Articles

Brittain Ashford, Anne Bacheley, Baldruin, Barzin, Matt Bauer, Big Eyes, Burzinski, Lionel Delamotte, Donna, Everything is Fine, Fulton Lights, The Green Apple Sea, Benoît Guillaume, Alex Gwinnett, Rainer Hartig, Hering und seine sieben Sachen, James William Hindle, Hoquets, Humpty Dumpty, I.D.C., Das Klienicum, Love Like Birds, Løzninger, LunDi, Matamore, Melmac, Minor Place Records, Morc Records, Not For You, Charles C. Oldman, Laurent Orseau, Own Records, Julien Pacaud, Penny Black Music, Phantom Limbo, Rivulets, Christy Romanick, Ronda, The Sandman's Orchestra, sicsic tapes, Silencio, Three:Four Records, toniduran, Jozef van Wissem, Vincent Vanoli, Le Zata

Abus Dangereux, Christina Antipa, Anne Bacheley, Baldruin, Barzin, Charles-Eric Charrier, Lionel Delamotte, Donna, Everything is Fine, Annette Franklin-Stokes, Fulton Lights, James Green, The Green Apple Sea, Alex Gwinnett, Rainer Hartig, Hering und seine sieben Sachen, James William Hindle, Initials DC, das Klienicum, Love Like Birds, Løzninger, LunDi, Matamore, Minor Place Records, Morc Records, Laurent Orseau, Own Records, Julien Pacaud, Penny Black Music, Phantom Limbo, The Puddle Parade, Rivulets, Christy Romanick, The Sandman's Orchestra, Silencio, Three:Four Records, toniduran, Jozef van Wissem, Vanishing Twins, Vincent Vanoli, Le Zata

Brittain Ashford, Anne Bacheley, Baldruin, Barzin, Matt Bauer, Big Eyes, Burzinski, Cookie Cutter Blowout, Diascope, Marianne Dissard, Donna, Cédric Duboudin, Everything Is Fine, Fulton Lights, Alex Gwinnett, Hering und seine sieben Sachen, Rainer Hartig, James William Hindle, Igrecohen, Initials DC, Kenyon, das Klienicum, Love Like Birds, Løzninger, Lucky.R, LunDi, Matamore, Melmac, Millefeuille, Morc Records, Annelies Monseré, Charles C. Oldman, Laurent Orseau, Own Records, Julien Pacaud, Charlie Parr, Penny Black Music, Phantom Limbo, The Puddle Parade, Rivulets, Silencio, Three:Four Records, toniduran, Vincent Vanoli, Le Zata

Brittain Ashford, Anne Bacheley, Barzin, Matt Bauer, Comes with a Smile, Donna, Cédric Duboudin, Everything is Fine, Fulton Lights, Laura Gibson, James Green, Grumpy Bear, Alex Gwinnett, Igrecohen, Initials DC, James William Hindle, Kenyon, das klienicum, Løzninger, LunDi, Matamore, Melmac, Millefeuille, Annelies Monseré, Charles C. Oldman, Laurent Orseau, Own Records, Julien Pacaud, Charlie Parr, Penny Black Music, Perio, Phantom Limbo, The Puddle Parade, Rivulets, Christy Romanick, Silencio, Three:four Records, Tomek, toniduran, Vincent Vanoli, M. Ward, Le Zata

The young, gifted English guitarist and composer James Blackshaw, who has a talent for combining the atmospheres of John Fahey and Robbie Basho with those of Steve Reich and Terry Riley, is touring Germany for the first time. On this occasion, our friend Holger Adam interviewed him for the website of Unrock, a record store for connoisseurs located in Krefeld, where James will play on 3 December 2008.

Anne Bacheley, Jessica Bailiff, Barzin, Matt Bauer, Castle Anthrax, Diascope, Marianne Dissard, Donna, Matt Dornan, Cédric Duboudin, Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin, James Green, Grumpy Bear, Alex Gwinnett, James William Hindle, HitchcockGoHome!, Igrecohen, Initials DC, Kenyon, Løzninger, LunDi, Matamore, Arman Méliès, Melmac, Millefeuille, Annelies Monseré, Eloïse Orseau, Laurent Orseau, Own Records, Julien Pacaud, Charlie Parr, Penny Black Music, Perio, The Puddle Parade, Rivulets, Templo Diez, Three:four Records, Tomek, toniduran, Tracker, Vincent Vanoli, Daniel Voigt, Le Zata

Anne Bacheley, John Askew, Jessica Bailiff, Devendra Banhart, Barzin, Matt Bauer, Burzinski, Castle Anthrax, Adrian Crowley, Delirious Riot, Diascope, Marianne Dissard, Donna, Matt Dornan, Everything Is Fine, Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin, James Green, The Green Apple Sea, Grumpy Bear, Alex Gwinnett, H-Burns, hey you! hurray!, James William Hindle, HitchcockGoHome!, Igrecohen, Kenyon, LunDi, Løzninger, Lucky.R, Arman Méliès, Melmac, Millefeuille, Annelies Monseré, Oklahomo Trio, Eloïse Orseau, Laurent Orseau, Julien Pacaud, Charlie Parr, Penny Black Music, Pollyanna, Rivulets, Adam Selzer, Tomek, toniduran, Vincent Vanoli, Cathy Viale, Waterhouse Records, Le Zata

Naïm Amor, Anne Bacheley, Jessica Bailiff, Devendra Banhart, Jeff Bell, Sean Bouchard, Erwan Broussine, Burzinski, Ana C, CancelN, Charles-Eric Charrier, John Clarkson, Adrian Crowley, Antoine D, Marianne Dissard, Don Nino, Delphine Dori, Matt Dornan, Cédric Duboudin, Frédéric Dufourd, Christophe Ehrwein, Everything Is Fine, Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin, Arnaud G, James Green, Alex Gwinnett, H-Burns, James William Hindle, Kenyon, Christian Kiefer, [Lemoine], LunDi, Arman Méliès, Eloïse Orseau, Laurent Orseau, Luc Reverter, Charlie Parr, Rivulets, Jean-Marc Sache, Tomek, toniduran, Tracker, Triptonic, Vincent Vanoli, Cathy Viale

Anne Bacheley, Jessica Bailiff, Barrel Harbor, Barzin, Sean Bouchard, Burzinski, Antoine D., Daktari, Dave DeCastro, Don Nino, Matt Dornan, Arnaud G., Alex Gwinnett, James William Hindle, Kenyon, LunDi, Tami Means, Arman Méliès, Misplaced Music, Laurent Orseau, øslo Telescopic, Michel Pampelune, Rivulets, Jean-Marc Sache, Sépia, Eloïse Stéclebout, Alex Stevens, Tomek, The Transmissionary Six, toniduran, Triptonic, Vincent Vanoli, Cathy Viale

Thanks to a friend of ours who sent us some albums of Songs: Ohia, Ativin, June Panic, Sarah White, Drunk... we discovered the existence of Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar, the great twin labels from Bloomington. Some years after this discovery, we are still happy when we read the announcement for the new relases of the two labels : for instance Julie Doiron on Jagjaguwar and Windsor for the Derby on Secretly Canadian. So let's go for the five digressions with Ben Swanson, a staff member of Secretly Canadian!

We bought James William Hindle's debut album on trust in his record label (Badman, which had just released albums by Mark Kozelek and Paula Frazer) and in the beautiful sleeve à la Red House Painters. When we got home, we looked at the booklet and found out that the artwork was done by our comrade Matt Dornan from Comes with a Smile (fantastic English music magazine). That was definitely a very good start. As for the music, we totally fell for James's folk songs with direct catchy melodies and we loved his very soft voice, and his cover of the Bee Gees' "I Started A Joke" was such a gem! We've followed him since then.

We've immmediately loved Greg Weeks's first albums, with his Nick Drake kind of guitar picking and voice (and it really is a compliment). Since then, Greg has stepped on another track, adding more psychedelic elements to his folk music. His beautiful voice and songwriting are still as wonderful as ever.

The Twin Atlas is a folk-pop band with Lucas Zaleski and Sean Byrne (also a member of Mazarin and Lenola). For our great delight, they blend sounds and melodies inspired from the 60s with Ride and Charlatan-like rhythms, thus creating lively and warms tunes. For their five digressions, Sean and Lucas added one more constraint: choosing only 3-letter words.

Ken Dyber is the head of the Aesthetics label (which has just moved from Chicago to Portland, OR), headquarters of highly recommendable bands: L'Altra, Hood, Windsor For The Derby, Pulseprogramming, 33.3, Isotope 217, The Eternals...

Our hinah family close relation Paul Austin is the co-pilot (along with Terri Moeller) of the strange and mellow music rocketship named The Transmissionary Six, a mixture of folk music and more ethereal sounds. Since January he's also steered a submarine called Fear of Speed, which offers interviews, fictions, galeries... In a nutshell, the kind of bonanza we love to visit!

Marc Manning lives in Portland, Oregon, home of many bands we love over here. His music is rooted in folk music, but also probably in years of listening to noisy guitar bands like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine.

We met David Michael Curry as a viola player for Willard Grant Conspiracy. DMC is a kind of a free electron there, the heir of generations of folk violinists, bringing a creaking dangerous element to the band. DMC also made us discover his project named Empty House Cooperative, a collective fed on improvisation, comprising Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, members of Molasses...

Tex La Homa (named after Douglas Coupland's novel "Generation X") is a project based on England's Matt Shaw, who is also a founding member of Superglider Records. The main ingredients of this adventure: atmospheric music and whispered words.

Anamude, Anne Bacheley, Jessica Bailiff, Devendra Banhart, Barzin, Sylvain Chauveau, John Clarkson, Dave DeCastro, DJ Ponkifier, Marianne Dissard, Donna, Matt Dornan, Empty House Cooperative, Fargo, Alex Gwinnett, Half Asleep, HitchcockGoHome!, Intercontinental, Kenyon, Martin Klingman, Hope Larson, Man, Arman Méliès, Adrian Pannett, Rivulets, Adam Selzer, Silencio, Talitres, Tomek, toniduran, Tracker, The Transmissionary Six, Vanoli, Fabio Viscogliosi, M. Ward, Greg Weeks, ...

We discovered Anamude last year with a pretty letter and above all with an impressive debut ep that gathered folk picking à la John Fahey and a subtly vocalizing voice. Now we look forward to her album, which she has just recorded with Adam Selzer from Norfolk & Western (and producer of M. Ward's albums)!

Dave DeCastro isn't only rock legend Steve Wynn's bassist; he also self-releases albums on his own small label -- and he lets his overwhelming imagination ramble lightheartedly along these motley pop-rock-folk albums.

Last year, we first heard (very much behindhand) Jessica Bailiff as she played Paris with Rivulets and Drekka.
It was quite a pleasure to discover this young lady blending her ethereal voice with layers of guitar.

On its eponymous debut album, the quiet ethereal music of Barzin blends warm folk music à la Mojave 3 with colder touches à la Low and Mazzy Star. These "Five digressions" weren't written by one single person but by the whole band, so here are a few words to know more about these Canadians.

A perfectly designed, sober and dark sleeve: that's how one first sees Quintin Nadig's debut album "Anchor Details". And when it comes to listening to it -- delicate folk music from the countryside, with an acoustic guitar and sometimes a banjo, a piano, a cello, and an accordion.

Marianne, whom we discovered via the late Amor Belhom Duo, shares her time between writing (poems and texts for her boyfriend, Naïm Amor, but also for other artists such as Howe Gelb and Françoiz Breut), filmmaking (about Giant Sand, ABBC, Amor Belhom Duo...) and photography.

We discovered Windsor For The Derby belatedly, with their latest album "The Emotional Rescue lp". But ever since, we've caught up with their discography, listened to their previous epileptic albums, vibrated to their impressive stage performance, and dug a little deeper to find out Dan Matz's fascinating project The Birdwatcher!

An American friend sent us Early Day Miners' debut cd, saying that we would most probably like it. And indeed, we drowned ourselves with pleasure in the quiet ocean waves of "Placer Found". A few years later, more records from the band (along with a second album from Daniel Burton's side project Ativin, and a collaboration with Chris Bennett and Unwed Sailor) have come to haunt our record collection.

Since we first heard him on the Guinguette Pirate opening for The Black Heart Procession, the crazy folk minstrel has grown more famous with his buzz-generating album "Oh Me Oh My..." out on Young God Records. Here are a few words from him to find out more about this alien in the folk scene.

By Amor, James Apt, Paul Austin, Jessica Bailiff, Barrel Harbor, David Michael Curry, Alex Gwinnett, Don Nino, Donna, Man, Melmac, Tracker, M. Ward, Greg Weeks ,...

Radiogram, Tracker, Jason Molina + Will Oldham + Alasdair Roberts, Barrel Harbor, Hayden, Wow & Flutter

V/A "Performance #1", Anamude

Gravenhurst, Windsor For The Derby, L'Altra, Spokane, Man, Karate, Fivehead

Dakota Suite, Sylvain Chauveau, Rivulets, Songs: Ohia, Scout Niblett, Silver Jews, St Thomas

Norfolk & Western, Hayden, Clairvoyants, Bevel, Nad Navillus, Julie Doiron, Okkervil River, Scud Mountain Boys, Wow & Flutter

Guimo, Paloma, Amor Belhom Duo

Tara Jane O'Neil, Utah Carol, Gabriel "Naïm" Amor, Greg Weeks, Don Nino

Spokane, The Potomac Accord

Tornado, Donna, Tino

Norfolk & Rider, Early Day Miners, Whip, Last Harbour, Pernice Brothers, The Blasco Ballroom

M. Ward, Bright Eyes, Amor Belhom Duo, ABBC, Tracker, Centro-matic, Low

Songs: Ohia, Manishevitz, Japancakes, Diana Darby, Greg Weeks, Johan Asherton