Category Archives: Music

Blazin’ Fiddles’ Live

When our Editor and Publisher (also known as “the Chief”) first broached the idea of my reviewing a Blazin’ Fiddles release, I was hesitant. “A whole orchestra?” said I. “Of fiddles?” (Well, that’s what he said it was.) Somehow I … Continue reading

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Felix Hatfield’s False God

With a life list of influences that includes Pete Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Antonia Stampfel, Baby Gramps, Michael Hurley and more, Felix Hatfield checks a lot of the boxes on my list of important figures in folk music. Add to … Continue reading

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D1V1N1T1’s Terra Divina

I’ve encountered several collaborations between Canadian musician Tim Clément and other artists — readers here may remember Wolfsong Night, in which Clément and guitarist Kim Deschamps delivered a complex and multi-facted album that stands up under repeated listenings. Clément’s latest … Continue reading

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Down the Track’s Landscapes

There is, in the history of “classical” music a — call it a “genre” — of what is known as “program music” going all the way back to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (at least), and including works by such luminaries as … Continue reading

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Steeleye Span’s Est’d 1969 and Fairport Convention’s Shuffle and Go

There are many similarities between Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, the two bands that can claim to be the originators of British folk rock. Ashley Hutchings was a founder member of both and they both made a name for themselves … Continue reading

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Michel Benita Quartet’s Looking At Sounds

It starts with Michel Benita’s syncopated three-note upward bass run, which is directly joined by Philippe Garcia’s hand-played drum, the two setting up a hypnotic polyrhythmic base for this opening tune “Dervish Diva.” Jozef Dumoulin’s Fender Rhodes then eases in, … Continue reading

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Suuns’ Fiction EP

Suuns is a Montreal-based band whose music is an intriguing blend of guitar-keyboard post-rock music and experimental electronic elements. And when Ben Shemie, Liam O’Neill and Joseph Yarmush team up with their longtime friend Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (who performs as … Continue reading

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Fay Hield’s Wrackline

I’d not heard of Fay Hield before I came upon her new release Wrackline, a beautifully realized album of traditional and trad-style folk song steeped in English lore. It is startlingly good. Fay Hield is a core member of the … Continue reading

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Anne Malin’s Waiting Song

Sleep, dreams and reveries predominate in Anne Malin’s Waiting Song, a deeply personal and quirky album of country-tinged indie folk rock. Anne Malin is a musical duo of the poet, singer and songwriter AM Ringwalt and multi-instrumentalist William Johnson. On … Continue reading

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Brian Scarborough’s Sunflower Song

Brian Scarborough is a trombonist and composer with influences that include two of the great centers of jazz in the Midwest: Kansas City and Chicago. From the Kansas City area where he grew up and currently lives, performs and teaches, … Continue reading

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