• Music

    Allysen Callery & Mother Bear – Witch’s Hand

    October 31, 2023 - By 

    This massively heavy release by Allysen Callery collaborating with doom monsters Mother Bear is appropriate for Halloween.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “”Creep here with me, keep it close and you might see…the little things that glow…and they all have teeth…” Something spooky this way comes! Allysen Callery has joined supernatural forces with Germany’s Doom metal masters Mother Bear , for a delightfully dark offering presented by Gruselthon, sub label of Cosirecords.” If you can imagine Shirley Collins with a slight stoner vibe, you’re coming close to the power of this release.

  • Music

    The Modern Jazz & Folk Ensemble – I’ve Got A Feeling (feat. Jacqui McShee)

    October 15, 2023 - By 

    Sean Khan has a sterling reputation working with jazz legends like Hermeto Pascoal, but the fact that he is pairing with Pentangle chanteuse Jacqui McShee makes this single from Acid Jazz Records crucial listening.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Earlier this year we announced The Modern Folk & Jazz Ensemble, led by saxophonist Sean Khan. Ahead of a special appearance at the London Jazz Festival on 16 November, we are releasing their first single ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ on all digital platforms on 11 October. We’re very excited to be working with Sean on this project – one of our…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – The Dunning​-​Kruger Effects

    September 27, 2023 - By 

    Today is an auspicious occasion as this post will mark 1,000 consecutive days of posting music for my readers and friends.  It’s most appropriate that number 1,000 would be someone who has appeared quite a few times on the blog, but Jeff Gburek offers an album that is as (primitive) bluesy as I’ve heard in some time.  The playing is mournful in parts, but it wraps your ears up and demands your attention.  Most importantly, I think this is the first time I’ve heard Jeff sing.  His voice sits perfectly in the point where blues, psych and acid folk all…

  • Music

    Plume Girl – In the End We Begin

    August 5, 2023 - By 

    A bliss-filled release from out mappa Records out of Slovakia from a new name, Plume Girl.  I’ll let the label describe this rather ethereal bit of emo folk, which you can read in full at their Bandcamp release site: “Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the rāga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood…

  • Music

    Baklava – From Skopje With Love

    July 18, 2023 - By 

    Our friends over at the indomitable CPL-Music have released a charming disc of traditional music from my second homeland of Skopje, Macedonia!  Baklava, the subject of today’s listening, work with folk music and does sterling work reinterpreting it for a more modern, updated sound.  Speaking of that sound, the band develop it with a wealth of instruments, including ancient local ones like the tambura, the kaval and the daf, as well as bagpipes, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, accordion and (the very much non-Macedonian) ukulele.  The music is upbeat, fun, and shines a good light on the wonders of (North) Macedonian music.

  • Music

    Various Artists – GRAMMOFON​-​MISSIONEN – A Selection of Swedish Jesus Music 1967​-​1982

    July 15, 2023 - By 

    As a practicing Eastern Orthodox Christian, this Jesus music might be a subject I know a little something about, though my normal preference is more Byzantine, Arabic or Slavonic and dates back to at least the 5th Century rather than the 20th.  Still, give mad respect to Subliminal Sounds for digging up all these odd Christian psychedelic gems and putting them into one stunning collection. For those with a bit more coin to spend, there is a book/magazine package that runs for around US$70, and it looks to be well worth it.

  • Music

    Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us

    May 22, 2023 - By 

    A big and hearty thanks goes out to my dear friend and brother in music, Hubert, for turning me on to this album.  Brìghde Chaimbeul plays smallpipes, a wonderful instrument criminally neglected in comparison to its more famous cousin, the Highland pipes.  These smallpipes have a more ethereal sound to them, and in the hands of a master piper like Brìghde, they sound as elegant as any orchestral instrument.

  • Music

    Petar Vujačić – Made in Ovto​č​i​ć​: Songs from Montenegro

    May 11, 2023 - By 

    Amazing.  The ever excellent Antonovka Records are now producing music outside of the former USSR.  We have a description of the recordings below, courtesy of the label’s Bandcamp site: “Gusle (not to be confused with Russian gusli) is a Balkan (mainly Montenegrin and Serbian) bowed instrument. There is only one string on the gusle, but it is always decorated with rich carvings. Those are usually long epic historical songs that are performed with the gusle. Petar Vujačić comes from the village of Ovtočić (both ‘č’ and ‘ć’ are pronounced roughly as ‘ch’), located in the mountains between the Adriatic Sea…