New Music 2017 - Part 33 - Dryadic - In My Blood EP

You might know about my love of the EP format by now. This is a shining example of why that is so.

In My Blood EP - Dryadic (self-released, 20 October 2017).

Dryadic is a Brighton-based two-piece one half of which is Zora Macdonald, formerly the lead of The Tatsmiths. We are going back a few years but that is fine by me. The Tatsmiths recorded an LP Curiosity Shop (2012) here in my home town of Frome, Somerset. That was followed by the Occupy EP (2015). You need to listen to these and not least because they place the new direction and therefore this release in a context that makes complete sense.
This latest is a true EP, comprising just three songs, and includes the use of a fantastically rare English language verb in a song title. Sometimes less is actually rather more than you bargained for.
It is a wonderful thing.

Dryadic - In My Blood:

• Colours of the Hedgerow
• Gongoozling for Two
• In My Blood

New Music 2017- Part 23 - LosFeliz - Ancestry

I have had a break from writing, but not from listening and now I'm back after a case of writer's block.
I am planning a number of posts, including another imaginary journey, but just now this has taken precedence over that more complicated project. Released only last week it is wonderful music for the late evening when the heat of the day its making way for late evening darkness.

LosFeliz - Ancestry (Union Music Store, 16 June).

Ancestry is one of those début records that seems to have arrived fully-realised from another universe. LosFeliz is essentially the solo work of Brighton-based artist Lucy Powell and it was recorded in a church in her native Wales. It is spiritual and fluid, humanist rather than religious and lies somewhere on a meandering loop-line that has folk and dream pop as its termini. It includes some non-acoustic effects and also found sounds and it is astonishingly devoid of self-consciousness, never mind pretension.
Another thing that it certainly does not have is any sense of hurry, the journey itself is all that matters here and time is not a consideration at all.

• Jupiter
• Daymares
• Dove
• Foreign Lands
• Madonna, Pts. 1 & 2
• Orion
• Bloodline
• Temple
• Moreso Today

Its nine tracks span 41 minutes and soon after you start listening all sense of time becomes an illusion. It should be, and I'm told that this is true, absolutely unmissable live. This could well turn out to be one of the great new albums and artists of 2017.

New Music 2017 - Part 9 - Dryadic - Gongoozling for two

I'm not sure that I'm actually allowed to share this but I'm going to do it anyway. There are at least two burning reasons to do so. The first is that this is a new song from an artist that I have been missing for some time now, albeit in a new outfit and style - as duo Dryadic. Dryads are the wood nymphs of Greek mythology just in case you were wondering.
The other thing is this song involves in its title a very unusual English word seemingly derived from the 18th century dialect of eastern England  - gongoozling. You may think that this is a Trump-era "alternative fact" but I believe with good reason that it is not so!
Gongoozling is, in effect, the canal equivalent of train-spotting and with that comes a whole lot of time when nothing much happens on the waterway.

It is far too good not to share, to be quite honest! And I can't wait to see those spring bluebells.

New Music 2017 - Part 8 - Ags Connolly - Nothin' Unexpected

The second full-length from West Oxfordshire native and resident Ags Connolly has been a while in the making, quite deliberately so it would seem.
The first was 'How About Now' and  it appeared back in 2014. That was around the time that the blossoming of the indigenous UK Americana scene was starting to be noticed as the real change it was, rather than just the preoccupation of die-hard fans and would-be journalists.

Nothin' Unexpected - Ags Connolly (At The Helm Records, 3 February 2017).

The title of this latest is 'Nothin' Unexpected' and might sound almost underwhelming but that is quite deliberate too as the music is no such thing. The point here is that it is not flash or crass in any way at all. It is however very well done indeed - from the ten songs (nine originals and a cover of the Loudon Wainwright III song 'I Suppose'), to the instrumentation that accompanies them and the carefully balanced production values. It ticks boxes.

• I Hope You’re Unhappy
• Do You Realise That Now
• When The Loner Gets Lonely
• Neon Jail
• I Suppose
• Nothin’ Unexpected
• Haunts Like This
• Fifteen Years
• Slow Burner
• I Should’ve Closed The Book

It is certainly often wistful and resolutely stoical, especially about times spent alone and this applies as much to the honky-tonk influenced numbers as to the others; there's both a time and mood for that.  I happen to be listening sat in front of the fire on a dark and wet winter's evening but it would be just as good heard in the early hours around the dying embers of a summer campfire, with the last few burnt BBQ ribs and a beer to go with it.

One thing even better would be to see him play live, preferably in one of the old small-town bars that are mentioned in a couple of songs. Rather like this...

Ags Connolly, Saloon Bar stage, Truck Festival 2015.

New Music 2016 - Part 53 - Red Butler - Nothing To Lose

Red Butler is shortly to release its second LP and the follow-up to 2014's 'Freedom Bound'. In that time the Brighton-based four-piece has been garnering fans and acclaim both in the UK and further afield. I first saw the band live here in Frome, as part of the Blues, Rhythm and Roots festival in May 2016. It proved to be my favourite act on the day.

Guitar tomfoolery was adeptly done, but that alone is not enough to really make an impression.

Red Butler still did that however; this band writes most of its songs as a co-operative outfit and occasionally also reinterprets a cover in a very interesting way.
It's the real deal, clinched by the distinctive but wholly appropriate vocals of Jane Pearce.

Red Butler, Cheese & Grain, Frome - 8 May 2016.

Most of this set was taken from their début album 'Freedom Bound' (2014) but a few new songs were included too and we were told that they were to be included on their second LP and that this was to be produced by Wayne Proctor, who also happens to be the drummer for King King. These songs sounded very promising indeed. I would travel to see this band live once again - no doubt about that at all. This is an album that I really want to hear. Gone, it seems, are the days when beyond the start of October the only releases were those aimed at the Christmas market. That is something for which we should give thanks and spend some cash.

Red Butler - Nothing To Lose (self released, 11 November 2016).

Live - Life in the Great Western Saloon.

This is the promised sequel to my earlier post concerning the Great Western Saloon Bar stage at Truck Festival 2016. It took a bit longer to do than I had planned but ain't that just the way...  I intend to mention, if only with links, all the acts that I did not mention in the previous post. It's increasingly looking as though that ambition will require more than this post to achieve!
This looks like a particularly interesting prospect: The Lavens is a five-piece from St. Antonio, Texas and is a band that consists of members of the same extended family. It is certainly not very widely known in the UK:

The Lavens live at The Cove, San Antonio, TX.

Now things get really complicated.
Brighton-based The Raving Beauties does exist, it is signed to At The Helm Records, but started life as a wholly fictional band; the only reason that it exists is the result of the vivid imagination of a writer. Having published the story to some acclaim it seemed a logical step to create the act retrospectively, and so it happened.

Oh Lover - The Raving Beauties (2013/2015).

It's not my desire to retell the story of a story of a story. [I have deliberately kept the sources visible in such cases, in part to fully credit them].
The link below starts with the author explaining the reason for the origin of the written work of fiction:

http://sabotagetimes.com/music/raving-beauties-interviewed-undeniably-kind-tribute-certain-60s-bands

The final result was this recorded work of eleven songs packed into just 30 minutes of playing time. The reviews are solid too:
https://www.americana-uk.com/cdreviews/item/the-raving-beauties-the-raving-beauties


Now we shall get to see it played live.

The Raving Beauties - (At The Helm Records, 28 August 2015).

I intend to be there, inside the iron shed that is the Great Western Saloon Bar, on 16 July, to see how this plays out in an intimate live setting. It's quite clearly going to take several more posts to cover all of this! Will I even be able to tear myself away to visit the other stages?

Red Butler - Frome Blues, Rhythm and Rock Festival

After a break of almost two weeks I am back. I have tried writing posts both 'to order' and from self-imposed obligation and neither has tended to work out well. It seems that it is best not to worry about it and simply to wait until the bug, for that it what it is, bites me again.
It's not that I abandon music in these interstices. It is arguable that quite the opposite is true; in this time I have seen seven bands live and this is one of them.

Sunday, May 8 was the latest edition of Frome Blues, Rhythm and Roots festival. All was good but this was a stand-out for me: of course Corky Laing and Martin Turner were excellent - they are both (in all probability) rather older than the parents of any of the four members of  Brighton's Red Butler! This is their début LP but another is to follow towards the end of the year and they played some tracks from that too. This, together with the fact that it is produced by King King drummer Wayne Proctor, bodes very well indeed.

Red Butler - Freedom Bound (2014, self released).

Red Butler was only the second of the six acts to play that day and received a standing ovation from the otherwise seated audience at the end of their forty-five minute set. That might have been a sign of things to come for, as of this evening (17 May), they are confirmed as one of the six nominations in the category 'Blues Band' at the British Blues Awards 2016. A link to all artists and acts short-listed for all categories is here. 

New Music 2015 - Part 75 - Bella Spinks - Debut EP

It was a journey without any destination. One thing that I most certainly did not expect when I started this little project in September 2006 was ever to be able to review releases that few have yet had the chance to hear.  This is the latest stop on the way.

Bella Spinks is a 22 year-old and from Brighton. She writes songs with a notable literary bent. This is music that simply won't stay in the background. It will ensnare you - the piano might catch you first but it is the words around which it ebbs and flows that soon become the challenge and thus reveal the true worth in this. I could make comparisons with other artists but I don't feel the need to do that. I think that spoon-feeding would be unhelpful and possibly even insulting, both to the artist and to readers who I hope will also become fans and listeners.

Debut EP - Bella Spinks. Released 27 November 2015 by Sublime Music.

I can suggest music that you might like, the choice is entirely yours, rather than try to tell you what music you should like. I will also mention, as a champion of the revival of the EP format, that less is so often more. The early release of a small collection of well chosen, carefully honed tracks is the way to go. It focuses attention and allows the music to speak for itself.

This is the track list:

• Call You Home
• Regenerate
• George Of The 5th Of September
• Laura Save Yourself

You can't be expected to make a judgement for yourself without anything to listen to. 

A live version of  'Call You Home' recorded in a church in Brighton. December 2014.

New Music 2015 - Part 73 - Lizzy and the Bluenotes

It transpires that much of the live music that I see in October will have at least significant blues influence.
Lizzy and the Bluenotes is not on my list, more is the pity. It was serendipity that caused me to notice this trio from Brighton this evening. I currently have not much to go on other than that the band comprises Lizzy Boyd, Daniel Shaw and Oli Vincent and their line is semi-acoustic blues with a distinct soul streak running through it.
I could listen to their cover of Fenton Robinson's 1967 track 'Somebody Loan Me A Dime' on repeat and I know that because I just have.

I thought you might like a bit of Janis Joplin too.

Likewise the cover of Amy Winehouse and 'Stronger Than Me' from her often rather overlooked 2003 LP Frank. I realise that this is a review based only on covers but I'm happy with doing that if they are strong and show the promise of things to come. I'm looking forward to what happens next.

New Music 2012 - Part 15 - Dear Prudence

One of the best things about new music is when it just appears in my consciousness quite unexpectedly. So it is with this five piece, fronted and founded by Madi Ponica and based in Brighton, that has also taken a rather dangerous name as its own.  It could, owing a debt in kind to Siouxie and The Banshees and maybe even The Beatles via The Cure, have been a complete disaster from the outset. It isn't. The first single is 'Valentine' and this is the artwork for it.

It is early days, certainly, but I'm listening carefully and think 'Dear Prudence' has potential in 2012. They are too young to remember and also too wise and ingenious to merely parody...
Were I booking acts for summer 2012 this one would, without doubt, be high on my list. If they can pull off an album as good as these songs, that matches their obvious talent and ambition and they are wisely being secretive about their plans for realizing this, then I wouldn't bet against them for a moment. In fact it is already a much better bet than you-can-guess-who (for prudence does not become him) --- and that is why I am at home and writing this just now: His loss and their gain!
  
Link added April 24, 2012:
http://mtmbroadcasting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/dear-prudence-gig-review-green-door.html

Live and Local - Zora and The Tatsmiths

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon if that is not a short walk from home, at one of the best pubs anywhere, one that brews its own beer too, listening to one of the best new live acts that I have heard in some time?   No "rapture" for me as I clearly don't know what heaven really is.  If this is just life however then it is certainly good enough for me.

This was the last date on their first ever tour - a four-day jaunt around Wessex - and I think it fair to say that it went down very well indeed with the audience at The Griffin. The Brighton-based five-piece played a long set that was as well paced as it was varied. The only tinge of sadness came with the announcement that for Belinda, playing electric violin, it was her last show with the band as she is relocating to California.
  
For a band that only recently evolved from being an all-acoustic three-piece as heard on the 2010 Places Like This EP, which I highly recommend, to perform so much material so well, and interspersed with banter with the audience that was often of true Ealing-inspired comic genius, was something to remember.

The songs are all strong and distinctive. 'Secret', which I have mentioned before, is a highlight for me as is 'Mary Jane'. They played this twice - the second time being as a request for an encore at the end.

This one is just a warm up...

Zora McDonald playing some of 'Secret' solo.

  

This being Somerset it is worthy of note that a poster has crept into all of these photos...  one announcing a performance by the long reigning kings of 'Scrumpy and Western', The Wurzels!

New Music 2011 - coming live to Frome

Like buses, like bands... one can wait for ages and then several are announced at about the same time. Thinking about it, in Frome that is actually far more likely with bands...
  
They may not be very famous, yet, but no matter.  Here is one that has caught my attention as being in the latest e-newsletter from The Griffin, arguably Frome's best pub and also that with the best beers (the winner of both Somerset-wide accolades in the 2010 'Taste of Somerset' awards that were voted for by the public), and which also does live music.
The May programme looks good too but I'll start by mentioning this, although there is much of note to come before.  
On Sunday, May 22 The Griffin plays host to Zora & The Tatsmiths. If punk-jazz-folk was never before a genre then, so they have decided, it is now. And I can't wait!

  

It is a five-piece from Brighton and if you wish to avail yourself of a legal listen before May here is a link.
The track 'Secret' should be, along with the band, one-no-longer and it is available as a free, legal download for the price of registering your interest. It is on repeat here at the moment and I'm minded to post the lyric for it tomorrow...  it is simple and yet rather scarily real.

New Music - Part 5 - The Go!Team - Rolling Blackouts

I bought the first album 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' out of curiosity and was not in the least disappointed. Then, after the release of their second album 'Proof Of Youth' in late 2007, I saw them live at Latitude 2008.

There were many, even then, that marvelled at their longevity and indeed their virtuosity. The doubters are indeed wrong for, in early 2011, Go!Team are back with their third full length album - Rolling Blackouts.

The first song to be released from it is "Buy Nothing Day" and, to say the least, they have teamed up with one of the artists of 2010 indie for this: the vocals are provided by Bethany Cosentino of 'Best Coast' - so it is where and when South Coast (UK) meets West Coast (US) - and it works far beyond any reasonable expectation.

I'd love to see 'The Go!Team' live once again; I'd love to see 'Best Coast' live for the first time...  so  add both to my 2011 festival 'wish list'.

"Buy Nothing Day" is released on 24 January, by Memphis Industries, and will be available on 7" vinyl too.

Further posts on New Music 2011:
Part 1  ---  Esben and The Witch
Part 2  ---  Yuck
Part 3  ---  Duke Spirit

Part 4  ---  Low Anthem
Part 6  ---  Rhosyn

Part 7  ---  Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo

Part 8  ---  Those Dancing Days

Part 9  ---  Some things I am looking forward to.

Part 10  ---  More things I am looking forward to.
Part 11  ---  New Heads On Old Shoulders?
Part 12  ---  Snowglobe - Jesca Hoop
Part 13  ---  Queen of the Minor Key

Warpaint & Marching Songs - New Music 2010 #20

If the title appears a little bellicose then fear not; all they have in mind is to take your heart and soul by virtue of their music alone. In these shortening days and colder nights, how could you not want that?
This is music for dark nights, warm sustenance and, perchance, much of what follows might well be amongst my listening suggestion for Halloween. I saw Esben and The Witch live on a sunny summer's afternoon in Suffolk and even then the laid-back festival vibe could not detract from the fact that this is essentially slightly menacing music. The band name is taken from a rather dark Danish folk tale... They have been signed to Matador Records since then and the Marching Song EP is their first true label release.

The band is currently mid-way through a month-long tour of the US , including and a quick trip north of the 49th to Vancouver with Cassandra (that is their trusty tour van - 6000 miles and counting), in support of Foals.  The EP is readily available on legal d/l from the usual sources.  There are also 300 12" vinyl copies out there, available from independent stores; if you want one try Rough Trade.


There is a certain irony in that while Esben and The Witch is doing this Warpaint, that hail from Los Angeles, is in the UK doing pretty much the same kind of thing. The distances are far smaller, of course, but the idea behind it is much the same.  This, I think, just goes to show the remarkable synergy that now exists between UK and North American music and long may it continue.
This is the vinyl EP 'Exquite Corpse', although you can also have it in other formats too.

Warpaint is a psych-rock four-piece that has been flicking tantalizing sparks into the wind for a long time now  - any number of line up changes and very few gigs - but it is starting to become clear that this long apprenticeship is about to reap a just reward.
The release of their début album 'The Fool' is imminent - it is expected to be 25 October in the UK - and this too is available on vinyl, CD and d/l.

     If you want an alternative take on Halloween 2010 then please do consider all these as contenders.

Warpaint are in fact signed to Rough Trade Records (in the UK at least) so I expect that there might well be a bonus disc if you buy from Rough Trade (their stores or on-line) once it is released. I can't make any promises but they do however have a solid history in this regard: support independent artists, labels and stores - your music needs you just as much as you need it!

Not least @ Latitude - Part 4 - Esben and The Witch

It is no secret that I have wanted to see this band for some months now.  On Friday at Latitude I did so, again on the Lake Stage, and they exceeded my best expectations. Named for a Danish folk tale, but from Brighton, the three piece are both powerful and involving.  The format means that they have no drummer but they are certainly not without percussive tendencies. Armed with just one drum and a cymbal, at one point all three were wholeheartedly engaged thereon!  As fellow Brightonians Blood Red Shoes amply show, and that is another band I want to hear live, it can actually take only two - Stephen Ansell and Laura Carter in that case - to make a captivating racket.

Between the three of them they handle the material admirably. The wait for their début album should not be too long and I can hardly see it making anything but waves.

Added November 27, 2010:
Here it is revealed in intent and artwork: Violet Cries

Tale To Tell - of strings and things.

I'm no longer sure what should surprise me and what should not. I can however still be surprised - and Mummers did it for me.

It wasn't a case of thinking that I wouldn't like it but, equally, it wasn't in the least bit like what I had imagined it to be either. Here they are on the Uncut Arena on Friday. They are also appearing at 'The End Of The Road' in September. Another Brighton-based outfit, the album 'Tale To Tell' was released in 2009; and Londoner Raissa Kahn-Panni's music and lyric actually have much to do with an unhappy year spent as a waitress in Brixton.

From Eden, Home and in Between - Time well spent?

I'd rather bet that it is!

There have been so many things that have influenced my music listening in the last couple of years and the 10" EP, From Eden, Home and in Between, released on Yesternow in 2006, was very certainly one of them. Not only did it open new listening horizons for me (new folk, alt-folk and any other categories that fit in that mould whatever they are called) it alerted me to the possibility that there were others as yet unknown. There were - and even more than I could have then imagined. I have mentioned (link to earlier blog post) the aforementioned Shoreline (link to their MySpace) at least once before in this blog.

Time Well Spent, their first full album, seems however to have been rumoured for ages but now it is due to be released on Monday, 22 September on the Wilkommenen label. If it is anywhere near as good as the EP then it will have, indeed, been well worth the wait!

More bands to see live.

My musings this afternoon, concerning those bands I might like to hear at a festival, have continued. In fact the excitement of not yet knowing which artists will be playing is probably one of the most appealing aspects.
Continuing the hi-energy theme, like The Go!Team, another band with Brighton connections would be right up there.

'Fashionista Super Dance Troupe' (Fantastic Plastic, 2004) was the first LP by shouty-punk quintet Help She Can't Swim. They returned, but as a four-piece, after a run of singles and EPs with their second album 'The Death Of Nightlife' (Fantastic Plastic, 2007). While they have never had mainstream success this is infectious music that could only benefit from being performed and heard live. Both albums are still readily available on CD and 'The Death Of Nightlife' can still be found on vinyl too. 'Fashionista Super Dance Troupe' exists on vinyl but only to the extent of three-hundred copies all of which were pressed on turquoise vinyl.

Some more Latitude 2008 acts have become known, amongst them M.I.A., The Breeders and Mars Volta. What fascinates me most now is who will be appearing on the smaller stages. I believe that Huw Stephens will once again curate the Lake Stage, which last year was a treasure trove of new and often less well known acts. Thinking of such things has reminded me that one of those artists previously unknown to me that I saw at Latitude 2007 was Candie Payne and, while the all-conquering Mark Ronson has recently been in the news for projects he is not involved in (Lily Allen's second album and the 'Quantum of Solace' Bond Theme' with Amy Winehouse are but two that come to mind), he is most definitely working on the follow up to 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More' (Deltasonic, 2007), which was Candie Payne's début album and remains one of my favourite albums of 2007 and quite rightly so I believe.

No shouts, but a very good call!

I mentioned this album in my "want to listen to" list last week. It is released Monday 30th April but thanks to the great folks at Boomkat Records I had the vinyl version arrive in the post on Friday. I have already listened to it at least half a dozen times and it is quite something.

Let's just start with the LP itself: it is two very well pressed discs of heavy vinyl, as there is no attempt to cram the 44 minutes on to a single one, each in its own illustrated slip cover and both contained in an outer sleeve (as illustrated above, with the logo in glossy foil rather than merely printed), plus there is also an A3 poster/lyric sheet. All this for £2 ($4) more than the regular CD - no contest I'd say! It is the most beautifully designed and executed LP package I have seen in a long time. To be quite honest if I didn't actually like the music, and since I had never heard anything from it or indeed either of Electrelane's previous output it was quite possible, it wouldn't have mattered too much!

Now for the music: It is actually quite difficult to describe because it mostly relies on textures and the creation of soundscapes quite heavily, indeed four of the eleven tracks are entirely instrumental and the and lyrics don't tend to be an overpowering element on the others. The result is best described by that often double-edged term 'atmospheric'.
To me it reminds me of walking through a familiar landscape on a very foggy day, or perhaps a vivid dream that has that strange feeling of being real but somehow distorted. I suspect that it will split opinion as I can see that if it doesn't in some indefinable way "make sense" on first listening then it is going to prove hard going. [Writing this review certainly is proving hard going.]
I won't suggest anything it sounds like because I can't think of much that will help in that way. Although in no way the same it is worth noting that Electrelane supported Arcade Fire on the UK leg of their recent tour and if you are a fan of the less "chart-orientated" end of indie then you might find this is well worth a listen...
...and also another album that will baffle your friends with when you play it in the car!

2007 so far, and my "want to listen to" list (Part 2)

I better finish this topic pretty quickly because the list of things I want to listen to is getting longer faster than I can possibly add them to this blog or - importantly and also much more expensively - to my music collection!

The first is a Brighton-based band, Electrelane, that has recently come to my attention due to the fact that they supported Arcade Fire on the UK leg of their world tour. That I had not heard of it is rather inexcusable as they have been together for the better part of a decade and are to release their fourth studio album on 30th April.

No Shouts No Calls will be available on 12" vinyl.

The second is also Brighton-based; in this case an eight member collective that I had already heard of although perhaps maybe most people haven't! In 2006 Shoreline released a brilliant 5-track 10" EP, From Eden, Home And In Between - on vinyl only - on 'Yesternow Recordings' (YES001) .
Their début album, Time Well Spent, should follow fairly soon, also on 'Yesternow Recordings'. I say "Brighton-based" advisedly; the leading lights in Shoreline are main vocalist Beatrice Sanjust di Teluada, who is from Italy, and Tom Cowan who hails from Burton on Trent. What does their music sound like? Well I've seen it described as 'acid folk' a couple of times but how much does that help most of us? It is however certainly not 'alt-folk' either...
Entirely acoustic, it has a indefinable child-like quality. Often dream-like the lyrics sometimes seem to make sense and sometimes they don't, but they are a source of wonder and their actual meaning utterly unimportant. Most strikingly, Sounds Like may not even have any meaning at all but these are truly musical nursery rhymes for adults.
The reason that I have not made any comparisons between Shoreline and other acts is because, at the moment, I quite simply can't think of any!
Last but not least is this one:
Laura Marling - London Town (EP)

This was released only on 7" on Monday 9th April, by WayOutWest Records. If you can still find a copy available - and don't even think about quizzing Amazon about it - then it is well worth having!
She is not actually a 'Londoner' at all but comes from Eversley, on the fringes of Reading. Her music sounds more like alt-folk than acid-folk, but does it also overlap with anti-folk? I think so - and the problem with all these so-called 'genres' is that they are so numerous as to be quite meaningless. Almost as numerous indeed as the new generation of (mostly) guitar-wielding UK singer-songwriters, that are variously so labelled, and with whom I have no problem at all!

"Britain Has Talent"and we certainly don't need Simon Cowell's latest reality TV idea (of that name) to prove it.
From the ever-so-delicately picked 'hardly there' sound, to the full punk-rock blast of bands such as Glasgow's 'The Hedrons', it is already a fact; Maxïmo Park even provided an apposite summary with the track 'Girls Who Play Guitars', which features on their new album 'Our Earthly Pleasures'. Long may it remain the case!