Alex Gallacher

Kick off 2026 with the first Monday Morning Brew. This week’s playlist was partly inspired by the film The Holdovers. Expect two hours of warm, diverse, and uplifting tracks designed to cut through the winter fog. Enjoy the music and happy New Year!

Our final Mixtape of 2025 features Norfolk and Western, Anna St. Louis, Loch Lomond, My Brightest Diamond, Antony & Bryce Dessner, Annie Fleming & Viking Moses, Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch, Jason Molina, Guy Capecelatro III, Vic Chesnutt, Andrew Bird, Brigid Mae Power, A Singer of Songs, David Greenberger, Glenn Jones, Chris Corsano, Lonnie Holley feat. Angel Bat Dawid and Amalgamated Sons of Rest. Happy New Year.

The Latest Monday Morning Brew Playlist features several artists from the French label PAGANS, including the Occitan polyphonic duo Cocanha, Tal Coal (violinist Maud Herrera) and D’En Haut from Gascony, in southwestern France. There’s also music from French bassist Kham Meslien, Lucrecia Dalt, Mark Fosson, Steve Gunn & David Moore, alongside the ‘pensive countrified psychedelia’ of Edith Frost and more.

We continue our wind-down of the year with part 3 of our split series end-of-year Mixtape, in which we look back on some of our favourite music releases of 2025, including Michael Hurley, Dean Johnson, Rose City Band, Mike Polizze, Sir Richard Bishop, The Burning Hell, Richard Dawson, Nadia Reid, The Weather Station, Josienne Clarke, Katy Pinke, Poor Creature, Iona Zajac and lots more.

Step off the beaten track for an encounter with the unexpected. This mixtape dissolves borders, featuring Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko’s medieval modular synthesis, Aziz Balouch’s Sufi-Andalusian fusion, and Tartine de Clous’ traditional French harmonies. From Chaz Knapp’s winter improvisations to Thorn Wych’s instruments carved from branches of Wych Elm, Lime, Wild Cherry, Oak, and Yew, explore a singular sound-world where creative freedom is the only constant.

Enjoy our Embrace the season with our new indie folk Christmas festive playlist, a curated blend of contemporary and indie folk featuring alternative twists and abundant winter themes. To deepen the midwinter mood, we’ve also included KLOF Mag’s most popular archive mixes. From pagan-inspired electronica to traditional solo ballads, these collections offer a haunting, soulful alternative to the commercial noise. Pour a drink and enjoy.

Our End of year Playlist is out, featuring over 8 hours of music and covering over 100 albums from intimate folk and boundary-pushing jazz to ambient and experimental works. You can listen via Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify and YouTube.

I put this playlist together on an early Sunday morning after a foggy, cold walk, back at my desk, drinking my first cup of coffee of the day. That early-morning stillness is captured in the calm waves of Passerpartout Duo (pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito) and in the otherworldly sounds of Tarawangsawelas and their contemporary interpretations of sacred music from Sundanese West Java.

Ahead of her upcoming tours with Stereolab and Jane Weaver, Emma Tricca has released a new live album, Prisms of Winter. Recorded in Shoreditch with Simon Alpin, the collection captures the raw, fragile intimacy of her songwriting against a backdrop of East London street sounds. It’s a soulful reimagining of her catalogue, offering fans a beautifully unpolished, heartfelt experience.

more eaze (Mari Rubio) announces her new album, sentence structure in the country, out March 20, 2026. While her background in traditional fiddle is long-passed, she imbues these new arrangements with a deep reverence for the evolution of folk forms. Lead single “bad friend,” featuring Wendy Eisenberg, navigates social alienation through a masterful, non-traditional approach to pedal steel and electronics.

As the frost settles, KLOF Mag returns with an essential winter folk mixtape. This curated journey balances the haunting beauty of Anne Briggs and Plinth with the psychedelic folk of Trees and Leo Kottke’s intricate guitar work. From Mummering traditions to evocative poetry and communal singing, these “winter warmers” are the perfect companion for the festive season.

Listen to Part Two of our End-of-Year Mixtape Series, which includes tracks from our 2025 Albums of the Year. There’s a broad mix of genres from folk and jazz to experimental and ambient. It includes Alex Rex, Jim Ghedi, SML, Chris Brain, David Grubbs, Jim White, Eiko Ishibashi & Jim O’Rourke, Emily A. Sprague, Eli Winter, Fuubutsushi, Cameron Knowler, Glenn Kimpton, Bridget Hayden, Buck Curran and lots more.