KLOF Mag Regular - New Mixtape, Reviews & More
KLOF Mag Regular - New Mixtape, Reviews & More
New Mixtape + Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Seckou Keita, Karl Blau, Yasmin Williams, Jerron Paxton, Jeremie Albuno, Nap Eyes, Snowgoose, Eric Bibb, Jon Doran, Amy Speace, Darren Hayman, Danny & The Champs.
Listen to our latest Mixtape featuring Karl Blau, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Tucker Zimmerman, AJ Woods, Johnny Coley, Devarrow, Anna McClellan, Scott Ballew, Joan Shelly, The Fynches, Yasmin Williams, Annarella & Django, Universal Light, Charles “Poppy Bob” Walker and more.
Highlights
If you’re looking for more music to listen to, then don’t forget our weekly Monday Morning Brew, which is updated every week in time for early Monday Morning. It’s available on Spotify and Apple Music. If you’re a premium newsletter subscriber, you get a double-length offering (latest here).
The one below is the regular version:
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New Album from Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Bonnie “Prince” Billy announces his new studio album ‘The Purple Bird’, made in Nashville with producer David “Ferg” Ferguson and an ensemble of A-list session musicians. Watch the video for their lead single ‘Our Home’, featuring Tim O’Brien.
Seckou Keita Artist of the Month Interview
We catch up with Senegalese kora master Seckou Keita to chat about his wonderful new Homeland (Chapter 1) album, a rich, beaming tapestry, and the various aspects of life that inspired it.
Extract: The griot tradition is key in Seckou’s work, and it’s important to note that Homeland begins and ends with griot pieces, like a homecoming of sorts. “That was the idea behind it,” he nods. “Interestingly, the opening song is a griot approach with a technique that I used to start with, and the end [song] is in an old traditional style of playing. If you know the kora, you will know the difference between the first song and the last; the first is my generation’s way of approaching [the kora], and the last is like my grandparents’ way of approaching it. So it goes full circle and back to home.”
Homeland (Chapter 1) – 18th October 2024 – Hudson Records
Order: https://hudsonrecords.ffm.to/homeland
Review Highlights (Click on the title to read the full review)
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Karl Blau – Vultures of Love
Karl Blau’s Vultures of Love is an album that deserves to be listened to all the way through: when taken together, the hectic elements that make up each individual song coalesce into something whole (and strangely wholesome), and that’s a beautiful thing to experience.
Yasmin Williams – Acadia
For her third album, Yasmin Williams hits the collaboration button and pulls in guests on eight of the nine songs–Acadia is a gift of a recording, a rural album of gorgeous tunes with smooth edges that seem only to wish you well.
Jerron Paxton – Things Done Changed
Past sounds have never sounded so thoroughly born of the present as they do on Jerron Paxton’s raw and wonderful ‘Things Done Changed’…a finely crafted album for today made oh so skilfully with the tools of yesterday.
Here is Jerron in action at the Brooklyn Folk Festival in 2023.
Jeremie Albino – Our Time In The Sun
Jeremie Albino’s Our Time In The Sun, his first for Dan Auerbach’s label Easy Eye Sound, is the stuff of jukebox diners, a singalong soundtrack to nights of pain and passion…it’s also huge on melodic pleasantries.
Nap Eyes – The Neon Gate
On The Neon Gate, Nap Eyes songs drink deep at the wells of philosophy and literature, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from a cursory listen. They seem to create a different niche for themselves with every new album; long may it continue.
Snowgoose – Descendant
Snowgoose’s third album, Descendant, is said to offer “a reflection on the beauty and pain of impermanence”, but their intoxicating music is a far from transitory experience. Outstanding.
Annarella and Django – Jouer
On Jouer, Annarella and Django weave a dreamlike musical tapestry that pays homage to the griot tradition, encompassing West African melodies, spiritual jazz, Swedish folk tunes and spoken word…a genuinely inventive debut.
Eric Bibb – In the Real World
With strong, solid songwriting coupled with immaculate, eclectic music, all beautifully performed, Eric Bibb’s In the Real World comes with the strongest recommendation.
Jon Doran and The Northern Assembly (EP Review)
Jon Doran and The Northern Assembly’s debut EP gives clear notice that this impressive folk trio are overflowing with ideas for the production of imaginative, entertaining music – they hold great promise for the future.
Amy Speace – The American Dream
Amy Speace’s ‘The American Dream’ is as universal as it is personal, it reminds us that while life may not get easier, we can become more resilient against its blows…she’s still one of the greatest artists in Americana today. Outstanding.
New Starts – More Break-Up Songs
On More Break-Up Songs, Darren Hayman’s ‘New Starts’ debut, he weaves a personal mythology of love and loneliness. Capturing the minutiae of what happens in a relationship, the results are sometimes humorous, sometimes tear-jerking, and never less than entertaining.
Danny & The Champions Of The World – You Are Not A Stranger Here
‘You Are Not A Stranger Here’ is one of the highest peaks Danny & The Champions Of The World have attained thus far, and simply one of the best records you’ll hear this year.
Mairearad Green & Rachel Newton – Anna Bhàn
The strength of Mairearad Green & Rachel Newton’s distinctive boundary-pushing “Anna Bhàn” doesn’t lie in nostalgia…it is history in the very living sense of the word, ripe and ardent, and not afraid to look forward.
Steve Knightley – The Winter Yards
A welcome return to a solo platform and a springboard to new musical paths, The Winter Yards reaffirms Steve Knightley’s amply deserved reputation and status as one of the foremost names on the English folk scene.
The Shackleton Trio – The Shackleton Trio
A collection of masterfully reworked versions, ‘The Shackleton Trio’ is a nostalgic blast from the past for longtime fans and a perfect, pocket-sized introduction for those yet to experience the pure magic of their storytelling.