Albums

★★★★★ Black Coffee & Stephee Pie is a collaboration between a guy (Black Coffee & Cherry Pie) from France and a girl (Steffaloo) from California. Their Spin EP contains great dreamy electronic rock.

★★★★★ Stephen Malkmus and his current band, known as the Jicks have released their 5th album titled Mirror Traffic. Beck is on-board as producer and with 40 odd years experience between them something good had to come of it all.

★★★★★ 100 mile house are husband and wife duo Peter Stone and Denise MacKay and multi-instrumentalist Scott Zubot. Hollow Ponds, their second album, is about escape, finding home and settling down.

★★★★★ 100 Acres of Sycamore sees Fionn Regan returning to his acoustic folk roots but with a greater depth and intimacy on this album. A definite winner.

Sam Brookes’ debut album has echoes and intonations reminiscent of Tim Buckley and John Martyn, while his intricate finger-picking style is instantly recognisable as his own, standing far above his peers.

Lanterns on the Lake’s debut LP ‘Gracious Tide, Take Me Home’ has considerable focus on the sea and the beautiful and terrifying expanse of ebbing and flowing tides also stands as a metaphor for disparate emotional states, situation, memory and hope.

North Carolina born Jonathan Wilson’s latest release, Gentle Spirit, rekindles music from a bygone era of the 70′s Laurel Canyon music scene, infused in gentle psychedelia bringing solace in a maddening world seeking Shangri-La.

Manchester based David A Jaycock’s last release was his debut 12 track vinyl LP titled Preset. The album image of a headless ghost like woman in black with her leg tied to a table leg should leave no doubt in your mind that this LP is a very deep and surreal excursion.

Husband and wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion release ‘Bright Examples’ in the UK in September followed by a six date UK mini-tour. The album’s dreamy late 60′s / early 70′s country rock leaning was inspired by the work of Gram Parsons and his band the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Laura Marling’s highly anticpated third album ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’ is due for release on 12th September. The combination of high calibre song-writing, top-notch production and greater texture and layers of sound make ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’ her best work to date. Watch the latest Video.

Amber Wilson releases a double a-side single this week.The EP offers a nice contrast of tempo and style from the dreamy folk pop of ‘An Affirmation’ to the slightly heavier ‘Raise the Alarm’. She has a captivating warm voice which has an appealing fragility and is not dis-similar to the likes of Feist.

Laura Hocking and the Long Goodbye has an intellectual depth and sincerity that feels spotaneous and natural. There is a lot more to Laura Hocking than meets the eye and you will replay this EP over and over again.