Back in stock: Folk/Americana

Review: After Dinner is like one of those molecular gastronomy adventures, where dishes are both playful and highly complex, not necessarily revealing themselves until the very end. Done with talk of food? Let's just say this is a loose art collective led by a composer called Haco, who were concerned with taking musical plurality and splicing disparate elements together to create a kind of friendly Frankenstein's monster of sound.

And friendly it definitely is. Considered a true one-off of Japanese pop-art rock-avant garde, Paradise of Replica is jaunty, it's amusing, it's beguiling and, ultimately, incredibly immersive. There are moments where the clash of pianos plucked straight from a comedy of manners opera and rough electric guitars (to give one example of the juxtapositions) feel rather strange, but it doesn't take too long for you to get sucked right into the centre of this insane sonic universe.

Review: A reissue of a 1995 release from Texas songwriting great Guy Clark, this one gets a new mix from original co-producer Miles Wilkinson, restoring warmth and space to ten gorgeously plainspoken tracks. Clark's delivery is unhurried and unadorned, leaning on lived-in detail and dry wit, whether on the fiddle-laced resolve of 'Stuff That Works', the aching 'The Randall Knife', or the breezy storytelling of 'Baby Took A Limo To Memphis'. Cameos from Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Emmylou Harris and Darrell Scott add gentle texture, while the arrangements remain spare and acoustic-led, grounded in Clark's dry baritone and fingerpicked guitar. A quietly luminous return to one of Americana's most humane voices.

Review: Dando Shaft were a British folk rock band active during the early 70s, and at the time of the release of their debut self-titler, all seemed to be looking up. This is reflected in its sound as much, with the album combining original songwriting and a sunny acoustic disposition with regional folk musics, whether they hailed from or near their local Coventry, or the furthest-Eastern corners of the globe. Trading Places do well to reissue this one, as it's a time-honoured classic that does solid justice to Dando Shaft's cache as one of the foremost group figures in the English folk revival movement of the 1960s and 70s.

Review: Universally acclaimed British folk pioneers Fairport Convention had a remarkable rise to the top of a series of superb albums that came in quick succession. This, their fourth album, came in 1969 after the band was involved in a fatal car accident in which their drummer Martin Lamble was killed. Liege And Lief now gets reissued as it was back then and with its five traditional tracks sitting next to three originals in a folk style. It is the template they followed for many years after and the one that made them such a widely regarded band. The epic 'Matty Groves' is one of the band's most long-lasting anthems.

Review: Good things from those who wait, someone should have definitely said at some point. For Bill Fay, who had both the privilege and the nightmare of being able to choose from some 40 years of material to put this together. Amazingly only his third LP, arriving 50 years after his debut, at 76-years-young he has clearly mastered the art of keeping things simple in order to be truly, staggeringly powerful. It's unforgettable stuff to say the least. Tender vocals, gentile guitar, delicate pianos and little more, aside from some incredibly evocative lyrics. Works such as "I Will Remain Here" and the title track summarise Fay in many ways. Songs about ancient, mysterious places and histories imagined and real, our poet-cum-troubadour acting as both guide and accomplice to the act of marvelling at it all. Records like this literally don't come along everyday, and we should treasure every moment of them.

Review: For his new album, New York's anti-folk hero Jeffrey Lewis headed to record in Nashville with Roger Mountenot (long-time producer of Yo La Tengo, and the previous Jeffrey Lewis album Bad Wiring!). With the Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage band in-tow, the album carries on in the rambling sharp-witted, irreverent style that he's known for. Afterall with the album cover, he's nakedly re-staged The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan cover to prove he's "even more" freewhellin than Bob!, so you can understand that Lewis isn't taking life too seriously. The chorus to 'Sometimes Life Hits You' is "Ow! F*ck that hurt!". And 'Just Fun' is a playful, self deprecating ode to dating, whereby getting the jokes in about himself before someone else does he sounds stronger and more comfortable in his skin than any macho man ever would.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Beginning life in the late 70s as a Leeds based art collective, The Mekons have gone on to become one of the longest-running, most prolific and sonically diverse acts to be considered part of the first wave of British punk. Spanning numerous decades, projects and literal continents, the sprawling array of visionary contributors return with the succinctly titled Horror; a work written towards the end of 2022 that showcases their expansive yet solely unique approach, drawing on elements of dub, country, harsh noise, rock & roll, electronica, punk, music hall, polka and even waltz. Myriad vocalists lead differing sonic journeys such as the Jon Langford-led 'Mudcrawlers' telling the story of the Irish famine and subsequent refugees traversing to Wales, whereas Rico Bell leads the charge on the harrowing folk-horror climate change breakdown 'Fallen Leaves', with swelling violins painting an aural tapestry akin to Rolling Thunder era Dylan sitting on a dimly lit rolling green hill accompanied by The Pogues. Ranking somewhere between the collective's 23rd to 25th album (depending on which member of the fanbase or artists themselves you ask), Horror marks their first work for Fire Records.

Review: When members of mega-bands work with relatively obscurer artists, we're always intrigued. But a potential trapping factor is in thinking Jarak Qaribak, for example, is more of a Jonny Greenwood album than a Dudu Tassa one, when in fact the exact opposite is the case. Tassa, an Israeli singer-guitarist who fuses Middle Eastern stylings with contemporary rock, lends a challenging structural terrain to the Radiohead member's electric guitar licks, with the former's Arabic and Hebrew lyrics moving atmospherically against them. A star cast of fellow Israeli artists accompany the pair, as serene vocal beat-driven movements plod and swell away in an appealingly nu-proggy fashion.

Review: The American musician and guitarist newest album is a collection of compositions that balance melancholia with quiet defiance. From the disorienting, tape-warped opening moments to the album's delicate final waltz, Tyler crafts an introspective instrumental landscape where the past and present converge. 'Cabin Six' starts with a hazy, found-sound texture, its distant hum of static giving way to Tyler's contemplative guitar. It's a track that feels suspended in time, evoking the isolation of its recording process. 'Concern', in contrast, unfurls a luminous melody atop warm strings, the steel guitar lifting the piece into a realm of understated grandeur. It's among Tyler's most affecting compositions, a quiet affirmation amid uncertainty. On 'Star of Hope', the album's spiritual centerpiece, an AM radio-sourced hymn weaves into Tyler's delicate loops, creating a ghostly, celestial resonance. The interplay between organic and electronic texturesitape hiss, processed echoesigrounds the track in a space both intimate and otherworldly. 'Electric Lake' shimmers with ecstatic drone, its weightless progression nodding to La Monte Young, while 'Howling' sways between ambient pastoralism and an undercurrent of discord, its background noise a restless specter. The album closes with 'Held', a sigh of relief wrapped in a gentle acoustic waltz. The ever-present tape warble lingers, a reminder of unease, but Tyler leans into beauty. Time Indefinite is a triumph of instrumental storytellingione of quiet reckoning, but also persistence, offering solace in its hypnotic, evocative swells.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Brit folk rock troubadours The Waterboys have put together an evocative exploration of life's complexities with this, their 16th album, all while being inspired by actor Dennis Hopper's defiant spirit. The album blends folk-rock, Americana and poetic lyrics into an introspective look at mortality, legacy and transformation. With Mike Scott's distinctive voice and emotive songwriting, the tracks balance philosophical musings with gritty realism and so embody Hopper's famously raw and rebellious energy, the sort that made him such a star of the silver screen and movies like Easy Rider. The album's atmospheric instrumentation includes sweeping strings and soaring guitars that enhance its reflective nature. Life Death & Dennis Hopper is an ambitious record but one that resonates with depth.

Review: This is the great Neil Young's latest "lost" album, now released as part of his Analog Original Series. Recorded between May and December 1977, it precedes Comes A Time from 1978 but it also shares its country and folk sound. Three tracksi'Goin' Back,' 'Human Highway' and 'Field of Opportunity' appear on both albums in fact. This vinyl release reflects the album's original planned tracklist and 'Oceanside' finds Young perform solo, while 'Countryside' features collaborators like Ben Keith, Rufus Thibodeaux and Levon Helm. Some tracks differ from Archives Vol. III, with original versions of 'Field of Opportunity' and 'Dance Dance Dance' featuring Young's backing vocals.