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Pokey LaFarge: In The Blossom of Their Shade

October 17, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Pokey LaFarge

Pokey LaFarge

New album: After 2020’s mischievously dark Rock Bottom Rhapsody, Illinois-born Andrew Heissler returns with his cherry-picking persona of Americana styles with a bright, clever and upbeat assortment of 1930s jazz, country, Hawaiian, calypso, folk and New Orleans R&B shuffle

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In albums, Americana, blues, folk, country, traditional Tags albums, new releases, Pokey LaFarge, New West Records
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Agnes Obel to Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers to Sault: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 2

December 29, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Great albums of 2020: clockwise from top: Agnes Obel, Phoebe Bridgers, Bob Dylan and Sault’s Untitled (Rise)

Great albums of 2020: clockwise from top: Agnes Obel, Phoebe Bridgers, Bob Dylan and Sault’s Untitled (Rise)

Albums of 2020 roundup: Out of crisis comes great art. A year of lockdowns, no gigs, alternative sounds, experimentation and surprises. This is the second half of our roundup of favourite albums of 2020. Part 1 was here

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In African, albums, ambient, blues, classical, country, dance music, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, garage, gospel, grime, grunge, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, musical theatre, poetry, post-punk, pop, prog-rock, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, soul, traditional, soundtracks, trip-hop Tags albums, new releases, Marlowe, Khruangbin, Agnes Obel, This Is The Kit, Nadia Reid, Phoebe Bridgers, Tony Allen, Hugh Masekela, Roisin Murphy, Bob Dylan, Run The Jewels, Rina Sawayama, Perfume Genius, Fleet Foxes, BC Camplight, Laura Marling, Lanterns on the Lake, The Cool Greenhouse, Sufjan Stevens, Doves, Låpsley, The Pictish Trail, Saint Saviour, IDLES, Rufus Wainwright, Sault, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Hakim, Witch 'n' Monk, Wu Fei, Abigail Washburn, Dana Gavanski, Shabaka Hutchings, Daniel Avery, Alessandro Cortini, Pottery, Thurston Moore, Tiña, Working Men's Club, Sun Ra Arkestra, Planet Battagon, Caribou, Tom Misch, Yussef Dayes, The Orielles, A Certain Ratio, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Mr Ben & The Bens, Oneohtrix Point Never, Sorry, Pokey LaFarge, Adrianne Lenker, Jackie Lynn, The Beths, Peter Broderick, Open Mike Eagle, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Hen Oggled, Gorillaz, Black Thought, Bright Eyes, Marie Davidson, International Teachers of Pop, Jarvis Cocker, JARV IS…, NZCA Lines, Margaret Glaspy, Mark Lanegan, Deerhoof, Michael J Sheehy, Caleb Landry Jones, Brigid Dawson and the Mothers Network, Brigid Mae Power, Jehnny Beth, White Denim, The Irrepressibles, Keleketla!, Jockstrap, Hania Rani, bdrmm, Oh Sees
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New albums: The Strokes, Laura Marling, Jackie Lynn, Pokey LaFarge, Flat Worms, Margaret Glaspy, Irma Vep, Hailu Mergia, Denzel Curry + Kenny Beats, DJ Python

April 15, 2020 Peter Kimpton
The Strokes

The Strokes

Strong new LPs from The Strokes and Laura Marling reflect signs of the times, while eclectic records from Jackie Lynn and Pokey LaFarge, and excellent postpunk from Flat Worms and Irma Vep are also among this week’s 10 picks

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In African, albums, ambient, blues, classical, country, dance music, dub, electronica, folk, experimental, funk, grime, garage, hip hop, hip-hop, indie, jazz, metal, musical theatre, pop, post-punk, prog-rock, psychedelia, punk, rock, soul, traditional Tags albums, new releases, The Strokes, Laura Marling, Jackie Lynn, Haley Fohr, Pokey LaFarge, Flat Worms, Margaret Glaspy, Irma Vep, Hailu Mergia, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, DJ Python, Cult Records, Columbia Records, Partisan Records, Chrysalis, Drag City, New West Records, God? Records, PIAS, ATO Records, Gringo Records, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Loma Vista, Incensio
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

El camino cocktail

SNACK OF THE WEEK

Bánh mì

New Albums …

Featured
Don Bolo - UMMA.jpeg
Apr 16, 2025
Don Bolo: UMMA
Apr 16, 2025

New album: Striking, otherworldly, ghostly, evocatively cinematic and powerful experimental instrumentals by the band from Quito, Ecuador, this fourth LP is inspired by the work of Dune author George Herbert as well as the dark, dystopian events of modern times

Apr 16, 2025
Salif Keita - So Kono.jpeg
Apr 15, 2025
Salif Keita: So Kono
Apr 15, 2025

New album: A first album in seven years by the veteran Malian singer, now 75, with a pared-back, acoustic release, but one in which his distinctive, wonderfully ‘golden’ voice still shines, accompanied by guitar, ngoni, calabash, tama and cello

Apr 15, 2025
Valerie June - Owls, Omens and Oracles.jpeg
Apr 13, 2025
Valerie June: Owls, Omens, and Oracles
Apr 13, 2025

New album: Stylish, catchy, charismatic, effervescent, uplifting, retro, Memphis soul, Americana and country by the singer-songwriter from Jackson, Tennessee whose distinctive, bright resonant voice has some echoes of Eartha Kitt and Macy Gray

Apr 13, 2025
Alison Krauss and Union Station - Arcadia.jpeg
Apr 13, 2025
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Arcadia
Apr 13, 2025

New album: Classy, seasoned, crisply performed country, folk and bluegrass by the acclaimed Champaign, Illinois singer-songwriter and fiddle player, joined again by her perennial band, their first together since 2011’s Paper Airplane, and her first since the 2021’s album Raise The Roof with Robert Plant

Apr 13, 2025
Destroyer - Dan's Boogie.jpg
Apr 13, 2025
Destroyer: Dan's Boogie
Apr 13, 2025

New album: Eccentric, eclectic, frequently flamboyant experimental rock and pop by the the Vancouver multi-instrumentalist Dan Bejar, following 2022’s Labyrinthitis with nine new songs in his inimitable talk-singing style with stream-of-consciousness lyrics and personnas from hustlers to lounge singers

Apr 13, 2025
Bon Iver - Sable, Fable.jpeg
Apr 12, 2025
Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE
Apr 12, 2025

New album: Wisconsin’s Justin Vernon returns with his fifth album, a sparse, tender, sometimes world-weary, but also often beautiful, distinctive fusion of folk, indie, R&B, soul, country, and a dash of soft rock, all wrapped in celebration of the salmon pink - “the colour of life”

Apr 12, 2025
Florist - Jellywish 2.jpeg
Apr 9, 2025
Florist: Jellywish
Apr 9, 2025

New album: Beautiful, entrancing, wide-eyed, deceptive simplicity pervades this poetic fifth LP by the indie folk New York/ Catskill Mountains quartet fronted by singer-songwriter Emily Sprague, here themed around the natural world’s perceived miracles and mysteries

Apr 9, 2025
Which Direction Goes The Beam by Index for Working Musik.jpeg
Apr 8, 2025
Index For Working Musik: Which Direction Goes The Beam
Apr 8, 2025

New album: Fantastically inventive, stylishly strange, experimental post-punk by the London band on this latest release, with angular guitars, thrumming guffawing brass, jittery, ghostly orchestral strings, and semi-spoken, sometimes whispered, arresting, often menacing vocals

Apr 8, 2025
Pigs x 7 - Death Hilarious.jpeg
Apr 8, 2025
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs: Death Hilarious
Apr 8, 2025

New album: Thunderous Black Sabbathian doom by the wonderfully entertaining, if deafening, Newcastle Upon Tyne heavy rockers with their fifth album, one which captures dark, uncertain times shaped by neoliberism, an exorcism of anxiety by frontman and lyricist Mark Baty, and a guest appearance by Run The Jewels rapper EL-P

Apr 8, 2025
The Waterboys - Life Death and Dennis Hopper.jpeg
Apr 8, 2025
The Waterboys: Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
Apr 8, 2025

New album: A sprawling, lengthy, pseudo-beatnik rock-country release by the British band fronted by Mike Scott, here celebrating the life of the charismatic, often misunderstand hell-raising Hollywood icon, spanning multiple genres, particularly Americana, with a spread of guests including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple

Apr 8, 2025
The Nightingales - The Awful Truth.jpeg
Apr 6, 2025
The Nightingales: The Awful Truth
Apr 6, 2025

New album: With sharp turns of phrase and pace, the legendary Birmingham post-punk band fronted by Robert Lloyd return with meatily rich riffs and rhythms, and a collection of wittily ironic songs on social injustice and current affairs like a musical news broadcast

Apr 6, 2025
Forever Howlong by Black Country, New Road.jpeg
Apr 6, 2025
Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong
Apr 6, 2025

New album: With a musical reset after the sudden departure of frontman Isaac Wood just at the release of their previous studio album, the Cambridge-formed sextet return with a rich, clever mix of whimsical folk, prog, baroque pop and musical theatre with lead vocals now shared between the three female band members

Apr 6, 2025
Bria Salmena - Big Dog.jpeg
Apr 3, 2025
Bria Salmena: Big Dog
Apr 3, 2025

New album: A striking, stylish debut by the Toronto artist, also co-written and co-produced with Duncan Hay Jennings, the frontwoman of Canadian post-punk outfit FRIGS delivers a mix of dark, deep, smoky-voiced pop, crafted krautrock, shimmery shoegaze, and goth-electronica

Apr 3, 2025
Sacred Paws - Jump Into Life.jpeg
Apr 2, 2025
Sacred Paws: Jump Into Life
Apr 2, 2025

New album: Breezy, buoyant, musically breathless upbeat but also wistful indie with notes of folk, country and highlife, Bhundu Boys-esque guitars and fast-fill drumming by the Glasgow band formed by Ray Aggs and Eilidh Rodgers

Apr 2, 2025

new songs …

Featured
Pink_Elephant_(Arcade_Fire_album).jpeg
Apr 18, 2025
Song of the Day: Arcade Fire - Year Of The Snake
Apr 18, 2025

Song of the Day: The acclaimed Montreal indie rockers fronted by husband and wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, return with their first new music for three years, a single referring to the Chinese zodiac calendar for 2025, and announcing their new album, Pink Elephant, out on 9 May via Columbia Records

Apr 18, 2025
Sports Team - Sensible.jpeg
Apr 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Sports Team - Sensible
Apr 17, 2025

Song of the Day: A fabulously catchy and caustically witty Britpop-indie single by the Cambridge-formed band, exploring the myth of betterment and the impossible task facing today’s youth who are given conflicting and contradictory messages of how they are to improve themselves

Apr 17, 2025
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Apr 16, 2025
Song of the Day: Patrick Wolf - Hymn of the Haar
Apr 16, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, passionate, poetic new single of evocative, soaring chamber pop by the British singer-songwriter inspired by three years of walks and researching the history and psychogeography of the White Cliffs of Dover near near his home in east Kent

Apr 16, 2025
Garbage 2025.jpeg
Apr 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Garbage - There's No Future In Optimism
Apr 15, 2025

Song of the Day: A new single that’s topically dark and dystopian in flavour by the veteran American rock band fronted by Scotland’s Shirley Manson, but also an ironic title and a call to action, heralding their forthcoming album Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, due out on 30 May, on BMG

Apr 15, 2025
Lana Del Rey - Henry Come On.jpeg
Apr 14, 2025
Song of the Day: Lana Del Rey - Henry, Come On
Apr 14, 2025

Song of the Day: The enigmatic American singer-songwriter returns after a two-year absence with a beautiful country-inflected new single, heralding her forthcoming next album, The Right Person Will Stay, out on Polydor/Interscope/Universal

Apr 14, 2025
Keeley Forsyth - Hand To Mouth.jpeg
Apr 13, 2025
Song of the Day: Keeley Forsyth & Matthew Bourne - Consider This
Apr 13, 2025

Song of the Day: Starkly minimalist and beautiful, the opening track from the latest EP, Hand To Mouth, by the rich-voiced Oldham singer, composer and actress, joined by the English multi-instrumentalist on piano. Out on 130701 / FatCat Records

Apr 13, 2025
Stereolab - Instnat Holograms.jpeg
Apr 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Stereolab - Aerial Troubles
Apr 12, 2025

Song of the Day: An instantly catchy new number with abstract, philosophical lyrics by the veteran Anglo-French kraurocky synth-pop band of Tim Gane, Laetitia Sadier and co heralding their first studio album in 15 years, Instant Holograms On Metal Film, out 23 May on Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records

Apr 12, 2025
Pulp - More.jpeg
Apr 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Pulp - Spike Island (from new album - More)
Apr 11, 2025

Song of the Day: Heralding More, their first new album in 24 years, the beloved Sheffield indie-pop band return with instantly catchy, joyous number referencing Jarvis Cocker’s drive to perform, and a drily humorous titular reference to the legendary Stone Roses gig in Widnes in 1990

Apr 11, 2025
BC Camplight and Abigail Morris.jpeg
Apr 10, 2025
Song of the Day: BC Camplight - Two Legged Dog (featuring Abigail Morris)
Apr 10, 2025

Song of the Day: The Manchester-based American singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio’s returns with sumptuous Rundgren-esque, witty piano pop, joined by The Last Dinner Party vocalist, and heralding BC’s upcoming new album, A Sober Conversation out on 27 June via Bella Union

Apr 10, 2025
Gwenno.jpg
Apr 9, 2025
Song of the Day: Gwenno - Dancing On Volcanoes
Apr 9, 2025

Song of the Day: The Welsh singer-songwriter Gwenno Saunders returns with a sunny upbeat, Smiths-feel guitar jangling nostalgic number about dancefloors that no longer exist, heralding her fourth LP, Utopia

Apr 9, 2025
Poor Creature - The Whole Town Knows.jpeg
Apr 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Poor Creature - The Whole Town Knows
Apr 8, 2025

Song of the Day: A stirring, primal, powerfully dark, vivid hybrid-folk single by the trio of Ruth Clinton (Landless), Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody (of Lankum) heralding their debut album All Smiles Tonight, out on 11 July via River Lea Records

Apr 8, 2025
AURORA - The Flood.jpeg
Apr 7, 2025
Song of the Day: AURORA - The Flood
Apr 7, 2025

Song of the Day: After last summer’s album What Happened To The Heart?, the acclaimed Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora Aksnes returns with a shimmering, soaring, sparkling new pop single of self-analysis, out on Decca/ Universal

Apr 7, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Websters big dictionary.jpeg
Apr 9, 2025
Word of the week: sesquipedalian
Apr 9, 2025

Word of the week: First appearing in English in the mid-17th century, meaning “a foot and a half long”, it’s a noun identifying words with multiple syllables, or an often derogatory adjective for a person with a tendency to use overlong words

Apr 9, 2025
three banded armadillo apar tolypeutine.jpeg
Mar 26, 2025
Word of the week: tolypeutine
Mar 26, 2025

Word of the week: A noun related to the term Tolypeutinae, this is a subfamily of Chlamyphoridae of the armadillo family, consisting of the giant, naked-tailed and particularly the three-banded species

Mar 26, 2025
sheep.jpeg
Mar 12, 2025
Word of the week: ulotrichous
Mar 12, 2025

Word of the week: While it’s entirely natural in animals such as sheep as well as some humans, depending on an individual’s point of view it’s either a blessing or a curse. From Greek words oûlos (crisp, curly) and -trikhos (haired), this adjective means having curly or woolly hair

Mar 12, 2025
Varsovienne 1855.jpeg
Feb 26, 2025
Word of the week: varsovienne
Feb 26, 2025

Word of the week: Our latest etymological move into obscurity originates in around 1850 in Warsaw, Poland, and also known as the varsouvienne or varsoviana – a slow, graceful dance in 3/4 waltz time, which also combines elements of the mazurka and polka

Feb 26, 2025
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Feb 11, 2025
Word of the week: withershins / widdershins
Feb 11, 2025

Word of the week: Also variously spelled widershins and widderschynnes, this Lowland Scots dialect word term derived from German means counter-clockwise, literally “against the way”, not only on a clock face, but originally against the perceived motion of the sun in the northern hemisphere

Feb 11, 2025
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