And Ms. Marian Fahey McLaughlin has why you should come out indeed: After spending the afternoon in a crazed hunting state crouched over crates of records at the DC Record Fair, wind down the day with dark and delicate folk music from Cate Le Bon and Marian Fahey McLaughlin. Sure, you might be excited to give [...]

Before I get into a review of this Edgar Breau album, I'd like to note (since it feels like somewhat of a milestone, I guess) that this blog's now been in place for five years, which probably makes it qualify as old dirt in the blog world. I began this thing in February 2007 while writing for a music website full-time, which served as proper job and required me to begin a blog for the sake of providing external promotion of the site, through links and bibs and bobs of the like. No, I didn't start Choir ...

Following Casiokids ' Bergen inspired mix from last week was always going to be difficult, but the rather awesome Cristina Checa from Granit has stepped up to the challenge with this 45 minute chunk of brilliance. Granit might not be a familiar name to you right now, but if they continue to release brilliant EP's such as their recent self-titled one ( listen here ), then that's sure to change soon. Have a listen and let us know what you think. Description I've selected a dozen songs that i can't stop listening to while riding my bike at the ...

Zachary Cale Noise of Welcome [All Hands Electric; 2011] by Gumshoe Rating: You know a dude who puts out great records (in this case, under the guise of All Hands Electric) and has fronted a fantastic band (Illuminations), and now he’s releasing a solo record, which he’s put his tender heart and soul into, and guess who he wants to review it? And guess who, in the heat of the moment, agrees to review it? It’s kind of a nightmare scenario because I’ve been burned this way before, but then I crack open Noise of Welcome ...

(Self Released / Mississippi Records, 2011) Bloody gorgeous, muddy, bluesy solo guitar improvisations from this Pacific Northwest guitar-neck strangler.  And occupying a well-fitting place with Mississippi Records (even as one the very few contemporary artists they've put out).  Anderson's certainly in touch with old-age blues.  On The Golden Hour , the blues/delta/ragtime lineage is immediately apparent, but with a new-style corrosiveness and grit, grandeur, and most importantly, soul.  Did I mention how gorgeous this record is?  Nowadays, if you are releasing a solo guitar record, there's some obligatory sense in the critic of name dropping Fahey and ...

by Marc Medwin I stole that last chord from Holst, says John Fahey laconically in a 1969 interview. It's as if there was nothing unnatural at all about a supposed folk guitarist stealing a dissonance or two from an early 20th century British composer. This point-blank but selective representation of his past... Read More

Here's to keeping the adventurous guitar spirit of John Fahey and Sandy Bull alive. And somehow, it even kind of boogies, too. Chris Forsyth - New Pharmacist Boogie (For Jack)

Nathan Salsburg , being both a solo acoustic guitar player and a champion of vernacular music (his Twos & Fews label, an imprint of Drag City, collects under-heard work by artists like Hamper McBee and Nimrod Workman), has already endured a slew of comparisons to the esteemed fingerpicker and noted record fiend John Fahey. But Affirmed , Salsburg’s solo debut, is more a counterpoint to Fahey’s rhythmic early work than an explicit homage: Bright and elastic, his songs are less concerned with pulses and scales than with the ripples they kick up in your gut.  The Louisville-based Salsburg can be a ...

Charles-Eric Charrier Silver [Experimedia; 2011] by unicornmang Rating: I was tying up loose ends last month — mercilessly quantitative News Year’s resolutions, letters handwritten-by-necessity — and one of them was translating feelings into thoughts vis-à-vis Charles-Eric Charrier’s Silver , which for nine months I’d been sitting on. In that interval, this relatively spare, instrumental work has been always pendulous, ever swinging in or out of favor/rotation and not always at the same time. At points, toward the beginning of the year, I was convinced that Charrier’s album was a sort of coming, that its alchemy represented a hugely ...

Akron/Family - Joy To The World (Santana said, God made the world round so that everyone could have center stage) Posted by Seth Olinsky : Xmas songs recorded on Christmas Eve 2011 in Montoursville Pennyslvania, just off Warrensville road, near Loyalsock Creek, and a wild armed stones throw from the Susquehanna river.  Thanks to John Fahey for arrangement inspirations (and his arrangement of Silent Night). Listen to three other tracks on SoundCloud .

Top Folk Albums of 2011 : Year of the rabbit 1) Foxes">Fleet Foxes • Helplessness Blues • Bella Union/Sub Pop 2) Marissa Nadler • Self-Titled • Box of Cedar — stream 3) Meg Baird • Seasons on Earth • Drag City 4) Hip Hatchet • Men Who Share My Name • Gravitation — stream 5) Frank Fairfield • Out on the Open West • Tompkins Square 6) Angel Olsen • Strange Cacti • Bathetic 7) Lia Ices • Grown Unknown • Jagjaguwar 8) James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg • Avos • Tompkins Square 9) Various Artists • The Watchbird Alluminate • Bird 10) Marissa Nadler • Covers, Vol. II • self-released 11) Magic Trick • The Glad Birth of Love • Empty Cellar 12 ...

Along with John Fahey, American composer Robbie Basho helped redefine the steel-stringed guitar as a concert instrument. “From steel strings, you can get fire; you can ride and you can fly,” Basho reflected in a rare interview, and this fire illuminates every one of the 14 visionary albums he produced. As a guitarist, Basho utilized a vast array of tunings [...]

ganz ein feines juwel hat das an den musikblog dying for bad music angeschlossene label neulich zutage gefördert. grandioses fingerpicking in bester tradition, auf steel string und banjo zaubert der aus fredericksburg, va, stammende daniel bachman ein paar lines, dass es dir ganz schwindelig wird. john fahey und jack rose fallen als stichworte unweigerlich, die virtuosität ist beim offenen und zugänglichen spiel schlicht sensationell. sehr konzentriert und ausgewogen zudem. bei völligem verzicht auf selbstreferentielles fallen narrative wie drone artige strukturen auf. im sommer dieses jahres wurde aufgenommen und so sieht man den weizen in voller pracht stehen, die hohen baumwipfel ...

Grey Reverend – Of the Days. Stream “Walk the Same” at the bottom of this page, after the jump. Of the Days is the debut album from Grey Reverend, the nom de plume of Larry “L.D.” Brown. This is a folk album that has a captivating minimal presentation. The songs consist of Brown’s ample sounding voice, deft acoustic fingerpicking in the style of John Fahey, and the occasional harmonica. It’s an emotive album full of motion and gentle strength.

Multi-instrumentalist Tyler Ramsey knows how to hold to back. His sophomore album A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea landed him a job as the lead guitarist for Band of Horses , whicj required him to turn things up a little. As a solo artist he persists in creating mainly acoustic songs. His third solo release The Valley Wind is bit more country than its predecessors. Recording took only six days Alex The Great studio in Nashvile, TN, with Band Of Horses band mate Bill Reynolds (bass and producing) an Seth Kauffman (Floating Action) on drums, guitar, background vocals. Ramsey ...