Albums

A tiny sticky-floored venue which I had shamefully never been to before, hidden somewhere between the fast-food chains of Notting Hill Gate, lies this shabby-chic club: battered leather couches and a stage area that is more akin to a garage practice space…but perhaps is it this that gives the venue and the on-going night Communion its cosy, homely feel. From the minute we stepped down the stairs to the Mumford …

Following on from his third album, Low Culture, Jim Moray has delivered another outstanding work which flawlessly mixes traditional song with modern sensibilities and musical arrangements. In an entirely characteristically brave move Moray has taken the decision to pre-release In Modern History to a wide audience as a free 8 track CD through Songlines Magazine in April 2010, the full 10 track CD is realised in June.

Given his work with Flook, Shona Kipling and, more recently, his partner Kate Rusby, I expected Damien O’Kane’s debut solo album to be a collection of perfectly executed banjo tunes with the occasional song. Oh how I love to be educated. I was wrong; very, very wrong. In Summer Hill Damien has given us something rather special. Something with astute instrumentation, thoughtful arrangements and contributing musicians of the highest calibre. …

Andy Cutting is much in demand and has been for some time, even more so since he won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year award in 2008. At last, though, he’s found time to put together a CD in his own name. This first release on Lane Records from Derby is available to order online and goes on general release in August. Melodeon player and self-confessed former …

Described by Gilles Peterson as “a great artist” Matt Sage started out in a band with musicians who moved on to find success working with Faithless and Dido, after which he turned his efforts to solo projects while holed up on a canal boat in Oxfordshire. Since then he has played at WOMAD, started up a hugely successful acoustic night in Oxford called Catweazle, and created a platform called Big …

This release by Mr McFall’s Chamber on the classical label, Delphian, is the result of a long planned collaboration between Martyn Bennett and Robert McFall that was never realised during tragically short life of one of Scotland’s most admired and accomplished musicians. What may be one of the most innovative albums of the year gets off to a surprising start with Martyn Bennett’s Cuillin, Part 2. It’s a challenging start …

Duotone’s debut Work Harder and One Day You’ll Find Her is the work of Barney Morse-Brown; best known for his work with The Imagined Village. The collection of eight tracks incorporate layered vocals and looped string arrangements over which it is ultimately the cello that conducts and controls the ebb and flow of these atmospheric pieces.

Touring in support of her fifth LP The Calcination of Scout Niblett, British born Emma Louise “Scout” Niblett plays a toned down grunge that has her frequently likened to PJ Harvey or a messy Chan Marshall. Reverting back to her traditional style characteristic of earlier albums such as I Am, she was a sparse clatter of emotion at The Borderline, London. Like an exuberant child she came on stage in …

It’s forty years since Carole King and James Taylor performed together for the first time. In 2007 they re-visited the Troubadour in Los Angeles to celebrate its 50th anniversary and re-live their youthful partnership, along with the same musicians that joined them in 1970. This joyful reunion is released as a CD/DVD combination on 31st May.

Born to folk-musician parents in Brattleboro, Vermont it’s hardly a surprise that Sam Amidon is continuing down the folk path trodden for him at the age of six when he was first taken on stage by his parents: both successful musicians of the Appalachian folk revival. Like a game of Chinese whispers, Sam takes those murder ballads and traditional folk songs his father would sing to him and passes them down …

Don’t let the title worry you. Karine and the lads of Lau aren’t engaging in a bit of WWF Smackdown aggro. The latest in the impressive history of collaboration between the various members of Lau and Karine Polwart is an enthralling five-track EP, the first in a series of three such releases planned by Lau. Four of the five tracks on this releases are cover versions, more details on those …

Isle of Wight songwriter Paul Armfield’s new album, Blood, Fish and Bone is a sensitive, melancholic and downright beautiful album. The talented musician and artist (he designed the linocut cover for the album) has assembled a masterful collaboration of musicians (including Rupert Brown, J.C. Grimshaw and Adam Kirk) to create a timeless and haunting piece of work, as the songwriter himself explains; Much of the material on the album concerns …