Albums

KAN are one of those bands that are at the forefront of moulding and re-defining tradtional music, if this is the standard then the tradtional music scene has rewarding times ahead!

Cynic’s New Year is a fragile beast with transitory fiddle, banjo, guitar and cello to cushion frontman Justin Ringle’s tentative laments and words of found wisdom.

Read our live review of Ian Anderson at the Derby Assembly Rooms. He is currently touring “Thick as a Brick” 2012.

At a time when Jim White’s personal life hit a roadblock he has served up a masterclass in song writing on his latest release ‘Where it Hits You’.

Two Wings latest release ‘Love’s Spring’ is an impressive début which shows them to be a considerably soulful little group.

We give the low down on The Chieftains latest release: Voice of Ages. Plus we have an album giveaway!

Adventures in your own Backyard is an attempt to ‘make the music we would want to listen to at home’.

The rather graceful and tranquil looking image of Moya Brennan & Cormac De Barra used for this article is very fitting in many respects. They both come from what many consider to be large musical families that have been very influential on the Irish Music scene. Grammy award winning Moya Brennan is probably best known as the lead singer of Clannad but she has also produced a wealth of solo …

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have continued to push their game further and further with each new release, their latest of which ‘Leaving Eden‘ sees a new extended line-up allowing some first-time offerings and a more expansive sound. Those original ingredients that made them so popular are still present and amongst some well-chosen covers and traditional songs are also some new original compositions. As has become their trademark, they still maintain …

[rating=5] During an interview about Doug Tielli‘s solo debut album ‘Swan Sky Sea Squirrel‘ Doug explained that there was no reason for him to make a record as there was no one waiting for it anywhere. Rather than worry about self-imposed timescales Doug took up retreat on Toronto Island in an old school portable. The buildings that exist on the island were scheduled for demolition many years ago until someone …

[rating=3] The Duplets are Gillian Fleetwood and Fraya Thomsen, both of whom hail from the Highlands of Scotland. They both sing and play harp and on their latest offering titled ‘Leverage‘ they were given the opportunity of playing two Briggs harps (Henry Briggs was a famous English harp maker based in Glasgow). The album features instrumental and vocal tracks which alternate throughout to offer contrast as well as displaying Gillian …

[rating=5] Quickbeam are a six piece acoustic/atmospheric band based in Glasgow Scotland. They were formed in 2009 by Monika Gromek, she was later joined by Andrew Thomson after discovering a mutual kinship and love for sparse arranagements. The band has since grown to six members. My first introduction to their music was their debut music video for Seven Hundred Birds which was made by BAFTA short film nominated director Mat …