Musically, Summer Camp take loads of elements from all the bands that I’m in love with and compact them all into one handy place.

They may evoke the moody, overcast skies of autumn hurtling towards winter, but Broken Records look set to be the band of the summer.

Together, Mawkin:Causley provide the ultimate folkie’s dream – cracking tunes and a voice to give some of the oldest songs in the tradition a new interpretation.

Although he brings some tremendously innovative slide guitar playing to the table, along with more conventional upright methods, it’s Rudd’s use of the didgeridoo that attracts attention.

For every Gorillaz, there’s a Fat Les. For every Monaco, there’s The Other Two. Yes, side projects and supergroups are known for being the most hit and miss of extra-marital affairs. Yet fans of Bloc Party should prepare themselves for Russell Lissack’s forthcoming date in the (musical) divorce courts, as he has for the past [...]

On listening to the subject of my turn on Your New Favourite Band!, a snooty music journo retorted ‘but they don’t have roots in any tradition.’ And that’s precisely why I like Babel. A fiddler with the jaunty saws of a folk musician but the tell-tale vibrato of the classically trained, a vocalist with the [...]

What’s that? You’ve never heard of Hereford? Fair enough, not many people have, so let me paint the scene. Picture a winding river flowing through a small market city set in beautiful countryside, with the sweet sent of cider hanging in the air. Got it? Good. It is important to grasp this picture fully to [...]

I first came across the Berlin-based multi-talented vocalist and producer Ellen Allien on a compilation called Time Warp 6, assembled by the genii known to the world as Tiefschwarz. Ellen features on track 2, Down, and I still remember sticking it on and feeling the bass create ripples in the air of my cosy student [...]

The life of a record reviewer is largely depressing. There have been times that I not only want to gun down every A&R idiot in the land, but also run my long-sword through any bearded muso who has ever considered rhyming “fly” with “high”. Occasionally though, a faceless promo disc will utterly captivate me from [...]

With the release of their first single on the independent label Kum Ba Yah Records, it seems to be an appropriate time to announce Julian Donkey-Boy as my new favorite band. Listeners of Northern Exposure on Fuse FM may already be familiar with these three fine gentlemen, and those who have visited their MySpace will have [...]