KLOF Mag Regular + Mixtape
New Mixtape, Off the Shelf with meka, The Vernon Spring, Hayden Pedigo, Marc Ribot, Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell, Sally Anne Morgan, Sam Amidon, William Tyler & Kieran Hebden.
Another KLOF Mag mixtape – Lots of new music, including tracks from Meka’s new album The Rabbit (read our recent Off the Shelf Feature with her here), our Artist of the Month Iona Lane (recently interviewed here), as well as Featured Albums of the Month from The Gentle Good and Quinie. Also music from Bells Larsen, Logan Farmer, Cameron Knowler, Varo, The Vernon Spring, Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl, The Bird’s Companion, and Eli Winter, who we also recently interviewed here.
tracks: 16
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Off the Shelf with meka (Melissa Lingo)
meka is our latest ‘Off the Shelf’ guest. In this series, we ask artists to present objects from a shelf or shelves in their homes and talk about them. This is another personal favourite, for how meka’s choices so perfectly frame her music, as well as the food for thought she provides on modern existence, and thoughts on consumerism. Oh, for a simpler life…
Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify!
Henry David Thoreau
meka is Melissa Lingo, an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter whose music is described as evoking the hazy folk sound of the 1960s and 70s, reminiscent of artists like Joan Baez and Nick Drake. Her nomadic upbringing, from an isolated Californian mountain town dedicated entirely to astronomical research to stints in Brazil, India, and Cambodia, infuses her work with an existential, otherworldly gleam. A self-taught musician from a family of storytellers, meka draws inspiration from nature, existential literature, and her global travels. Her latest album, The Rabbit (out now on Dumont Dumont), is deeply shaped by her experience of living with chronic illness, transforming hardship into tender yet illuminating songs that balance grief and hope.
Other Highlights
Due to the length of our album reviews and articles, the highlights below serve as a shorter taster. To read in full, click on a title, which will take you to the full article on KLOF Mag.
The Vernon Spring – Under a Familiar Sun
For his new album, Under a Familiar Sun, Sam Beste AKA The Vernon Spring further refines his unique sound…sitting somewhere between new age, neoclassical, jazz and a kind of pastoral electronica. It is the most immediately rewarding exercise in ambience you’re ever likely to hear, but it contains ideas and melodies, vague sensations and politically driven statements, that will stay with you long after the last notes fade away.
Hayden Pedigo – I’ll be Waving as You Drive Away
Described by Hayden Pedigo as a ‘microdose psychedelic album’, the key word here is ‘micro’ because ‘I’ll be Waving as You Drive Away’ is a very subtly experimental instrumental acoustic guitar album, full of tiny flourishes and touches that see it stand out from the norm. It’s a record that feels meticulously thought out and handled. Without an ounce of fat, this is a sharp, elegant and subtly dynamic album.
Marc Ribot – Map of a Blue City
Marc Ribot is less known as a vocalist, writer and solo performer, but Map of a Blue City, an album thirty years in the making, changes everything. For a man whose signature is sonic profundity, not surprisingly, every track has more going on in those grooves than can be absorbed in one listen, making it fit for repeated listens. It will definitely stand as his must-hear solo showcase.
Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell announce new album, Tomorrow Held, and share ‘MacGill’
Fiddle and guitar duo Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell sign to Real World Records and announce Tomorrow Held. Watch the video for their lead single, MacGill, that pays homage to the creative partnership of Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell: “It’s slightly more jazz-influenced in terms of harmony and sound than the other stuff on the record,” says Spafford. “We’re going to that sweet spot at the folky end of jazz.”
Watch: Sam Amidon performing Big Sky (Later… With Jools Holland)
Taken from his latest album Salt River, Sam Amidon, accompanied by Chris Vatalaro on drums and synth, delivered an excellent rendition of Lou Reed’s ‘Big Sky‘ on the BBC’s Later… With Jools Holland. Halfway through the performance, he downed the guitar and picked up his fiddle…and, accompanied by Vatalaro’s hand-percussion, they killed it. Hugely entertaining.
Sam has a North American Tour next month and a few more UK dates this month (details via: www.samamidon.com)
If you’ve not read it, check out our in-depth interview with Sam here.
Sally Anne Morgan shares new single “Eye is the First”
Taken from her new album, Second Circle The Horizon, listen to Sally Anne Morgan’s latest single ‘Eye is the First’ – a rustling journey featuring a repeated slow guitar appregios and a more narrative-sounding banjo with organic sounding shimmering rustles conjuring the gentle movement of a breeze. While meditative, it also joyously reveals Morgan’s deep bond with nature and how she intuitively interweaves this into her creations.
William Tyler & Kieran Hebden announce debut album – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s
Hot on the heels of his latest album, Time Indefinite, William Tyler has announced ’41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s’, his debut collaboration with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), who also produced and mixed the album, which was recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, USA. Listen to the first song, If I Had a Boat, a Lyle Lovett cover, which clocks in at over 11 minutes long.
More soon.
Alex
Another fabulous read, and some great music clips. Yet again you’ve introduced me to musicians I didn’t know, but am now actively seeking out. AND there’s also the quite excellent Sam Amidon. Thank you.