As the name suggests, Manchester's sonic-screechers Easter have undergone re-birth in their longer-at-it-than-you'd-imagine history. They released an EP back in 2009 but before that band leader Thomas Long had been “ writing, jamming and gigging in the city since he was fifteen ”. Yet the current line-up of Easter is a fresh start – or development – of the band’s sound: brooding dark rock, melding pop hooks and post-rock experimentation to fine effect. Joining Long now are drummer Andrew Cheetham, experimental guitarist Danny Saul and bass player Gavin Clarke. On the cusp of the release of debut long-player “Innocence Man”, I ...

Many bands choose New York as a base to record in, but not quite like this... Film-maker Alex Steyermark and sound recordist Lavinia Jones Wright have been carting a Presto direct-to-disc recorder around the city, recording the likes of Richard Thompson, Roseanne Cash and Loudon Wainwright III in much the same way as folk pioneer Alan Lomax caprured the music and musicians of the Mississippi Delta back in the 30s. In the Presto process, music is cut directly into acetate discs at 78rpm, and the musician has just one chance to get it right. Source Link:  BBC Attached Image(s ...

Martin Sexton : Diner [ purchase ] I have to believe that most of us who write or read music blogs like this have a list of favorites who never succeeded to the level that we believe they deserve. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few—all of whom have had some commercial success, but in my mind, should have more: Richard Thompson, The Roches, Alejandro Escovedo and the subject of this quick post, Martin Sexton, to name just a few. I’ve already posted about Thompson and The Roches, so I guess Escovedo has to get his ...

Father John Misty Fear Fun Sub Pop Records [2012]     Fire Note Says: Josh Tillman follows up his exit with the Foxes">Fleet Foxes with his excellent new project Father John Misty! Album Review: Father John Misty is the new band from ex-Foxes">Fleet Foxes drummer and solo singer/songwriter Josh Tillman. Fear Fun is his debut record under this moniker but Tillman has around seven solo records under his belt so he is an indie veteran that uses this new venture to spread his wings in a little different direction. Fear Fun shakes off Tillman's comparisons to his solo ...

Gravenhurst is a vehicle for the music of singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Talbot, who lives in Bristol, England and is currently signed to Warp Records. Gravenhurst is dark and highly atmospheric, influenced by the melodic noise of My Bloody Valentine, the reverb-laden vocal harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel, and guitarists such as Richard Thompson, [...]

British folk legend Richard Thompson is spearheading his own version of the Music Master Camp Series, which will be called the “Frets And Refrains [...]

zeitgeber \ TSAHYT-gey-ber \ , noun; An environmental cue, as the length of daylight, that helps to regulate the cycles of an organism's biological clock. Origin: Zeitgeber comes directly from the German word which literally means "time-giver." It entered into English in the 1970s. Turds With Friends Playing the popular online game Words With Friends....while going to the bathroom. Everytime I go to the bathroom, I bring my cell phone so I can catch up on my Turds with Friends games. Trivia What was the original use of the term “tabloid”? It was the name created and trademarked in 1844 by ...

The Decemberists : The Mariner’s Revenge Song [ purchase ] I wrote previously about seeing Richard Thompson in England with my family. A few years later, we took our second, and to date, last, family European trip to Amsterdam. One of the highlights was seeing The Decemberists at the Paradiso, a legendary club that holds about 1500 people, standing, in a former church. The Stones, U2, Prince, The Police, Bowie and Pink Floyd have all played this relatively small, but wonderful, venue. The Decemberists were a band that we were just getting into. I love them because of the complexity of their ...

Mary Lou Lord : Beeswing [ purchase ] 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Beeswing both stand out on the Richard Thompson albums on which they originally appeared as acoustic ballads amidst mostly electric full-band songs. Mary Lou Lord covers both on her solo acoustic album Live City Sounds, but with very different results. She pushes her delivery of Vincent Black Lightning, and instead of sounding passionate, it sounds strident and forced. But Lord’s version of Beeswing is another matter. She sings this one with a restraint that perfectly conveys the sense of fragility that Thompson wrote about. The song seems to be ...

Tom Jones is set to release his new Ethan Johns produced album ‘Spirit In The Room’ on May 21st. The reinvention of Tom Jones continues. Now a guest host on 'The Voice' the Welsh icon has reached a prominence he has not enjoyed in some time. Alongside this, though, Tom Jones has been tossing away some of the more cliched aspects of his output. 2010's 'Praise and Blame' found the singer re-visiting the gospel and R&B; influences of his youth, with producer Ethan Johns adding a raw, visceral sound. Now the singer has completed a follow up. 'Spirit In ...

Richard Thompson is very excited to announce that his Frets and Refrains Acoustic Guitar and Songwriting Camp has been confirmed for July 16-20, 2012 at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY

Del McCoury Band: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning [ purchase ] Here we are again, at the altar of the "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." J. David wrote a great essay about the song earlier this year. But it wouldn't be right to let a week of Richard Thompson music race by without including the quintessential song about "an object that's British and romantic and mythological," as Thompson described it. By virtue of composing "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," Thompson has been called "the man who wrote the best song about a motorcycle, despite never having owned one." It's hard to imagine ...

Maddy Prior/Martin Carthy : The Great Valerio [ purchase ] To offer up a decent Richard Thompson cover, I had to put on my thinking cap to recall a few songs that were at least as good as the originals from the triple threat (songwriter, guitarist, vocalist). So let’s first revisit 1974 when Richard and Linda Thompson released their first album together. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is now considered essential listening by the cult like fans who revere the Thompsons’ music. When it comes to music of inimitable beauty, they totally get it. That masterpiece album gave ...

June Tabor : The Great Valerio [ purchase ] June Tabor’s arrangement of The Great Valerio has no rhythm track. Tabor sings the melody over a near-drone played on diatonic accordion, fiddle, and viola. So she gets very little help with the melody, and none with keeping time. For a singer, this is the equivalent of working without a net, and that is the point. The Great Valerio is about a tightrope walker who represents the courage in life that the watchers in the seats cannot find in their own lives. The song expresses a combination of wonder at his talent and ...

Patty Loveless : Tear-Stained Letter [ purchase ] Patty Loveless is an unlikely artist to cover Richard Thompson. For most of her career, Loveless has stuck to traditional country music fare -- not surprising given her classic country pedigree. She’s a distant cousin of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle, and counted Porter Wagoner and the Wilburn Brothers as early career mentors. Loveless emerged as a hitmaker in the mid-1980s, part of the neo-traditionalist movement that also spawned Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs and Dwight Yoakam, among others. Her recording of “Tear-Stained Letter,” the opening track on her eighth release The Trouble with the Truth ...