Duke Spirit, The Soledad Brothers and The Archie Bronson Outfit.
AUDIO Sweet Back
02 July 2005
Hush The Many
Joanna plays cello. Sometimes when she is playing it's like music drips off her bow. She met the others at a little venue in Nottingham, where they decided they would play the next gig together. They took to the stage together for the first time at London's Borderline, where the songs transformed. Soon the idea of not playing together seemed ridiculous, so they decided, quite naturally, to carry on... Their music had fused, the triangle had shifted, all four points linked together, and something else was made. Visit Hush the Many.
12 June 2005
Gemma Ray
The GRR are London-based purveyors of an intense and histrionic music that draws in influences such as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Billie Holliday, The Gun Club, Bjork, Led Zeppelin and Gershwin, finding its own niche at the end of the equation. Gemma Ray's emotive songwriting is troubled yet fearless, which captivates the listener when stripped down to just guitar and vocals, but blisters when fuelled with the punch and lather of the full band. With two self-produced albums under the belt (and another one on the way), plus a busy gigging schedule which includes an appearance at Glastonbury, the GRR are geared up for a year of heart-conquering. Their In The Pines appearance will be a rare chance to catch Gemma Ray playing acoustically, with percussive augmentation by Andrew Zammit.
29 May 2005
Tommy Eisner
Tommy Eisner grew up in the countryside of Baltimore, MD. After briefly attending a couple colleges he moved to New York, like every romantic should. He's been writing songs since he was 13 and claims to have written 100's. Though only having modest amount of shows under his belt, they were all attended by Adam Green (previous Moldy Peach, future Neil Diamond) and is releasing his first album on Rough Trade Records in fall of 2005. "Tommy is like the child of Jim Morrison and Andy Kaufman, don't miss him." - Edgar Allen Po, The Raven
15 May 2005
Micah P. Hinson
Born in the southern US town of Memphis, Tennessee, on the day that President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt, Micah (pronounced my-kah) Paul Hinson was raised in a Christian household. As a teenager, Hinson and his family moved to Abilene, Texas, where he became a member of the local music scene. It is here, where Micah first met his then muse -- a Vogue cover model and widow of a notable local rock star. Introduced to her, and in turn Valium and other narcotics, it was not long before Micah's muse turned into the 'Black Widow' as he now refers to her, and he hit a horrible twist of events. In the Spring of 2000, he was caught forging prescriptions and was sent to county jail -- "I ended up losing my car, my home, all my money, my instruments and recording equipment, and basically my entire family". More at Sketchbook Records
15 May 2005
Garden
Bethnal Green's quiet, community garden is a haven for Simon Lord. Once the frontman of twisted pop quartet Simian, he's now the creative force behind a new psychedelic folk project: Garden.
Garden's appeal comes from a healthy, organic approach to making music. They bring their own quirky, wind powered, weirdly colourful edge to the new folk movement. "Rock has been endlessly reinvented and trawled through and much of the recent rock revival has sounded stale and soulless -- style over content," reckons Simon. "I think what attracts people to old folk recordings is their honesty and purity. They have an element of craftsmanship and songwriting values that have been missing recently in the digital age where everything is pasted together inside a computer. I think folk is a type of soul music and that's what people are excited by."More at intothegarden.co.uk
AUDIO Yours to Hold
1 May 2005
John Moore
Formerly of the Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Box Recorder, guitarist and songwriter John Moore has been threatening to become London's answer to Leonard Cohen for years. Literate, dry and with a wit that masks more than a hint of despair, Moore has just been waiting until he's sufficiently bitter to unleash his solo vision on to the world and give the Canadian master of misery a run for his money. --The Guardian
17 April 2005
David Viner
This is not "garage blues", "nu blues", or even "contemporary blues" - it is just blues and folk music - as beautiful and simple and perfect as it can be played. It's Mr. David Viner - a gaunt young man in a cheap suit, possessor of a worldly knowledge beyond his years, and a heart of stone.
AUDIO Where The Posies Grow
My Baby
13 March 2005
Lupen Crook
19-year old Lupen is at the forefront of Kent's new-folk scene. It's a pleasure and privilege to have him playing at the club in advance of his debut single, out in April on Tap And Tin Records.
AUDIO Staghead And Monster