Back catalogue: Folk/Americana

Review: Long-faced Boston blues trio GA-20 deliver a swampy, bluesy take on Dolly Parton's classic, 'Jolene'. While the original Parton number's lyrics dealt in the instantly-memorable theme of a queen bee stealing the singer's beloved - "just because you can" - the original song could nonetheless be accused of obscuring the melancholic feel of the lyrics, by lending them an uptempo dance backing. GA-20 might be credited with fixing that problem here, stripping things back to a lilting blues plod, convincingly reworked into a vintage, boxy, sepia-toned context.

Review: Omena once again calls on the superb sounds of Golden Retriever for this adventurous new EP that very much takes you away from the here and now and deposits you somewhere warmer. 'Part Lake' opens up with the joys of a spring day - acoustic strings rippling out as sun beams down. 'Andro Dunos' slows to a crawl and has a more star-gazing feel while 'Digambara' is a gentle rhythm that casts you out to sea. Two variations of 'Modulations' allows you to get lost in some lush synth tapestries and 'Kizuna Encounter' then ends with another lovely sonic day dream that empties your mind.

Review: Ghost are sadly an easily confused band - doubly so, for the fact that there is now a wildly popular masked metal troupe of the same name, *and* because there is, uncannily, a 1984 film named Ghost, also rather well known. This confounding is apparently so prevalent that the obligatory Wikipedia entry on *this* Ghost is titled
'Ghost (1984 band)'. We wouldn't usually mention it, save for the fact that this perhaps not so wilful obscurantism actually works in their favour. With Drag City's reissue of Ghost's first album on griseous vinyl here, it's safe to say that this Japanese experimental psych/acid record's aura as a hidden gem feels rare to come by. It's almost as if Ghost (1984) is 'haunting' the other aforementioned cultural touchstones of the same name. Don't get it twisted, though: Ghost formed in the early 80s, but this debut recording didn't make it to the pressing plant until 1990. What explains the gap in their CV, you ask? Legend has it that the band led a truly nomadic existence - as a "band" should, in all senses of the word - roving, drifting from ruined ancient temples to disused subway stations near Tokyo. With that all checked, the album itself is truly free-spirited and eerie, and not what you'd expect from contemporary notions of space rock, with prepared tinkerings and strange readymade detritus seeming to fill each piece at every twist and turn.

Review: Jakarta Records is mostly known for its superb hip hop but this one is a dazzling album well worth checking. It's a perfect mix of instrumental jazz, soul and gentle grooves that will get you nodding along and lost in the gorgeous melodies from the master of this sort of stuff that is Gianni Brezzo. The Italian has put put several fine albums before now and this collection is another doozy with certain harmonic and rhythmic concepts recurring throughout that drawn on European and folklorist style.

Review: .Following the success of his Sunday Morning, Coming Down compilation, Ace Records has asked Bobby Gillespie to put together a follow-up. This time round, the Primal Scream frontman has decided to showcase tracks he turns to "for solace, comfort and empathy" during the Scottish band's various tours. Offering a mix of country, blues, Americana, psychedelia and soul, the selected songs - including inspired efforts by Willie Nelson, Lee Hazelwood, Al Green, the Chi-Lites, Ry Cooder and Kate & Anna McGringle (whose 'Heart Like a Wheel' is a genuinely tender and heart-aching affair) - more than deliver on the album's conceptual premise, offering equal amounts of emotion and entertainment.

Review: Jose Gonzalez is one of the most acclaimed global musicians of the last few years, despite having such a quiet and intimate sound. Now comes his much anticipated fourth album which is another testament to his ability to draw you in and hypnotise you with his unique rhythmic style. Hugely pastoral and organic throughout, this record packs in plenty of mesmeric guitar paying and on some songs drum machine grooves. As always there is the odd reinterpretation of other artists' work and plenty of vital originals that come infused with elements of music from all over the world.

Review: It's now been nine years since Swedish troubadour Jose Gonzalez rose to worldwide ubiquity thanks to his cover of The Knife's 'Heartbeats', and this is only his third solo record in twelve years. True to form, 'Vestiges And Claws' is a notable development of Gonzalez' sound. Whilst there may be no shortage of the kind of delicately constructed and tastefully somnambulistic songcraft by which he made his name - somewhat akin to a 21st century Cat Stevens - there is both a depth of subject matter and a glorious breadth of instrumentation to these ditties that bear the hallmark of an restless artist disinclined to rest on his laurels.

Review: Liz Harris' image as a gothic, studio-dwelling, ambient mastermind is cemented by her 12th album, 'Shade'. Compiling a loose and formerly unrelated collection of songs made over the last 12 years - from the short, ruined polaroid-style opener 'Followed The Ocean', to the naked strum-singing of 'Unclean Mind' and the droning submergence of 'Basement Mix', this one is arguably one of her most lo-fi projects. It easily captures Grouper's emergence on the international folk-ambient scene through the analog fog of rare CD-Rs and handmade cassettes, making her career trajectory a ghost story if we've ever heard one. Gear up for a print edition, with original sky photographs by Harris' friend David Horvitz, as well as a signed archival letter-press print of Moon Study, her exclusive new book.

Review: Guitarist, composer and skateboarder Tommy Guerrero hears several of his earliest albums reissued now via Be With, of which 2008's Return Of The Bastard was his fifth. Still evidently deep in the throes of recording for the pure fun of it, this fifteen-track album reflects a pure lyricless enjoyment that few other of Guerrero's contemporaries could ever hope to share. Perhaps it's the meditative truck of his earlier skate career that course-corrected his frame of mind to pure creative meditativeness; here driving noisy drum machines, lightly-amped two-tones, the occasional kalimba and faint vocals all collide for the perfect accompaniment to an implied visual narrative.