Sharron Kraus - Beautiful Twisted (2002)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"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

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Nancy Elizabeth - Battle and Victory (2007)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

"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

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Various - Hand/Eye (2001)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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)

Monday, January 19, 2009

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

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Tau Emerald - Travellers Two [2008]

Sunday, January 18, 2009

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]

Thursday, January 15, 2009

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)

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

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