Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon

It is about to appear, I have mentioned this artist and band before, and yet this début EP also remains unknown to most.
Here it is... 'Casual Conversations With A Woodpigeon'.

As album titles go it is, I think, on a par with 'Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose'. It's not a short name, but an unforgettable one, and that matters. It is also a self-released EP, funded using Kickstarter. It is officially launched on March 26...

I'd heard bits and pieces before this point but then saw Cloudi and her band live at the first North Dorset Folk Festival last autumn and was very impressed. Still wondering? Well here they are live at Urban Outfitters, in Southampton, this very afternoon.
  

The second edition of North Dorset Folk Festival has a new venue, Marnhull Village Hall, and will take place on Saturday October 26, 2013.
Tickets go on sale soon. See you there.

Acoustic+ is back in Frome.

Friday, March 15 at the Cheese and Grain, Frome. Adults: £5; Children & un-waged £2.50.

  

I might add that this is a serious declaration of intent on the part of the organisers.

  
If you didn't see Lady Nade at either Frome Festival Food Feast 2011 or (the much missed in 2013) Frome Folk Festival 2012 then this is another chance. Likewise Daisy Chapman, another artist I have seen twice before at Acoustic+.  If you wonder what I mean then head to her most recent (2012) album 'Shameless Winter'.
  
Acoustic+ is just about as good value for money as it gets and I've only mentioned half of the line-up thus far!
Crash and The 'Coots (formerly Crash and The Bandicoots) are certainly well known locally. Now a four-piece you can find out more here (Facebook) and here (Soundcloud). Last but not least, is Switch (Facebook) and also on Soundcloud. It has not previously figured in these pages in its own right. This is the début EP (in its various colour schemes).

If there is one thing to be said about it all, it is the organizers of Acoustic+ don't get the credit that they deserve.

First Thoughts on Record Store Day 2013

Record Store Day 2013 is looking to exceed all previous events and all expectations. It takes place, all around the globe, on Saturday April 20, 2013. More special releases than even before, more locations and stores than ever before, and that's just the start.

Here's someone who has done quite well these last couple of years...

Who, or what, is going to be the next big breakout?

There is certainly no shortage of new music out there that is well worth listening to.

New Music - Part 10 - Siddi - Un Tro

There are three terms that frequently cause alarm in many readers and, in no rational order, they are thus...

• folk music
• concept album
• foreign language lyric

I'm delighted to say that I have found one that is so wonderful - it combines all three. That, in itself, is not a particularly difficult quest but this is the one I want to mention specifically...

... and it is constructed around a fairy tale, just to make it even more improbable.

It is the début album by Siddi, the sibling duo of Osian and Branwen Williams. They also have previous convictions for appearing with (fraternal trio Hughes) Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog. That includes live performance. The album Draw Dros Y Mynydd was amongst my favourites of 2012.
I just don't get the problem with things such as this.

HMV - what really went wrong?

I have made a few comments in the last few years albeit as an outsider and, some time ago (that says something), as a former customer.

This post is so good it is almost beyond comment:
http://jennakinstxs.tumblr.com/post/42226338294/sound-it-out

Live Music 2013 - Larry Miller live in Frome

I don't seem to have been to see much live music this last couple of months and here in Frome has been no exception.  Back in the autumn of 2012 I mentioned that I had been to see a number of blues-rock artists, many of them here in Frome, although it started off a week or two earlier with Joanne Shaw Taylor live at Tavistock Wharf.
It looks like things are going to change in the next couple of months and it started last Saturday. The first time that the new stage at the Cheese and Grain in Frome was used in earnest was by Bath four-piece Fabric that played a fairly short support set but it was very enjoyable indeed and, to be honest I'd like to catch Fabric playing a longer set very soon. Here is Fabric playing on Saturday.

I must admit this was the first photo that I took, while they were just finishing tuning, but it turned out to be the best of the fifteen that I took of the band. That was entirely my fault, not theirs.
  
After a swift turn-around Larry Miller was on stage. I'd never seen him live before and I don't own any of the albums. On the other hand the fact that I will buy recorded music unheard is reason to suggest that I feel the same way about risking it live, even when not at a festival. For me at least, this justified the approach perfectly. Right from the off I was taken in and as the set went on it just got better and better. This is probably reflected in the number of pictures I took, the majority were unusable but no change there. Here are a few of the better ones:
  

Sometimes slow blues...

 Oft-times nothing of the kind.

  

And then came the encore songs - well over twenty minutes of them!

This picture was taken during one of them.

Not much more I can say. A really good evening of entertainment. So good that, with some friends, I'm off to see it all over again quite soon!

New Music 2013 - Part 9 - Rhosyn - Elbow of Capture

Rhosyn, the stage name taken by Rose Dagul, was one of several acts from around the Oxford area to which I was introduced by the organisers of Truck Festival 2011 and Oxford-based collective Blessing Force. Since then I have been keeping my ears open for more. Here, I'm delighted to say is the first Rhosyn EP 'Elbow of Capture' inspired by writing and recording sessions that took place in a remote cottage at Rhoscolyn on the coast of Anglesey last year.
In its string arrangements you can almost detect the winds and the waves in a landscape where things change only through the forces of nature. It is music for moments of reflection.  It is released on the usual formats. It is also available, to the extent of 250 numbered copies, on translucent 12" 33 rpm vinyl.

The 5-track vinyl EP also comes with a code for a free download.
  

Elbow of Capture - Rhosyn

• A1 - Glass
• A2 - Birds
• A3 - Volcano
• B1 - Euridyce
• B2 - Since The Air Became Frantic

You can listen to the track 'Glass' here: