Albums

Panda Su releases her new EP today, a miniscule four-track but full of deep-bodied yet humbly produced sounds I Begin continues where Sticks & Stones left off.

Marry Waterson and Oliver Knight’s ‘The Days that Shaped Me’ is the result of nearly four years musical collaboration but is ultimately the result of a lifetime of experience. Read our review and hear excerpts below.

Julianna Barwick’s latest release, The Magic Place, has her continuing her graceful inventions, using mainly voice and a loop station. It is an exceptional album where sound and silence intermingle in complete divinity.

C’mon is Low’s follow-up to their 2007 tensely charged Drums & Guns. It is by no stretch of the imagination a crossover, but the balance of the album offers a new vein in their musical explorations.

This is an excellent album, and one that provides a vivid visualisation of salty sea and sunrise. A story of America as narrated by a 21st Century voice that feels so wisely ancestoral in its huskiness.

Oh My Days is the third release from The Memory Band folk collective who tour with often up to as many as ten members, including Adem Ilhan (Adem), acclaimed folk/electronica artist in his own right.

It’s rather a surprise to find this Washington/Seattle harmonica brandishing trio was in fact borne from the disbandment of Pretty Girls Make Graves. Since their 2007 formation, The Cave Singers have been signed to Matador, releasing two records with the New York label before signing to Jagjaguwar in June of last year; and with whom they now release No Witch.

The Loafing Heroes call to mind dreamlike percussive soundscapes, to a lo-fi anti-electronica Efterklang. Where have they gone the amblers of yesteryear? Where have they gone, those loafing heroes of folk song, those vagabonds who wander from one mill to another and bed down under the stars?

Folk Radio UK talks to Californian born musician Alela Diane. Alela gives an intimate insight into her latest album ‘Alela Diane & Wild Divine’. She explains the reasons behind the new sound she has created and what inspires her.

The founder of the late Penguin Cafe Orchestra Simon Jeffes died in 1997. Now his son, Arthur, has taken up where his father left off, no easy task. Where do you draw the line of familiarity and creativity? Difficult as this may be the latest Penguin Cafe offering A Matter of Life… manages to offer familiar trademarks amongst new inventions.

I Am Oak is formed around the central figure of dutch singer-songwriter Thijs Kuijken who manipulates minimalistic sounds into complex gentle sound arrays using voice as the main backbone complemented by guitar, banjo, organ, minimalistic beats and samples, all put together from his bedroom.

Following up their split EP with Karine Polwart, acclaimed Scottish folk trio Lau have embarked on another collaborative effort, this time with London based musician Adem. Read Melanie’s review below.