Tag Archives: folk-rock

Gangar’s Tre Danser EP

If you’ve been wishing for some heavy metal arrangements of Nordic folk tunes, St. Nicholas has heard you and answered with this fresh new recording. Tre Danser is the first release from the Norwegian folk-rockers Gangar, a brief three-song EP … Continue reading

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Reptile Palace Orchestra’s We Know You Know

Pure Camp. It’s not a more mellow Three Mustaphas Three, but there’s a connection somewhere here. Perhaps it’s the occasional frenetic pace, the clever send-ups of everything Americana. The borscht belt is in there somewhere, but this is not your … Continue reading

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Christy Moore’s Whatever Tickles Your Fancy and Christy Moore

John Benninghouse wrote this review. Christy Moore is an icon of Irish folk music. Growing up in the 1950s, he was surrounded by the music of his homeland, including such legends as the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. After moving … Continue reading

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Christy Moore’s This Is the Day

There are some singers who stay in your heart forever. To me Christy Moore is one of these chosen few. He was there in the legendary Planxty, he was the voice on the first Moving Hearts album, one of the … Continue reading

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Christy Moore’s Live in Dublin 2006 (double CD and DVD)

I write this as Europe prepares for two nights of the Eurovision Song Contest, in which each country submits a song, often performed by a starry-eyed youngster, who does his or her best to cover his or her roots, singing … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Folk and World Music Galore Vol 1

Over the past couple of years I’ve greatly enjoyed reviewing a number of offerings from the German family of labels Nordic Notes and CPL-Music. Their releases cover a much greater variety than I am capable of covering (or even aware … Continue reading

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The Flash Girls’ Play Each Morning Wild Queen

They talk about the Islands and they have been called Wild Queens. I wonder if they are not really Anne Bonney and Mary Read, those piratical dames, those buccaneer broads, those sword-and-knife wielding beauties of the Bounding Main. After all, … Continue reading

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Feast of Fiddles’ Live ’01

Feast of Fiddles began life as an idea for a one-off show, cooked up between melodeon player Hugh Crabtree and folk club impresario Mike Sanderson in 1993. The idea was simply to invite some of the UK’s best known fiddle … Continue reading

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How the pedal steel guitar stole my heart

The pedal steel guitar has long been one of my favorite instruments. There’s just something about its sound that can go from quicksilver pure to rough and distorted in the blink of an eye that captured my heart at some … Continue reading

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Angel Olsen’s Big Time

Angel Olsen has been on quite the journey. Since before her 2012 full-length debut Half Way Home she’s been pouring her life experiences into obliquely confessional songs. In the ongoing process of finding her voice and growing as an artist, … Continue reading

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