BARNABY SMITH

Sleepy Sun Kiss The Blues Away In Switzerland

16th December 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Editor of The Word magazine and former host of The Old Grey Whistle Test David Hepworth once attested that the band he would most have liked to have been in was Crowded House. Three close friends travelling the world in their own shambolic, farcical good-natured way on the back of music that was both commercially successful and beautiful.

Sleepy Sun look like a band it would be enormous fun to be...

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Mayer Hawthorne and The County enchant Zurich

17th November 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

If you look at the press photos of Mayer Hawthorne without prior knowledge of the music this diminutive fellow from Ann Arbor, Michigan makes, it would be forgivable to think him a fairly nondescript indie kid, and assume therefore perhaps a certain level of vapidness. On first sight, he does seem like a cross between Graham Coxon and Marcus Brigstocke, with a possible air of Mark from Peep Show.

Even before...

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Lisa Germano Loves Thy Neighbour on New Album

2nd November 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Lisa Germano has been plugging away making music since the mid-eighties, and somehow, inexplicably, is 51 years old. Her voice, her face, her sound, all convey a mood of both youthfulness and timelessness. Like other more ‘mature’ musicians operating distinctly to the left of centre on the American alt scene (Johnny Dowd comes to mind), she is one who bucks the trend: for her, creativity and imagination flood in as...

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The Amorphous Androgynous Will Fry Tour Mind

21st October 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

The compilation album is a curious mistress. It seems a new one is released every day in the increasingly clueless CD marketplace, from honest, down-home label samplers to the faceless ‘club anthem’ CDs you see advertised with soft porn in the middle of the night on ITV. And, of course, most indie fans in their late twenties will look back on the Shine compilations from the nineties with intense nostalgic...

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The Growing Pains of P-Star

5th October 2009 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

At first glance, a documentary film that promises to tell the story of a 9-year-old attempting to force her way to hip hop stardom should not provoke such intense fascination. Everyone doing everything is getting younger these days aren’t they? Sure, it’s an interesting tale; possibly a little kooky, possibly a little disturbing, but there isn’t really anything shocking in that story, especially in these tired and cynical times. Neither...

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Introducing: The Amazing

25th September 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

The Amazing are one of those bands who have somewhat shot themselves in the foot by choosing a name that is impossible to Google (another is Lawrence Arabia). No matter, as this is another group from Sweden intent on dosing themselves with 'traditional' rock and roll, mild folkish psychedelia and Californian singer-songwriters and spewing out something innocently beautiful. It is a peculiar trait of the more under-the-radar-but-critically-adored Scandinavian bands in...

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Monsters of Folk Toning it Down

9th September 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

For those who haven't cottoned on to this intriguing (on paper, anyway) project, Monsters of Folk is indie-rock's newest supergroup. They are: Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, along with alt-country miserablist M.Ward and My Morning Jacket's Jim James. The eponymous album is out on 22 September on the Shangri La label in the US and Rough Trade in the UK.  They make the trip over to Europe later in the year, and...

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Review: Green Man Festival 2009

1st September 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

One of the finest moments at this year's Green Man Festival came not from the headliners - although Wilco on the final night were nothing short of sublime - but tucked away in the cinema tent in the middle of the night. The Memory Band, a mediocre folk collective from London performed a number of songs from The Wicker Man, completely in the dark. It was a mesmerising experience for the...

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Review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention

18th August 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

In 1644 a momentous battle took place on the fields that are now home to this unique British festival. The Battle of Cropredy Bridge pitted Sir William Waller's parliamentarian army against King Charles and his, resulting in the loss of 700 of Waller's men. It was a grisly business, and one that Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol made reference to during his band's headlining set on the Saturday night. Fortunately, the...

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