As Advent nears its finish and we prepare to celebrate the Nativity, we have a rather charming Protestant offering from Blacknall Arts which wouldn’t sound out of place to Fairport Convention fans.
Folk
Johanna Juhola – A Brighter Future
What a joyous release this is! Accordion-based music out of Finland is just what the doctor ordered for our chilly Beijing day. Johanna Juhola is one of many incredible artists on the Nordic Notes imprint who have blown my mind this year. Imagine a collection ranging from traditional music melded Continue Reading
Fabiano Do Nascimento – Mundo Solo
The indubitable Far Out Records have produced what might be my favorite record of 2023, a guitar album by Brazilian guitarist and fellow Los Angeleno Fabiano do Nascimiento. I’ll let the label’s crack promo team describe this absolute beauty of a record below: “Adopting Hermeto Pascoal’s concept of Universal Music, Continue Reading
Ilian Ladov – За далёкие берега
Ilian Ladov is a musician from St. Petersburg, Russia, who works in the medium of neofolk. The work is all instrumental, and has a very relaxed vibe to it. It’s a bit melancholy in parts, but not dour or droll at all.
Cristina Godoroja – Ciobănaș Cu Oile: Songs From Moldova and Romania
Antonovka Records, once based in Russia but now ensconced in Moldova, continues to release some of the most seminal music to ever come out of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and their reach seems to keep expanding. This album covers the work of traditional singer Cristina Godoroja, an ethnomusicologist Continue Reading
Allysen Callery & Mother Bear – Witch’s Hand
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 Continue Reading
The Modern Jazz & Folk Ensemble – I’ve Got A Feeling (feat. Jacqui McShee)
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, Continue Reading
Jeff Gburek – The Dunning-Kruger Effects
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) Continue Reading
Plume Girl – In the End We Begin
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 Continue Reading
Baklava – From Skopje With Love
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 Continue Reading