Shaded Moontide - Everything Folk, from new albums to out of print and classic releases

Susan Christie - Paint A Lady [1970]

2009-12-01T11:10:00.001-08:00

1 Rainy Day
2 Paint a Lady
3 For the Love of a Soldier
4 Ghost Riders in the Sky
5 Yesterday, Where's My Mind?
6 Echo in Your Mind
7 When Love Comes
8 No One Can Hear You Cry

30 years ago, a Philly based folk singer named Susan Christie was dropped by her record company. After one novelty song, the label bosses didn’t think her melancholy take on country and solitude would ever be of any interest. Five copies of her album were pressed and faded into obscurity. Skip forward to present time, and a small label, ‘Finders Keepers’ salvages three out of these five copies and decides to release it. Susan Christie’s album is a beautiful piece of despondent tales and folky psychedelia. The fascinating thing is that it sounds very current. The title track is reminiscent of Portishead , while other songs incorporate break heavy folk-funk, current DJ’s would die for. Don’t get me wrong, it is an obscure 70’s folk record at its heart, but highly worth listening to today.

http://www.myspace.com/susanchristie07

http://linksave.in/7198271334b157fc001e9e
FLAC (lossless)

Trees - The Garden of Jane Delawney [1970] (Remastered & Expanded)

2009-11-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

1. Nothing Special
2. The Great Silkie
3. The Garden Of Jane Delawney
4. Lady Margaret
5. Glasgerion
6. She Moved Thro’ The Fair
7. Road
8. Epitaph
9. Snail’s Lament

Bonus Tracks:

10. She Moved Thro’ The Fair (Demo)
11. Pretty Polly
12. Black Widow
13. Little Black Cloud (Suite)

When Trees second album On The Shore was finally released on CD last year - 38 years after its first vinyl issue - the reaction to this lost English psych-folk masterpiece was outstanding. Admired by artists and critics alike, it also made a big impression on merry funksters Gnarls Barkley who sampled the track Geordie on their St Elsewhere album.

On The Shore was the follow up to The Garden Of Jane Delawney. It’s quite fitting that Trees get their debut album reissued after the second has been released; they were bohemians living in Portobello Road who never followed the conventional path. Feasting on records imported into Simon Stable’s Record Store, they immersed themselves in a tapestry of sounds that combined US acts like Spirit, Buffalo Springfield and Quicksilver Messenger Service alongside progressive UK bands like Fairport Convention, Skin Alley, High Tide and Caravan.

Completed in March 1970 and produced by Tony Cox, the original album (half Tobias Boshell originals and half traditional songs) blends a mixture of weird psych twin guitar into lilting folk falling around the dreamy like vocals of Celia Humphris. Then there’s the wonderful The Garden of Jane Delawney track itself, which was later covered by François Hardy and goth shoegazers All About Eve.

The bonus tracks feature original demo versions plus 2 new recordings only available on this remastered album.

http://linksave.in/21375210524b00efc97e831
AAC @ 320 kbps

Forest [UK] 1968-1971

2009-11-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

Starting out as school friends in 1966, the Foresters of Walesby began singing unaccompanied vocal harmony folk tunes in Lincolnshire folk clubs. Dez Allenby, Martin and Adrian Welham soon progressed to writing within the burgeoning psychedelic folk movement in the wake of the Incredible String Band's mid 60's beginnings, finally changing their name to FOREST.

The rare single 'Searching For Shadows' was released in 1969, followed by Forest's debut eponymous album which featured a colourful mix of acoustic instrumentation and rich harmonies, evoking pastoral sound scapes of misty, smoke-filled worlds of olde. 'Full Circle' was released a year later, a more eclectic mix of tracks which saw each member venturing down their own unique avenues. Titles such as 'Bluebell Dance', 'Midnight Hanging of a Runaway Serf' and 'Graveyard' portend the darker offerings explored. By the early 1970's the Harvest label no longer looked to invest in such esoteric musical genres, and in 1972 the trio disbanded.

The seminal albums have since been reissued both on vinyl and CD. Recently the track 'Graveyard' featured on psych-folk compilation 'Gather in the mushrooms' and 'Fading Light' on the 'Strange Folk' compilation CD. Thirty years on, Forest are as moving, stirring and haunting as ever.

Martin is now back as part of psych-folk duo THE STORY with his son Tom. Dez is now recording with his wife Cathy as Southernwood, and Adrian is still writing and adding to his canon of songs to this day.

http://www.myspace.com/forest70

http://linksave.in/11169395274b00c67a8ace3
APE (Lossless) + AAC @ 320 kbps

Twinsistermoon - The Hollow Mountain

2009-11-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

Twinsistermoon is a solo project of Mehdi Ameziane, who is also one half of Natural Snow Buildings. Not really sure how to describe this, psychedelic folk? Post-folk? Anyway, this was released earlier in the year by Dull Knife records on wax, pre-orders are now being taken for the CD version on Blackest Rainbow.

I've uploaded 3 tracks from the album so you can check it out. They were ripped from vinyl so they're slightly low fidelity. Here.

http://www.blackest-rainbow.moonfruit.com/

Nancy Elizabeth new album and single

2009-10-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago I posted Nancy Elizabeth's Battle and Victory. On the 5th October her new album, Wrought Iron, was released. Again on Leaf, it's available on CD, vinyl, and as a digital download. You can grab a copy here.

In addition, the first single taken from the album entitled 'Feet of Courage' has been released as a download with two exclusive remixes, and there's also an accompanying video (Nancy's first vid!) you can check the single out here and the video here. I haven't yet heard the album, but the single sounds really nice.

http://www.myspace.com/nancyelizabethcunliffe
http://www.theleaflabel.com/

Update/explanation

2009-10-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I know it has been quiet on the western front, but I have other duties that have been taking up my time. I hope that the regularity of the posts here will start to pick up slightly in time. As you will have noticed, I'm moving Shaded Moontide away from being your typical mp3 download blog, in favour of news and exposure. I shall still be posting the odd download, namely any rare and out of print material I come across/unearth, and any samples any artists or labels might want to send my way.

A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (Documentary, 2000)

2009-08-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

DVD rip of this film documenting the life and career of Nick Drake. I think originally released and shown in a few select picture houses in 2000, never properly released on DVD. I got this with the re-release of the Fruit Tree boxset ages ago, I always intended to upload it but it slipped my mind until now.
Anyway, this is a high quality XviD encode. I can make the .ISO available to anyone that wants it, send me an email at the address specified in my profile. All I ask is that you make a comment on this post.

Director: Jeroen Berkvens
Length: 48 Minutes
Filming Location: Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Autumn Grieve news

2009-06-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of re-posting Autumn Grieve's Terra Infinita EP, which I posted a few months ago on the blog. However then some stuff happened, including a re-release of said EP, so I'll make this a news post.

For those of you who missed the first Autumn Grieve post, she's a Canadian folk/classical singer/composer. Terra Infinita has recently been re-released as a remastered, extended edition, including two songs from the first EP, Another Window. Including the remarkable packaging, it's a great release. I'd advise anyone whom missed the first pressing to pick it up.

Also, a new Autumn Grieve EP entitled Stray Birds has been released in the last few days, the first pressing of which is limited to a tiny 21 copies. Info on both releases can be found in the following places:

www.autumngrieve.com
www.myspace.com/autumngrieve

You can download the original version of Terra Infinita here.

Sir Richard Bishop - Staged (2007)

2009-04-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

A collection of live tracks. Limited CD-R, only 250 copies available at live shows.
Sir Richard Bishop's new album is coming out in May, don't miss it!

TRACKLIST:

[01/07] Fingering The Devil/Abydos
[02/07] Kamakhya
[03/07] Black Eyed Blue
[04/07] Nowhere Over The Rainbow
[05/07] Improvisation #1
[06/07] Stomping Matilda
[07/07] Feast At Howrah Station

http://www.myspace.com/sirrichardbishop

Click HERE

Espen Jørgensen - On the Great Alkali Plains (2006)

2009-04-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have posted this elsewhere in the past, however it's something I also think our readers here will appreciate. Espen Jørgensen is a Norwegian acoustic/classical/new age guitarist, this is his first and so far only solo release to date. This is one of my very favourite releases, this guy is an incredibly talented and highly overlooked musician. I'm not going to bother quoting any reviews or press releases or whatever, what you really need to do is let your ears give this their undivided attention, and afterwards show your appreciation by buying a copy of the CD (which comes in a very beautiful digipak).

Label: Jester Records

Tracklist:

1 The Immaculate Conception
2 Move Ahead - Quickly
3 Mirabell
4 Down From The High Peak
5 Barren
6 The Woods
7 Farbror Melkers Bekymring
8 Himmelsangen

http://www.myspace.com/espenjoergensen

Buy CD - http://www.jester-records.com/releases_sub.php?ID=44

Click
V2

Caethua - Village of the Damned [2008]

2009-04-10T15:27:00.001-07:00

1-Village Of The Damned 03:08
02-Retreat 02:31
03-Playing Dead 02:29
04-Meditation 03:22
05-They Walk At Night 02:56
06-Burning Yarrow 09:18
07-Tragic 02:33
08-Consecration 05:54
09-Black Water 05:08

http://www.myspace.com/caethua

CLICK HERE
VBR-V2

Werkraum - Early Love Music (2008)

2009-03-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Another modern classic here, Werkraum have a modern take on traditional European folk. Werkraum is Axel Frank, with a multitude of contributing musicians.

Label: Ahnstern

Tracklist:

1 Beware The Jabberwock!
2 La Marmotte
3 Ein Lied von Lieb und Treu
4 Santy Ano
5 Slâfest Du, vriedel ziere?
6 Song For Erik
7 The Dream
8 Allgemach
9 Der Schmied (The Blacksmith)
10 Beyond The Evening Star
11 The Smiling Of The Rose
12 Une Jeune Fillette
13 Die rechte Braut
14 Sanctity And Steel

http://www.myspace.com/werkraum
Buy CD/LP:
http://www.werkraum.org/
http://www.steinklang-records.at/shop/

!
Somebody from Werkraum got in touch and requested we remove the download link, so it has been removed. We are huge fans of Werkraum and of the other musicians whose material we post, we truly believe that any publicity is good publicity, and that blogs and other filesharing fora are great ways of creating awareness, and introducing people to music that they would otherwise never know existed. We wholeheartedly believe that filesharing helps independent music, rather than hinders it. However, we appreciate the fact that others may not feel the same way. I'm going to leave this post here so if anyone wants to check out Werkraum's music, you can grab a copy of the record via the links above, which of course, we always encourage anyway. You won't be disappointed.

Fire On Fire - The Orchard (2008)

2009-03-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

When I heard Fire on Fire's "Amnesia" (from their EP), I was won over by the psychedelic madness that boiled beneath the song's tuneful hook and bizarre lyrics. The band manifested a crazed energy within the confines of their nuanced songwriting and constantly teetered on the brink of chaos. The Orchard sees the band relaxing and focusing their energy on softer tunes and strengthening their songwriting core. With nothing but acoustic instruments at their disposal, the group recalls the spirit of America's early musical tradition by emphasizing strong lyrical topics and melody-heavy songs. Drunken and haphazard frills decorate the record and keep many of the songs from sinking into pure genre worship. This is not slick, romantic Appalachia; Fire on Fire are rugged and lively musicians who emphasize lurching movements and uneven steps. - Brainwashed.com

Label:
Young God Records

Tracklist:

1. Sirocco (5:10)
2. Heavy D (4:31)
3. Assanine Race (6:15)
4. The Orchard (4:07)
5. Flordinese (5:29)
6. Hartford Blues (3:31)
7. Toknight (6:13)
8. Squeeze Box (4:14)
9. Flight Song (4:24)
10. Grin (5:03)
11. Tsunami (4:44)
12. Haystack (8:36)

http://www.myspace.com/fireonfiremusic

Buy the CD (1000 numbered copies available only from YGR):
http://younggodrecords.com/Releases/Detail.asp?C=1970

Click Here

Rebsie Fairholm - Mind the Gap (2007)

2009-03-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

"Rebsie Fairholm is an English singer who felt the calling to traditional music but found the lure of 60s psychedelic rock too great an influence to resist, ending up with a darkly evocative cornfield-edge psych-folk. Inspired by the land and the lingering spirits of the ancestors who tilled it.

A mixture of reinvigorated traditional songs and new original ones transforms the sound of the ancient past into a silky psychedelia. She has also appeared on a couple of releases by The Owl Service." - rebsiefairholm.co.uk

Label: Sonic Spongecake

Tracklist:

1 Round Window
2 The Unquiet Grave
3 MacCrimmon's Lament
4 Buain A' Choirce (Reaping Oats)
5 Blackbirds & Thrushes
6 Spirits of the Dead
7 Leafblower
8 Fine Horseman
9 Geordie
10 Julia Dream
11 She Moves Through the Fair

http://www.myspace.com/rebsiefairholm

Buy the CD - http://www.rebsiefairholm.co.uk/

Click here
V2

Haruko - Wild Geese (Forthcoming album)

2009-03-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would let our readers know of what promises to be an amazing forthcoming LP by German folk musician Haruko (Susanne Stanglow). It's called Wild Geese and it's being released by Bracken Records in the early summer as a limited 12". It's going to be Haruko's first release (I believe), and I only had to listen to a couple of myspace tracks and samples to realise that this is probably going to be the folk release of the year. Get your preorders in now at Bracken Records.

http://www.myspace.com/harukomyspace

http://www.brackenrecords.com/

Thistletown - Rosemarie (2008)

2009-02-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I only discovered this band the other day, but after doing some research for this post it seems that this album has become somewhat of a classic of romantic pastoral folk in the short time since its release.

They live on a boat in Cornwall, dig nature, and make the most beautiful pre-Raphaelite English romantic music you have ever heard. - Label

Thanks go to Graaf for introducing me to this band. The CD is available from HMV, Amazon etc as well as the label, so I suggest you grab a copy.

Label - Big Bertha

Line-up:

Tiffany Bryant
Andrew Jarvis
Lydia Tweddell
Ben Tweddell
Matthew Bennett

Tracklist:

1 Rosemarie
2 Glowworm
3 Under the Trees
4 Dance With the Sea
5 Labyrinth
6 Oak and Ash
7 Moon is a Pearl
8 The Sun is Coming Up

http://www.myspace.com/thistletown

Click here
V2

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (2007)

2009-02-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

Folk Rock, Japanese version with two bonus tracks.

Singer-songwriter Sam Beam has gradually added rhythm and instruments to his gravitas across his previous records as Iron and Wine. On this third album, Beam finally brings the blood, instrumental colors and quirky but fluid arrangements that make explicit the worry and wounds running red in his Southern-gothic stories and dead-love letters. Slide guitars and buzzing sitars hang like spider's silk from "White Tooth Man." In "Carousel," Beam sings through a Leslie-organ effect, like George Harrison caught in the fog of "Blue Jay Way." "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" is how David Essex's "Rock On" would have sounded if the Clash covered it on Sandinista! Beam uses these sparks and hooks to draw you closer to uncomfortable truths. "Innocent Bones" is a bossa nova about the sin of piety. "House by the Sea" laments the cruelty of separation with African highlife guitars. Beam is as unsure in love and dismayed by the world as always. But he has never sounded more alive. - Rolling Stone

Label: Sub Pop Records

Tracklist:

1 Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car
2 White Tooth Man
3 Lovesong of the Buzzard
4 Carousel
5 House By the Sea
6 Innocent Bones
7 Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)
8 Resurrection Fern
9 Boy With a Coin
10 The Devil Never Sleeps
11 Peace Beneath the City
12 Flightless Bird, American Mouth
13 Carried Home
14 Kingdom of Animals

http://www.myspace.com/ironandwine

http://www.ironandwine.com/

Buy the CD - http://www.ironandwine.com/_catalog_30792/CDs

Click here
V2

Sharron Kraus - Beautiful Twisted (2002)

2009-02-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

"After the big stroke realised with Goblin Market, whose last year’s album marked one of the most exciting moments of the whole musical season, C.O. reaffirm their presence in the gothic folk edge with Sharron Kraus. "Beautiful Twisted" was recorded in California with a small team of co-workers, who added violin, string bass, mandolin and few other timbres to the guitar and five-string banjo of Sharron, a very expressive instrumentalist besides being an essential yet excellent singer. It’s precisely Kraus’ vocal personality to bring "Beautiful Twisted" near the atmospheres of Goblin Market’s ‘Ghostland’, while the instrumental impact is dryer and of higher acoustic purity, close to Fairport’s more bucolic things and to an even greater extent to the Incredible String Band. As happens for the greatest storytellers of the folk tradition, a fundamental point of strength is given by the lyrics, often entering scabrous territories (the tender incestuous story of ‘Twins’, recalling the young Joni Mitchell in the soft blend of guitar and violin, is the most evident example), perfectly balancing between melancholy and bitter irony, with a deliciously destabilising effect in a light-hearted hymn to detention as ‘Song of the Unfree’, inserted on the noble poetic string of female minstrels going from Shirley Collins to Suzanne Vega, taking also advantage of the colouring seductions of a strong and persuasive bass clarinet. Exemplary murder ballads and really unorthodox cloister memoirs, dark reminiscences of Don Juan and startling funeral gigues, waver in a notebook of dramatic remembrances, only sweetened by an undefined feeling of time distance, also rendered with visual effectiveness by the sepia-tinged monochromatic appearance of the rich booklet. Tales always menaced by dense clouds invite to an intense and pleasant listening, given also the abundant melodic proficiency of Sharron’s writing. A precious disc."

Label:

Camera Obscura Records

Tracklisting:

1. The Peacock's Wing (5:06)
2. The River's Daughter (3:32)
3. Moonbathing (4:01)
4. The Family Tradition (4:30)
5. Twins (4:37)
6. Cold-Hearted Devil (4:49)
7. Death Jig (1:15)
8. The Wrong Man (4:53)
9. Godstow (2:56)
10. Beautiful Twisted (6:16)
11. Song Of The Unfree (4:11)

http://www.sharronkraus.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sharronkraus

http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/obscura.htm - Purchase the record

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/acideagle - I'm not sure, but this should be Camera Obscura's Ebay Shop

Bitrate: V0

Click here

Nancy Elizabeth - Battle and Victory (2007)

2009-02-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

"The Lancashire-born singer’s down-to-earth songs are brought to life by her warm and unaffected voice. Unpretentious but effortlessly ambitious, Nancy turns the retro, less-is-more aesthetic of the current acoustic revival on its head. Not content with writing and singing all the songs herself, the 23 year-old also plays most of the instruments, including guitar, khim, Indian harmonium, Appalachian dulcimer and bouzouki, amongst many others."

"Nancy Elizabeth with an astounding new single Hey Son on Leaf. Starting from the seed of a pure female voice and guitar, it slowly builds taking in a great choppy guitar action until finally we're in a wall of pagan intensity and tribal beats. Makes me want to strip off, paint up and dance round the campfire high on lead from cheap market paint". - Norman Records on 'Hey Son'

Label: Leaf

Tracklist:

1 I'm Like The Paper
2 I Used To Try
3 Off With Your Axe
4 The Remote Past
5 Coriander
6 8 Brown Legs
7 Electric
8 Hey Son
9 Weakened Bow
10 What Is Human
11 Lung
12 How Can I Stop?
13 Battle and Victory

http://www.nancyelizabeth.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/nancyelizabethcunliffe

http://leaf.greedbag.com/nancy-elizabeth/ - Purchase the record

Bitrate - V0

Click here

Various - Hand/Eye (2001)

2009-01-27T00:44:00.000-08:00

The Hand/Eye label has been bringing the world modern experimental-folk and psychedelic music since the early 1990s. Hand/Eye has forged a unique and varied catalog which, along with parent label, Dark Holler, has given the world everything from deep-space astral explorations to traditional fiddle tunes. For the 10th Hand/Eye release we've gathered friends and associates from the world over, hand-picked for this celebration of music. All of the artists have provided exclusive material for this compilation. There are no convenient names for this gathering of music: Psychedelia, wyrdfolk, acid-folk, experimental, astral-folk... call it what you will, it cannot be bottled under one small label. The music shall speak for itself.

Track Listing CD1 "hand" 1. AMPS FOR CHRIST "False Knight on the Road" 2. IN GOWAN RING "On the Butterfly´s Wing" 3. PETER SCION "Cynthia" 4. SARADA "The Darkest Path" 5. ALASDAIR ROBERTS "Willie-O" 6. THE IDITAROD "The Rowan" 7. STONE BREATH "The Blood of the Woven-Vine Divinity" 8. GREG WEEKS "Night Must Fall" 9. CURRITUCK COUNTY "Paid for Grace" 10. RING "The Sun is Behind" 11. WITCH-HUNT "Two Magicians" 12. ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. "Le Satyre" 13. PRYDWYN "Hermit Song (Ianitrix)" 14. FIT & LIMO "Oh Sphinx" CD2 "eye" 1. MARTYN BATES "Seven Yellow Gypsies" 2. KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT "Leikattu Nurmikko" 3. DREKKA "In Tension" 4. TINSEL "Random Books Floating" 5. FURSAXA "Porpoise Wings" 6. TIMOTHY THE REVELATOR "Always All One, All Ways Alone" 7. SKYE KLAD "Widdershins" 8. PELT "Actias Luna Chase, or Moth Navigation" 9. DIANA OBSCURA "West Wind" 10. DEAD RAVEN CHOIR "We will not Whisper" 11. MASON JONES "Can't You See" 12. SALAMANDER "Ghost Riders in the Sky"

Info:

http://www.somedarkholler.com/

*LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST OF ARTIST*

The Iditarod and Sharron Kraus - Yuletide (2003)

2009-01-19T00:46:00.000-08:00

Splendid e-zine review:
You know those times when you put a record on and close your eyes, and then open them again and you can't tell whether you've listened to the record or not? I'm having them more often recently. Partly it's because the day job is getting too intense and I can barely do anything except slump in my chair when I get in. But mostly it's because I'm listening to the Iditarod a lot. Imagine that a band snuck into Heaven and clipped a few blades of grass, took a glassful of water from a river and a handful of earth from a shady corner of God's garden. Once they'd floated back down to earth, they strung their instruments with the grass, passed the water around and took a few sips each and scattered the earth on the floor of the rehearsal room. And then they started to play music, music from the past, music from stone cottages, from fishing villages, from field workers, from the working folk. Folk music. And the music was good. Exceptionally good. It somehow fused the devotion of the true believer with the authenticity of a scholar and the sound of an accordion slowly exhaling. You can't imagine that? No problem, it's out on Elsie and Jack shortly.
- Jimmy Possession

Label: Elsie & Jack Recordings

Tracklist:
1 The Trees Are All Bare
2 Lyke Wake Dirge
3 Gift
4 Winter's Spell
5 Wintermute

http://www.secreteye.org/theiditarod/

BITRATE: VBR V0

CLICK HERE

Tau Emerald - Travellers Two [2008]

2009-01-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

1 Travellers Two
2 Evening Wings
3 Stoikite
4 Barrowlands
5 Full Moon
6 Pilgrims' Return
7 Henbane
8 Water Divining
9 Bani Caapi
10 Mermaids' Call
11 Laureola

Travellers Two is a full length recording from the duo of Tara Burke (Fursaxa) and Sharron Kraus. Togerther Kraus & Burke create an ethereal record of dark-folk magic.
Tara Burke and Sharron Kraus were due to travel to Finland together for a week but missed the flight, so instead they decided to spend the week recording together and Travellers Two is the result. The time was spent out in the fields, visiting burial mounds, and then coming back to Sharron's home studio to work. They had played previously together and done some recording but this is the first time an album was conceived.

Info

http://www.myspace.com/sharronkraus

http://www.myspace.com/tarafursaxa

CLICK HERE
192 kbps

Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses (Japanese Edition) [2007]

2009-01-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

1 This Place In Time (2:33)
2 Le Labyrinthe (5:15)
3 Sun Against My Eyes (4:22)
4 Les Ondes Silencieuses (6:09)
5 Blue Sands (5:16)
6 Echoes And Coral (3:09)
7 Sea Of Tranquillity (5:46)
8 Past The Long Black Land (3:41)
9 Le Bateau (7:09)
10 Unfold Out (5:36)
11 Serpentine (6:04)
12 I'll Read You A Story (5:18)

Cecile Schott returns with her third album as Colleen, the highly personal, distinctly adventurous and confident Les Ondes Silencieuses, which follows Colleen Et Les Boites Ee Musique from late 2006. This album signals a change of approach for Parisienne Schott.

A whole new approach to composing was needed, both in a more traditional and, paradoxically, a more improvised way. Chord changes, greater use of space and tempo variations were all now possible. The sounds created were key to the overall feel of the record. Unlike Schott's previous album, The Golden Morning Breaks, where the sounds created from each instrument often ended up disguising their identities, Les Ondes Silencieuses creates a platform using the intended sound, and then augments it with more of her innovation and personality. With all these ingredients a new world is created, with one foot in the court of Louis XIV and the other in the imagination of Cecile Schott.

Japanese Edition With Live Bonus Tracks

10,11,12 Recorded Live In Tokyo On 4th November 2006

Info

http://www.myspace.com/colleenmusique

CLICK HERE
320 kbps

The Iditarod - The Ghost, The Elf, The Cat And The Angel (2002)

2009-01-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Wire (UK) review:
From Rhode Island, the Iditarod play a minimal kind of bleak psychedelic folk that owes as much to the somnambulism of Bristol's Movietone as it does to early 70s private press semi-legends like Stone Angel or Caedmon. The time-frozen feel of their slow processionals are further heightened by the subtle use of chimes, tamboura, singing bowl, viola and banjo, which cast little shadows beneath Jeffrey Alexander's guitar picking. Vocalist Carin Wagner sings in a half-monotone as if lost in reverie. She's joined for two tracks by the German folk duo Fit & Limo who play bouzouki, dulcimer, organ and glockenspiel as well as providing vocals. The Iditarod's reading of "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" closely monitors Pentangle's recorded version, while their take on a droning lament "Unfortunate Lass" - the set's highlight - echoes Steeleye Span's masterful "When I Was On Horseback".
- David Keenan

You will find more reviews of this album here.

Label: BlueSanct

Line up: Carin Wagner, Jeffrey Alexander

Tracklist:
1 The Roots Of The Butterfly Bush (3:31)
2 Black Strung Bow (1:00)
3 Afternoons Like This Are Hard To Come By (7:22)
4 Raga (In D#) (6:44)
5 Cycle Circle (4:40)
6 The Falling Of The Pine (9:54)
7 Ich Tanzte Weit (2:09)
8 New Magic In A Dusty World (1:58)
9 Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (3:55)
10 The Nameless One (4:08)
11 Unfortunate Lass (5:40)

http://www.secreteye.org/theiditarod/

Bitrate: V0

Click Here

Pollyanna - Whatever They Say I'm a Princess (2004)

2009-01-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

"Pollyanna is a French band led by songwriter Isabelle Casier. My first reaction was "woah, Julie Doiron." It does sound like Julie Doiron but a bit less intimate, a bit less low-key, and midway through "Matador", the first song, I changed my mind and decided it sounded more like Nina Nastasia, with haunting cellos, dramatic choruses and careful instrumentation. "You Hold the World in Your Hand" sounds really dark while "Frankenstein" leans more towards Doiron's casual weariness with lyrics like "It's hard to please with a screw stuck in your forehead." "Iron Man" reminds me of Ivy, a bit less exciting and a bit less poppy but she has a great voice and a cute shade of an accent." - Only Angels Have Wings."

DIY bedroom Folk with a soft indie rock flavour.

Label - Eglantine Records

Line-up:

Isabelle Casier - Vocals, acoustic guitar
David Lopez - Drums, arrangements

Tracklist:

1 Matador
2 You hold the world in your hand
3 Frankenstein
4 Iron man
5 In my pocket
6 The narrow door
7 Untitled
8 Song for a room
9 Romeos
10 Across the river
11 Goodbye

http://www.pollyanna.org/

http://www.myspace.com/pollyannamusic

Buy the CD - http://www.eglantinerecords.com/releases/egl007

Bitrate - V2

Click here

Mountain Mirrors - Mountain Mirrors (2006)

2009-01-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

"If Nick Drake had regularly gone camping with the guys from Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, he might have put out albums like those of Mountain Mirrors—the psych folk/rock project of multi-instrumentalist Jeff Sanders. Sanders has a melodic yet mesmerizing style, and fearlessly explores subject matter both dark and spiritual...all with a big, cosmic, out-of-doors feeling." - magnatune.com

In other words, psychedelic, progressive, folk rock.

Line-up:

Jeff Sanders with various guests.

Tracklist:

1 Stay Evil
2 The Demon's Eye
3 Karmic Dogs
4 Your Time Has Come
5 Calm Before the Storm
6 Alone in a Crowd
7 Deploribus Unum
8 Praying Mantis

http://www.mountainmirrors.com/

http://www.myspace.com/mountainmirrors

Buy the CD - http://cdbaby.com/cd/mountainmirrors2

Bitrate - V2

Click here

Green Mistletoe - Of Bird's Song and Flower's Breath [2007]

2009-01-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

1. oakwine, birch twigs, and dragon's blood
2. magick song mead of the gibbous moon
3. othilaz on the knaur
4. nicippe
5. like sweet flowers of earliest bloom
6. of bird's song and flower's breath
7. druid's foot
8. the last red apple of the topmost twigs
9. greenwizardbreath through mountainwater
10. wovoka
11. hazelcromm
12. woodspryght
13. dream poliphilo, in obscure wood

http://www.myspace.com/greenmistletoe

CLICK HERE
VBR - V2

James Blackshaw - Litany Of Echoes [2008]

2008-12-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

1 Gate Of Ivory (5:20)
2 Past Has Not Passed (12:38)
3 Echo And Abyss (12:10)
4 Infinite Circle (5:54)
5 Shroud (11:44)
6 Gate Of Horn (5:21)

James Blackshaw's previous albums featured his John Fahey-inspired guitar playing, but much like Fahey himself, Blackshaw is not the sort of performer who enjoys being tagged with a single identification. So LITANY OF ECHOES downplays Blackshaw's sterling guitar work to include lengthy tracks composed and performed on piano and violin, as well as an increased use of subtle effects to enhance the hypnotic drone effects of songs like the alternately lulling and unsettling 13-minute epic "Past Has Not Passed."

Info

http://www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw

CLICK HERE
VBR - V1

The Owl Service - A Garland of Song [2008]

2008-12-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

1 A Garland Of Song (Folk Revival) (2:13)
2 Child Ballad No.49 (Or The Rolling Of The Stones) (2:59)
3 Hoodening (2:10)
4 The North Country Maid (2:39)
5 Katie Cruel (3:21)
6 The Lammas (1:46)
7 Oxford City (Or The Jealous Lover) (2:55)
8 Turpin Hero (4:09)
9 The Dorset Hanging Oak (6:33)
10 Apple Tree Man (3:08)
11 Child Ballad No.219 (The Gardener Child) (5:16)
12 Corn Dollies (1:26)
13 Flanders Shore (4:44)

The Owl Service was formed by Steven Collins on 6th June 2006 as a vehicle to explore his love of British films and television of the 1960s and 70s, the great outdoors and the sound of the English folk revival.

A Garland Of Song was recorded and mixed almost entirely at home, with a group of like-minded collaborators, between December 2006 and June 2007; it fuses traditional British folk ballads with elements of psychedelic rock, occasionally bordering on a doom-laden garage sound, and is interspersed with Steven's original instrumental compositions. It recalls the great acid-folk bands of the late '60s/early '70s but never once sounds contrived or overtly retro - nobody has approached trad folk quite like this for over 30 years.

Info

www.myspace.com/theowlservice

CLICK HERE
192 kbps

Loreena Mckennitt - An Ancient Muse (2006)

2008-12-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Something a bit different this time, an amalgamation of new age and world music styles with of course, a folk leaning. Incredible album, this.

“Tell me, O Muse, of those who travelled far and wide”

Aptly, it is an echo of Homer’s timeless Odyssey that introduces Loreena McKennitt’s seventh studio recording, the latest volume of a project she describes as “musical travel writing”. This time, the journey takes her in search of the Celts’ easternmost paths, from the plains of Mongolia to the kingdom of King Midas and the Byzantine Empire. Along the way, she muses on the concepts of home, of travel in all its incarnations, of the cultural intermingling that underpins human history and our universal legacies of conflict and hope. - quinlanroad.com

Label - Quinlan Road

Tracklist:

1 Incantation
2 The Gates of Istanbul
3 Caravanserai
4 The English Ladye and the Knight
5 Kecharitomene
6 Penelope's Song
7 Sacred Shabbat
8 Beneath A Phrygian Sky
9 Never-ending Road (Amhrán Duit)

Grab the CD here.

Bitrate - V2

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Marissa Nadler - Four Track Recordings, Outtakes [2005]

2008-12-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

01 - Flora Barone Queen of the Vaudeville Throne [4:41]
02 - Box of Cedar [4:19]
03 - Famous Song [4:06]
04 - Annabelle Lee [5:13]
05 - Black Hole Infinity [1:24]
06 - Chelsea Hotel #2 [2:23]
07 - Ashes [2:24]
08 - Days of the Dead [1:10]
09 - Strange [1:53]
10 - Battle Hymn of the Republic [1:51]
11 - As I Lay in Death My Son [4:32]
12 - Lily, Henry, and the Willow Trees [3:34]

Info

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320 kbps

Arborea - Arborea [2008]

2008-11-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

1 Forewarned
2 Red Bird
3 Ides of March
4 Seadrift
5 Black Mountain Road
6 Dark Horse
7 Leaves Among the Ruins
8 Dark Is the Night, Cold Is the Wind
9 Swan
10 Echo of Hooves
11 Plains of Macedonia

Arborea is a Maine-based husband and wife duo that creates earthy, spirited music with a hearty nod toward folk music of the past. Really, their music is a strong mix of old-world and American folk traditions, with a smattering of other elements, both modern and antique. For their sophomore album, Buck and Shanti Curran incorporate vocals, guitars, banjo, violin, and percussion into their beautiful works. Their previous album was called "Wayfaring Summer," but this self-titled effort seems to evoke the fall season with its deep, brooding music and melancholy sound. - Foxy Digitalis

Modern Psych Folk. Gorgeous vocals accompanied by haunting melodic banjo, slide guitar, and cello.

I was asked by Arborea's management to remove the link to the full album.
Understandably, they're concerned about people only downloading the album and not bothering to purchase it.
I respect the right of the band to not have their album available for free here, even if it was meant for promotional purposes.
Please go to their myspace page, listen to the samples, and buy the album!

- S.E.

http://www.myspace.com/arborea2

Autumn Grieve - Terra Infinita (EP, 2007)

2008-11-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

"Ethereal folk with a classical sensibility". Autumn Grieve is probably my favourite discovery this year, beautiful stuff.

It would be impossible to describe Autumn's music without mentioning Kate Bush - though more from depth of feeling rather than a direct link. Her first release for bedroom-run label Rusted Rail feels deeply feminine, steeped in emotion, offering a unique take on the world of pastoral folk. Autumn's breathy vocals serve as another instrument within the layers of delicate guitar, and careful strings. The result is individuality in a genre that has become heavily loaded of late. Essential. - Rough Trade

Label - Rusted Rail

Tracklist:

1 Flown
2 The Balance and the Beauty
3 Today the Rain
4 The Borrowed Light of Memory

http://www.autumngrieve.com/
http://www.myspace.com/autumngrieve
Grab the EP here - http://www.rustedrail.com/autumn2.html

Bitrate - V2

Click here

Jack Rose - Kensington Blues (2005)

2008-11-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

Something a little more upbeat this time. Jack Rose plays psychedelic ragtime folk in a ridiculously fast and complex fingerpicking style. On a mission to revive the traditions of ragtime, Mr. Rose plays the acoustic guitar like noone else I've ever heard.

His tools are firmly those of the past. While the new century's novel folk has already seen significant definition, Rose is largely alone in talking new century ideas with the old language.
Thus, Kensington Blues is derivative and at the same time nearly brilliant. The styles Rose employs are diverse: twelve-string virtuoso shows, a slide guitar that alludes as much to the sitar as to the blues, solid traditional Takoma ragtime and folk. Out from latter comes a Fahey cover, "Sunflower River Blues", which (not surprisingly) works as the soil from which the rest of the record grows. The original was predicated on Fahey's impeccable timing; Rose's take amplifies the feeling and melody, and then runs with it. Hence the stunning "Kensington Blues", a song full of clarity and syncopation, elegant and well composed. Two others, "Rappahanock River Rag" and "Flirtin' with the Undertaker", are less weighty, more jaunty deliveries of Rose's signature modern ragtime.

But Rose is more than a traditionalist, and the other tracks on Kensington Blues veer sharply into newer territory. "Cathedral et Chartres" uses twelve strings to abstract the melodic clarity so abundant elsewhere on the record, speeding it up and then sending it into a droning, buzzing finale. This idea is fully worked out in his closer, "Calais to Dover", in which Rose transfigures the raga into a kind of Dream Music, deep listening project, vibrating his way past individual notes and sequences and arriving at something more akin to pure tone and texture. The minimalist affinity is no coincidence: Rose's folk is not the least bit free, even as he explores freak sonic terrain, and control is his technique, no matter how many notes he stacks. - Pitchfork

Label: VHF Records/Beautiful Happiness

Tracklist:

1 Kensington Blues
2 Cross the North Fork
3 Cathedral et Chartres
4 Rappahanock River Rag (For William Moore)
5 Sunflower River Blues
6 Now That I'm a Man Full Grown II
7 Flirtin' with the Undertaker
8 Calais to Dover

http://www.vhfrecords.com/jackrose/
Grab the record here

Bitrate - V2

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Ilona V - Good Morning (Single, 2007)

2008-11-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

It just don't get much more stripped down than this - listening to 'Good Morning' by Ilona V is like stepping into a secret garden where everything is serene and pure, a place devoid of clutter, a life-giving place to re-energise and rejuvenate, an oasis in a parched desert. Accompanied by nothing much other than succulent, punctuative acoustic guitar, a couple of bars of harmonica and cello and the occasional percussive interjection, Ilona lets her beautifully sensitive, gentle voice carry you to a better, more fulfilling place.

'Good Morning' and its two 'B' sides, 'Universe Arms' and ' Who Can Tell?' are like a breath of fresh air in an oppressive smog, a drink from a crystal clear stream when you're surrounded by stagnation and pollution. Ilona V has turned urban, poetic music back on its head - she's returned to basics, to a time when lyrics mattered, to a time of evocative words, sympathetic accompaniment and sparse, empathetic arrangements. Ilona's music may sound a little morose at times but somehow, and I think it's through her musical honesty and sense of downhome-ness, she still manages to be uplifting and refreshing. - Toxic Pete

7" on Bracken Records.

Tracklist:

1 Good Morning
2 Universe Arms (Demo)
3 Who Can Tell? (Demo)

http://www.myspace.com/ilonamusic
If you're quick, you can still get a copy of this 7" single from Bracken Records

Bitrate - V2

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Arrowwood & novemthree split EP (2007)

2008-10-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

More of a collaboration than a split, contributing musicians from both groups feature on both sides of the split.

Both projects deal with haunting folk styles, sounds that evoke a sort of timeless atmosphere of poetry and myth. Arrowwood’s contribution weaves an almost ambient haze of melancholic moods, which, lead by vocalist Chelsea Robb (with accompaniment from Pythagumus, Lindsey Hoffman, Josh Lovejoy), transports you to a time when haunting laments were the bread and butter of troubadours everywhere. Meanwhile, Novemthree (spearheaded by Pythagumus) has a sound that evokes memories of the spooky pastoral folk found on The Wicker Man Sountrack.

The EP is a release on the new Little Somebody Records label, who utilizes unique packaging (two mini-CDs with some marvelous graphic design) to create a treasured collectors item. This is music that beckons you towards a dark wood, and you should heed its call. - A Sweeping Curve of Sound

Info like line-up and tracklist omitted to save space, see here.

http://www.myspace.com/arrowwood

http://www.myspace.com/novemthree

http://www.myspace.com/littlesomebody

Bitrate - V0

Click here

Larkin Grimm - Parplar [2008]

2008-10-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

1. They Were Wrong
2. Ride That Cyclone
3. Blond And Golden Johns
4. Dominican Rum
5. Parplar
6. Durge
7. Be My Host
8. Mino Minou
9. My Justine
10. Anger In Your Liver
11. All The Pleasures In The World
12. Fall On My Knees
13. How To Catch A Lizard
14. The Dip
15. Hope Of The Hopeless

Parplar is the Young God debut from the fabulous itinerant force of nature Larkin Grimm. She’s got an elemental voice that comes from somewhere under the earth. She alternately moans like a woman-in-full, wails like a banshee, or coos like a crazed little girl, depending on her mood. Parplar was co-produced by Michael Gira (Devendra Banhart, Akron/Family, Angels Of Light, Swans) and Larkin Grimm. It was recorded at Old Soul Studio in Catskill NY, with additional recording at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn and mixed at Trout Recording, Brooklyn. Larkin’s risen to the occasion on this one – really found herself as a singer, and it features absolutely stellar vocal performances of songs that are sometimes soulful, whimsical, sensual or bizarre. The production is as varied and unpredictable as Larkin herself.

Info

http://www.myspace.com/larkingrimm

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Meg Baird, Helena Espvall & Sharron Kraus - Leaves From Off The Tree [2006]

2008-10-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

1 Bruton Town (5:39)
2 Barbry Ellen (5:47)
3 Furtune My Foe (3:38)
4 Willie Of Winsbury (9:17)
5 The Nightingale (3:11)
6 John Hardy (3:38)
7 The Derry Dems Of Arrow (3:33)
8 Now Westlin' Winds (5:32)
9 False Sir John (7:18)

Leaves From Off The Tree is a three-way project of Sharron Kraus with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall from Espers. This is a beautiful recording of traditional folk material, with the most stunning singing and arrangements of some of England and Appalachia's finest songs. "The songs on this record were recorded after many an evening swapping songs (and beers!) in Fishtown, Philadelphia, where Sharron had moved from her native England, and Meg and Helena were already installed. Meg and Sharron both had traditional music backgrounds and would meet up and teach each other Appalachian and English ballads, and improvise harmonies and alternate melodies. At some point Helena was invited along and her voice and cello added a rich new layer. We wanted to record the songs in a way that would capture the relaxed atmosphere of our gatherings, so we recorded all nine songs live in one afternoon." Comes in a deluxe white gatefold sleeve complete with notes of each track.

Info

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vbr ~210 kbps

Sharron Kraus - The Fox's Wedding [2008]

2008-10-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

1 Brigid
2 Green Man
3 In The Middle Of Summer
4 July Skies
5 Harvest Moon
6 Would I
7 The Prophet
8 Thrice Toss These Oaken Ashes
9 Robin Is Dead
10 Ruthless And Alone
11 Made My Home
12 Magpie Child

Sharron Kraus is a singer/musician/songwriter with a gift for beautiful and heartbreaking songs from a deep-seated storytelling mythology. Her music is rooted in the Folk traditions of England and Appalachia. Her songs are characterized by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar, and visionary wordcraft. Kraus' songs are populated by a carnival array of fatally charismatic characters, telling tales of enslavement, perversion, incest, obsession, love and death whereas her live performances are stark, compelling, and delicate. She is like the roving storyteller, bringing tales of terror, sadness and joy to a stranger's hearth on a dark and stormy night. The Fox's Wedding offers eleven original songs and a cover of 'Trice Toss These Oaken Ashes' written by Thomas Campion.

Info

http://www.sharronkraus.com/

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192 kbps

Alela Diane - The Pirate's Gospel (2006)

2008-10-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

This album plays like an autobiography of everything this remarkable young woman has experienced: a place where deep woods meet winding rivers; where rural traditions are not the curiosities of bourgeois hipsters, but rather, a way of life. enchanting and endearing in equal parts, this album will endure long after this year is done. - Roughtrade

Traditional folk with a hint of country and the North American South. Originally self-released in 2004, this release with two bonus tracks on Holocene Music/Names Records.

Tracklist:

1 Tired Feet
2 Rifle
3 Pirate's Gospel
4 Foreign Tongue
5 Can You Blame The Sky
6 Something's Gone Awry
7 Pieces Of String
8 Clickity Clack
9 Sister Self
10 Pigeon Song
11 Oh My Mama
12 Heavy Walls (Bonus Track)
13 Gipsy Eyes (Bonus Track)

http://www.aleladiane.com/

Bitrate - V2

Click Here

The Battle of Land and Sea - The Battle of Land and Sea [2008]

2008-10-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

1. Saltwater Queen
2. Birdsong
3. Beautiful Ones
4. Harden My Heart
5. Six Days
6. I Built the Sea
7. Lady
8. You Are a Sailor

To describe the sound of The Battle of Land and Sea, one might call up images of abandoned sea-worn ships floating through a thick coastal ... (more) fog. And upon first listen you might call to mind Cat Power, or the soft glow of Songs of Green Pheasant. But eventually, you start to hear what makes the music of Portland based Sarah O’Shura so special. You get a glimpse of a world through the eyes of someone on a musical pilgrimage, whether the tales are laden with sorrow or joy, they are enchanting and hopeful.

http://www.myspace.com/battleoflandandsea

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320 kbps

Castanets - First Light's Freeze [2005]

2008-10-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

1 (The Waves Are Rolling Beneath Your Skin) (0:28)
2 Into The Night (4:03)
3 A Song Is Not The Song Of The World (3:56)
4 Good Friend, Yr Hunger (2:03)
5 (We Drew Uncertain Breath) (0:28)
6 Bells Aloud (4:50)
7 First Light's Freeze (2:16)
8 Evidence (A Mask Of Horizon, Distortion Of Form) (0:55)
9 No Voice Was Raised (5:17)
10 (Migration Concentric) (0:31)
11 All That I Know To Have Changed In You (3:53)
12 Dancing With Someone (Privilege Of Everything) (3:00)
13 Reflecting In The Angles (1:45)

A dark, mutant-country sound infused with strands of free-jazz and a late-70's Nashville big-radio strut hijacked by post-punk unravelers. The result is a beautiful mix of somber reflection, destination-unknown travelogue, and subversive anti-war boogie. "Freeze" confronts the mythology of war and friendship; the close proximity of things painful and pleasurable, and the complications of this as a paradigm for the world. Castanets suggest artistic geography as transcontinental as Merle Haggard, Albert Ayler, Television, and Richard and Mimi Farina.

Info

http://www.myspace.com/castanets

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320 kbps

Mountain Home - Mountain Home [2007]

2008-10-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

1 The Sparrow (5:10)
2 Battle, We Were (10:42)
3 Comes, The Winter (7:10)
4 Omie Wise (7:25)
5 Nottamun Town (6:59)

Mountain Home is Marissa Nadler, Greg Weeks, Maragret Wienk, Ilya Monosov, Joshua Blatchley and Kristen Sherer. Highly underrated, and quite unknown. Fans of slow and melancholic folk music will appreciate this album.

Info

http://www.myspace.com/mtnhome

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192 kbps

Josephine Foster - This Coming Gladness [2008]

2008-10-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

A1 The Garden Of Earthly Delights
A2 The Lap Of Your Lust
A3 Lullaby To All
A4 I Love You & The Springtime Blues
A5 All I Wanted Was The Moon
B1 Waltz Of Green
B2 Sim Não
B3 Second Sight
B4 A Thimbleful Of Milk
B5 Indelible Rainbows

Colorado born Josephine Foster has practically defined what it means to be an outsider folk singer. Initially with Born Heller and then solo and accompanied by the Supposed, her unsettling soprano and way with a song takes the eerie otherness of those early Appalachian ballads and brings them, whispering, into our dreams.

The Coming Gladness brings the folk aesthetic that Josephine has explored in her recent albums to the psyche rock territory of her recordings with the Supposed. This intense, uncompromising music is the looming badlands landscape lit by the charged lightning strikes of an extraordinary voice.

Info

http://www.myspace.com/josephinefoster

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320 kbps

Ex Reverie - The Door Into Summer [2008]

2008-09-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

01 Second Son (6:57)
02 The Crowning (4:31)
03 Dawn Comes For Us All (6:45)
04 The Years (5:16)
05 Days Away (4:20)
06 Cedar (8:57)
07 Clouds? Or Smoke? (6:30)
08 Wooden Sword (4:28)
09 Cedar, Pt. 2 (2:29)

Info
http://www.exreverie.com/

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192 kbps

Fern Knight - Fern Knight [2008]

2008-09-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

1 Bemused (4:48)
2 Silver Fox (7:40)
3 Sundew (3:31)
4 Loch Na Fooey (5:05)
5 Hawk Mountain (4:49)
6 Synge's Chair (7:43)
Magpie Suite
7 Prelude (3:42)
8 Part II (4:39)
9 Part III (4:18)

The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet, featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric bass, Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar James Wolf on violin. The calm surface of harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and vocal mystery.

The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf #110) is that of a beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to dust and its struggle to escape this end.

http://www.fernknight.com

Info

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320 kbps

Espers - Espers [2004]

2008-09-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

1 Flowery Noontide (4:10)
2 Meadow (4:11)
3 Riding (4:09)
4 Voices (3:44)
5 Hearts & Daggers (8:34)
6 Byss & Abyss (6:03)
7 Daughter (3:03)
8 Travel Mountains (6:30)

Info

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320 kbps

Vetiver - Vetiver [2004]

2008-09-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

1 Oh Papa
2 Without A Song
3 Farther On
4 Amour Fou
5 Pajaros Del Rio
6 Amerilie
7 Arboretum
8 Angels' Share
9 Luna Sea
10 Belles
11 On A Nerve

Info

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Emily Jane White - Dark Undercoat [2007]

2008-09-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

1 Bessie Smith 3:28
2 Hole In The Middle 3:27
3 Dark Undercoat 4:58
4 Dagger 5:13
5 Time On Your Side 2:23
6 The Demon 5:50
7 Sleeping Dead 4:32
8 Blue 4:29
9 Wild Tigers I Have Known 4:19
10 Two Shots to the Head 4:19

Info

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192 kbps

The Valerie Project - The Valerie Project [2007]

2008-09-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

1 Prelude (0:44)
2 Introduction (2:26)
3 Torchlight (3:10)
4 Grandmother (4:58)
5 A Letter (2:03)
6 Tree Of Life (1:39)
7 The Sermon (1:32)
8 Eagle's Theme (2:19)
9 Dungeon (2:57)
10 Fire Fountain (3:00)
11 The Feast (3:22)
12 Dove, Pearl, Priest (2:31)
13 Vampires (2:57)
14 Eagle's Theme (Reprise) (2:25)
15 The Crypt (0:57)
16 Elisa (3:12)
17 Machine Room (3:06)
18 Bookshelf Serenade (1:21)
19 Flower Girl (1:00)
20 Blood Sacrifice (3:31)
21 The Crypt (Reprise) (2:31)
22 A Second Letter (0:55)
23 Hedvica (2:11)
24 Burned At The Stake (2:53)
25 Den Of Iniquity (3:16)
26 An End To Enchantment (0:55)
27 A Final Letter (3:13)
28 Death And Rebirth (2:04)
29 Reunion (6:32)
30 Crib (0:20)

"Víèzslav Nezval could hardly have imagined the future incarnations of his 1945 book Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Inspired by its folklore guise and transgressive symbolism, fellow Czech Jaromil Jires condensed Nezval's novella into a staggeringly beautiful celluloid fantasy which mirrored the aesthetic and radical consciosness of the 60s counter-culture which birthed it. Thirty-eight years after it's initial release ten Philadelphian musicians, bound by a love of the film and its original score, worked to compose an alternate soundtrack. The result is a celebration of the impact Valerie and Her Week of Wonders has had on the Folk/Rock Movement and a tribute to the culture that today sustains it." - Greg weeks

Info

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256 kbps

Samara Lubelski - The Fleeting Skies [2004]

2008-09-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

1 The Fleeting Skies
2 Keeper Of Beauty
3 Guarding The Sun
4 Under The Gaze
5 Waiting By The Gate
6 Immortal Design
7 Follow You
8 The Boy Who Bought The Cosmos
9 Now's Morning's Calling
10 Crowns And Courts

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vbr ~202 kbps

Alela Diane - Forest Parade [2003]

2008-09-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

1. brown dirt.
2. red tin roof.
3. her garden.
4. unraveling.
5. the snow.
6. in your voice.
7. you.
8. blue swallows.
9. the axe.
10. clothesline.
11. i'm sorry.
12. strong daughter.
13. for tonight.

Self-Released

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320 kbps

Six Organs Of Admittance - Dust & Chimes

2008-09-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

1 Stone Finders Verse I (1:35)
2 Assyria (3:02)
3 Hollow Light Severed Sun (5:29)
4 Tukulti Will Burn (1:13)
5 Blue Sun Chiming (2:41)
6 Oak Path (3:49)
7 Black Needle Rhymes (5:38)
8 Sophia (3:47)
9 Journey Through Sankuan Path (10:49)
10 Stone Finders Verse II (1:38)
11 Dance Among The Waiting (7:18)

Reissue of CD on Pavilion Records, originally released in 1999 in an edition of 500

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192 kbps

Fursaxa - Alone In The Dark Wood [2007]

2008-09-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

1 Intro (0:17)
2 Lunaria Enters The Blue Lodge (3:25)
3 Bells Of Capistrano (2:48)
4 Drinking Wine In Yarrow (1:27)
5 Black Haw (3:18)
6 Clé Elum (1:49)
7 Alone In The Dark Wood (4:36)
8 Nawne Ye (2:20)
9 Sheds Her Skin (3:47)
10 In The Hollow Mink Shoal (3:21)
11 Rattling The Calabash (4:07)
12 Birds Inspire Epic Bards (2:04)
13 Of Tubal Cain (2:24)
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vbr ~241 kbps

Orion Rigel Dommisse - What I Want From You Is Sweet [2007]

2008-09-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

1 Fake Yer Death (4:05)
2 Alice And Sarah (3:40)
3 Simon Sent For Me (3:59)
4 A Faceless Death (2:37)
5 Capricorn (4:05)
6 Ashes From Your Burning Wood (2:37)
7 Suicide Kiss (Because Dead) (3:58)
8 A Giver (3:49)
9 Little Neighbor (4:50)
10 Drink Yourself (To Death) (3:41)

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192 kbps

White Magic - Through The Sun Door [2004]

2008-09-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

1 One-Note (3:13)
2 Don't Need (4:42)
3 Keeping The Wolves From The Door (3:11)
4 The Gypsies Came Marching After (3:12)
5 Plain Gold Ring (5:06)
6 Apocalypse (3:26)

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192 kbps

Faun Fables - Mother Twilight [2004]

2008-09-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

1 Begin (2:44)
2 Sleepwalker (3:37)
3 Shadowsound (5:02
4 Hela (4:33)
5 Traveller Returning (6:21)
6 Train (3:20)
7 Beautiful Blade (4:28)
8 Mother Twilight (7:01)
9 Lightning Rods (3:34)
10 Moth (6:06)
11 Girl That Said Goodbye (4:20)
12 Washington State (Live At The Living Room, NYC Jan '98) (2:17)
13 Catch Me (3:05)
14 Live Old (5:24)

Reissue of the 2001 self released album

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256 kbps