Back catalogue: Folk/Americana

Review: Two towering labels, Alternative Tentacles and Crispin Glover, break the mould for a momentary merger on this artistic collision of rogue planets: a new split reissued 7" housing that infamous syncretic, Patrick Fitzgerald, Motorpsycho and Jello Biafra, and their twin versions of Fitzgerald's original song 'Punch'. Fitzgerald is best known as a pioneer of folk punk, famously channelling his sardonic wit into a fleeting, light but somehow also epical sound. 'Punch' first surfaced in 2009 as a one-off single released under Crispin Glover's remit; it's now heard once more in both versions, tracking incendiary denunciations of politics on Fitzgerald's part, amid a suicidal, guitar-driven ascension into the air.

Review: The long lost 1968 debut album by singer-songwriter Scott Fagan, South Atlantic Blues, comes reissued for the first time in its original artwork, with an iconic portrait of Fagan by famed rock photographer Joel Brodsky, following a widely celebrated 2015 release. Revisiting his mystical, mythical, and deeply soulful masterpiece, this psych-folk gem doffs a Tropicalia hat direct from downtown New York. Fagan's story is worthy of a movie in itself. A swinging hipster who landed in 60s Greenwich folk scene, escaping the abject poverty of his U.S. Virgin Islands upbringing, Fagan found himself mentored by the Brill Building's Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and feted as the next big thing. "Forget Rodriguez, forget Searching for Sugar Man," says Sharyn Felder, daughter of the late Doc Pomus, the legendary songwriter who signed Fagan to management in 1964. "Scott was so much more. He was cut from a different cloth." South Atlantic Blues is the perfect soundtrack to this tale, an epic song cycle wrapped around an impassioned love story, driven by Fagan's dense, allusive lyrics, and production by Elmer Jared Gordon (Pearls Before Swine) and rich arrangements by Horace Ott (Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, The Shirelles).

Review: John Fahey's complex legacy reaches from his groundbreaking work in the fields of acoustic guitar and folk music through to the wild abstraction of his later years. His contraction of a debilitating virus in the 80s threw his music in unexpected directions and as a result his final years of music found him heading into increasingly challenging territory. This collection of recordings from 1995-1996 were captured at a boarding house in Oregon where he lived for a time, and veer from a capella mantras to meandering guitar studies and other extremities in between. Compelling, illuminating sounds from an artist still being comprehended more than 20 years on from his passing.

Review: UK folkers Fairport Convention released their debut self-titled record as pushers of distinctively British folk rock, earning themselves the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane" after their earliest setlists were replete with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen covers. Comparisons aside, the LP was originally released in 1968, and established the band as songwriting adepts in their own right. An honest and choral sound plays out on the likes of 'I Don't Know Where I Stand' and 'Sun Shade', as the late vestiges of 60s psychedelia play out in an entrancing, dynamic, lo-fi setting.

Review: Island continue their run of Fairport Convention reissues after giving their self-titled debut a fresh airing by turning their attention to the folk rock lodestars' sophomore effort, What We Did On Our Holidays. Originally released in 1969, it's a natural follow-on which captures the 'high-on-hope' mood of the era while sharply balancing it with a certain English wryness. It's widely considered one of the best line-ups of Fairport's ever-shifting roster, with Sandy Denny sounding her very best front and centre of the songs. From the tender acoustic lilt of 'Fotheringay' and the bluesy stomp of 'Mr Lacey' on to the stirring expanse of 'Eastern Rain', there's so much depth and range to this absolute landmark of British folk rock.

Review: Fairport Convention eventually went on to become folk legends after a very quick rise through the ranks over the course of four full-lengths in just a couple of years. Revered names from British and world music played their part as the school friends set out on their mission to become 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. Unhalfbricking from 1969 is the sound of a band growing in confidence, despite the fact that Ian Matthews left the group during the writing of it. There are three Bob Dylan covers including the Top 30 UK hit single, 'Si Ti Dois Partir,' with plenty of other traditional folk songs and an 11-minute ballad.

Review: Universally acclaimed British folk pioneers Fairport Convention had a remarkable rise to the top of a series of superb albums that came in quick succession. This, their fourth album, came in 1969 after the band was involved in a fatal car accident in which their drummer Martin Lamble was killed. Liege And Lief now gets reissued as it was back then and with its five traditional tracks sitting next to three originals in a folk style. It is the template they followed for many years after and the one that made them such a widely regarded band. The epic 'Matty Groves' is one of the band's most long-lasting anthems.

Review: Arabic funk, soul and folk specialists Habibi Funk are masters at digging deep to find extremely rare and unreleased music. Even so, their latest offering is particularly obscure. It's a retrospective of 1970s material by a Lebanese singer-songwriter called Roger Fakhr, who put out one self-released tape in the mid 1970s, of which only 200 copies were ever made. Some of those songs feature on this retrospective, but the majority of the material is unreleased tracks from Fakhr's archive. Interestingly, the majority of the music on offer is sung in English rather than Arabic and sits somewhere between American railroad blues, English revivalist folk of the sort popular in the late '60s and early '70s, sun-soaked Californian folk, and gentle folk. A genuinely eye-opening musical treat.

Review: East Of Any Place is a treasure trove of songs uncovered alongside Roger Fakhr's acclaimed 2021 album, Fine Anyway. These tracks, hidden for decades and only passed between a handful of people, offer a glimpse into Roger's musical genius and the vibrant scene of Lebanon during a period marked by civil war and social upheaval. This release serves as a companion to the former LP, flaunting studio tracks that didn't make the cut of the previous album. Recorded in single day sessions in the late 1970s, the songs remain untouched, preserving the rawness and authenticity of the moment with impeccable folk-driven arrangements and lyricism shining throughout East Of Any Place.

Review: Josh Tillman, the ex-Fleet Foxes member, has confused plenty with his alter ego Father John Misty, and occasionally it can be hard to tell whether the recently-married troubadour is inhabiting a distinct role or dealing out confessional ditties straight from the heart. Yet what is beyond question is how fascinating and addictive I Love You, Honeybear manages to be. By turns lushly arranged and stark, Tillman sets his reflective songwriting to a sonic backdrop infused with Laurel Canyon flavour, arriving at a reinvention of the singer-songwriter stylings of the mid-'70s for a newer, still more complicated era-think Elton John by way of John Grant. The result is a modern-day triumph that's as acerbic as it is emotionally involving.

Review: Trail of Flowers by Sierra Ferrell is a captivating journey through the heart of folk and country music.. Ferrell's rich and emotive vocals shine brightly throughout the album, carrying the listener through tales of love, loss, and resilience. With a style that seamlessly blends traditional folk with classic country elements, Ferrell delivers a collection of songs that feel both timeless and contemporary. Each track is imbued with raw emotion and authenticity, drawing listeners into Ferrell's world with its vivid storytelling and heartfelt lyricism. The instrumentation is equally enchanting, featuring acoustic guitars, fiddles, and subtle yet expressive arrangements that perfectly complement Ferrell's vocals. The production maintains a warm and intimate atmosphere, allowing Ferrell's voice to take center stage while still capturing the nuances of each instrument. This album has been receiving widespread acclaim since being released and in our opinion, it's definitely warranted

Review: For Fleet Foxes, there'll be no clock-burning or heartelt 'omming' round Stonehenge this winter, as Robin Pecknold and co. present their latest album 'A Very Lonely Solstice', for all the hurt hearts out there freezing away alone in this festive quarter. Pecknold resonates; all tracks on this LP were recorded at the pinnacle of the artists' own solitude, during a live-streamed event performed on the winter solstice of 2020 just days after COVID restrictions in New York tightened. Coming to CD, black and limited white vinyl, songs from every classic Fleet Foxes album, From Helplessness Blues to Crack-Up, are reimagined acoustically here, as Pecknold's voice resonates through a lonesome yet gripping chamber space.

Review: Emily Sprague, Rick Spataro and Jonnie Baker are the friends behind the Florists project. It began in Upstate New York when the trio started making weird sounds on synths and guitars. That was almost a decade ago and since then there have been four albums, with this self-titled effort being the fifth. "This is not just my songs with a backing band," Sprague explains. "It's a practice. It's a collaboration. It's our one life." The music ranges from serene and folky to experimental guitar ambient and heavily atmospheric mood pieces coated in dust.

Review: Josephine Foster and collaborator Daniel Blumberg produced Domestic Sphere as "an altar cloth of songs stitched together as liturgical music for a restless homestead." Foster plays only on the acoustic guitar and does wondrous things with her voice and a wide range of frequencies. She conveys true feelings with every note and it adds up to a rather transcendent experience. Field recordings reflecting daily life in a Spanish village are mixed into the music as is a cameo from her late great-grandmother. The melodies on this one will stay with you long after the record finishes playing.

Review: Fresh from the release of two tip-top twelves on Handy Records and Wolf Music, Malik Kassim brings his trademark Retromigration sound to the freshly minted LYAM label. Typically warm, woozy, bass-heavy and with plenty of intricate musical details - think Ron Trent, with a dash of the Burrell Brothers and the Detroit deep house swing of Andres - all four cuts are superb examples of the Dutch producer's approach to dancefloor dynamics. Highlights include the laidback, club-ready bump of 'Heat it Up', where undulating acid lines and synth-sax catch the ear; the shuffling, broken house sparkle of 'You Want That' (a genuinely sumptuous late-night delight smothered in spacey synth solos); and the mid-tempo, jazz-funk style title track, where loose-limbed live instrumentation and emotive solos come to the fore.

Review: Cleveland Francis, the stalwart of US black folk, coined the term "soulfolk" to describe his uniquely bleak style of acoustic music. Growing up and coming to prominence in the state of Virginia, he rarely missed an opportunity to play at every college campus, coffee shop, bar and odd corner he could find. Now some of his earliest and most important recordings get compiled into this double 21-track anthology, 'Beyond The Willow Tree', which, like no other, does wonders in chronicling the experience of black segregated youth in the 60s and 70s.

Review: A classic album by Mark Fry, an English singer-songwriter, and an obscurity-lover's choice folk artist. Now over 50 years on from its first release in 1972, the album already held sway among its fans back then for its surreally up-close-and-personal, yet muffled, quality. But now more than ever, the passage of time lends further effect to Fry's approach to song, and could be construed as a coming-of-age piece, considering he was only 19 years old at the time of its recording. Through all its crud and layering, we can still make out the voice of a sweet soul, though the mystery of the titular Alice is still wrapped up in much illusion and allusion, with nods to the Lewis Carroll-created character cropping up throughout.

Review: Since first joining forces in 2017, Warren Hampshire and Greg Foat have released some of the most magical albums of recent times - sets that cannily combine their mutual love of pastoral music, jazz-funk, library jazz, soundtracks and heady downtempo grooves. The Upturned Glass, the pair's sixth collaborative full-length, is another genuine gem. Highlights come thick and fast, from the skewed, lo-fi jazz-funk warmth of 'Pool In The Rose' and the string-drenched beauty of opener '6,000 Drunks Clinging to a Landslip' (an amusing title for a genuinely moving track), to the chiming, low-slung brilliance of the two-part title track and the emotive, slow-motion ambient-folk beauty of 'Evening Song'.