Cass McCombs unveils new video for ‘Bradley Manning’ | Music News

 

American folker Cass McCombs has unveiled the video for his latest song, ‘Bradley Manning‘, about the US Army Soldier who has been incarcerated on suspcion of passing classified material to the whistleblower website Wikileaks.

The video is a poignant tribute having been filmed, by director Bradley Beesley, in Manning’s hometown of Crescent, OK on Independence Day, allowing Beesley to capture iconic and patriotic visuals that create a mood eerily complimentary to the song.

Cass heads to the UK to play The Green Man Festival in August.

 

 

 

The Great Park – Stitch | Music Review

 

Let’s clear one thing up – The Great Park is a man not a band. He’s called Stephen Burch and he’s an Englishman living in the musical hotbed of Berlin, the place where David Bowie and Iggy Pop once shared a flat. There’s some great folk music coming out of Berlin right now courtesy of Woodland Recordings but none great than The Great Park.

Despite being British he doesn’t really play a huge amount in The UK. His 150-ish concerts in the last few years have mostly been in Continental Europe although he has been involved with the excellent Brighton-based label Bleeding heart recordings.

‘Stitch’ is a beast of a record at 31 songs long, spanning two discs. The 1st disc is of songs from his last few records and the 2nd is of live recordings from his various journeys. It’s good of Burch to take us on a physical journey through the live record as he takes us on an emotional one with him in his music. It’s an emotional journey that paints a vivid picture of a man with exposed, open wounds. Burch is clearly a man with the lyrically-introspective nature of Tom Williams. Perhaps also cut from the same anti-folk cloth too, although I’d imagine he’d want less of the anti.

The songs on the record are intimate, they’re at times melancholic and difficult to listen to but something about it draws you in so Burch can paint his bleak picture and on repeated listening he reveals new lyrical nuances, a bit like Forrest Gump does. Whoever coined the term “Problem Folk” for him deserves a medal – I can do no better myself. It’s not without hope though. My only hope is he continues to make records for a long time to come. Buy. This. Record. NOW!

 

‘Stitch’ is out now via Bandcamp

 

Links:

http://www.woodlandrecordings.com/

http://www.woodlandrecordings.com/thegreatpark.htm 

www.bleedingheartrecordings.com

http://thegreatpark.bandcamp.com/album/stitch

 

 

Wildeflower – Good Girl | Music Review

 

Surrey folksters Wildeflower‘s new single is another gem from the rather fine Stella Mortos record label. The single is released on 14th May and it is one of the best of 2012 so far. Splendid. The title track sounds like The Great Park having a roll around in the hay with Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, creating a folk sound with something more complicated and swirling over the top. It’s a joy to listen to. The b-side, ‘Amazing Discovery’, is more Beatles-esque. The perfect soundtrack to a summers day.

 

‘Good Girl’ is released on 14th May by Stella Mortos

 

 

First Aid Kit – new single and UK tour | Music News

Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit have announced a short UK tour for November. The Stockholm-based sisters will be hitting these shores on 20th November to play in London and finish the trip on 27th November in Bristol. Tickets for the concerts go on say on Friday 11th May. The band’s album, The Lion’s Roar is out now and new single Blue, will be released on 18th June via Wichita Records.

Listen to the new single here:

 

 

The band are in the UK to support Jack White and sporadically for festival appearances over the summer. Full tour details here.

A Hard STrainGE Gonna Call

Well folks, here’s a duo which just about sums up everything I’ve mentioned up to now while writing for this delightful magazine. Great songs, great playing and just about every style of rock and roll music on one album.

STrainGE (Strange Rain) are in fact two drummers from London who are both deeply absorbed in musicality from doo-wop, rock, pop, soul, garage, punk, progressive, freakbeat, psychedelic etc. etc.

All the tunes are recorded in lo-fi, which makes the songs stand up even more as there’s no room for overdubbing or production tricks. It’s just plain and simple soul-shattering music – written, played and sung by two musicians. Enjoy!

http://www.beggarsharvest.co.uk/page3.htm

This Month's Magazines; Kate Middleton and Getting in Shape Lead.

This is the first of Frost magazine’s new monthly magazine round-up. Here at Frost we are addicted to magazines and our guess is that you like them too, so, here goes….

Vanity Fair has the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. The world has gone crazy for Kate Middleton and there is 16 pages on the new couple, including the interesting fact that Kate has never been to America before and is ‘beyond excited’.

Horrible fact of the month comes from Christopher Hitchen’s column, which is on Pakistan: in Pakistan not only is rape not illegal, it’s a punishment. Mark Shand tells Nick Haslam about the Elephant Family, Stieg Larsson’s girlfriend tells of their life together and there is good articles on Justin Timberlake, Silvio Berlusconi and the Falcons.

Marie Claire (who are in my bad books, as they do not send the subscribers the free gifts that come with the magazine. This month it’s a choice of eyeliner or eye-shadow, last month a Body Shop moisturiser, not nice way to treat those who are most loyal) Jennifer Lawrence is on the cover, and has a very good interview inside where she says that she tells director she won’t lose more weight and was initially scared of fame.

Emily Eavis, daughter of Michael, talks about growing up as part of the world’s greatest music festival, there is lots of fashion and a summer’s sandals piece that I enjoyed, there is a low down on the Russian invasion of Chelsea; lead by Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Writer Natasha Green writes about choosing between her husband and her lover and 5 friends, who all went to university and did a performing arts degree, meet up to discuss where they are 10 years later. Marie Claire also have an exclusive interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. Other good article are dating advice you don’t need from your friends, a good piece on Jean Paul Gaultier and a brilliant article on the life of Princess Diana, very apt.

It’s Elle’s body issue, Elle always give there subscribers the free gift, as do RED and Glamour, Rosie Huntington-Whitley is on the cover and interviewed inside, and there is a free vest top my Kate Middleton fav Reiss.

Celia Walden ponders over why we fawn over the famous, the impossibly stylish Ines De La Fressange is in Elle edits, my personal style crush tells us about her philosophy on life, House of Holland are this month’s Style Spy, make up artist Lisa Eldridge gives a peak inside her closet and Debbie Harry tells is what books changed her life. Rob Lowe is interviewed and there are a lot of great articles on how to get in shape and be happy with how you look. Of course, there is also lots of great fashion. Lorraine Candy is temporarily stepping down from the Elle editorship to have her fourth baby.

Tatler has Romola Garai on the cover, she is interviewed inside and talks about her “ordinary body” and her desire for people to find her sexy. Kate Reardon has been the new editor for a few months now and is doing a good job, though I couldn’t find an editor’s letter.

Royal Wedding photographer Hugo Burnand talks about photographing the biggest wedding in decades, there are other articles on the top 10 poshest ghosts, Clive Anderson writes about losing his cool, there is lots of gossip, A very good guide to the Murdoch dynasty, an article on how the rich buy life (a very good read), some property porn as Belvoir Castle is featured by it’s owners the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

There is also an article on (the last taboo!) woman’s facial hair and how to get rid of it, Alice Temperley also spills on all of her beauty secrets. If you buy it form the news-stand you get a free pair of sunglasses, but Tatler doesn’t give free gifts to it’s subscribers.

Vogue has Vanessa Paradis on the cover, she talks about staying on the move and being comfortable with your body, Stella Tennant models (can you believe she is in her 40’s!)

I really like the article by Carol Woolton on the lost world of legendary balls, including the jewellery that Elizabeth Taylor wore to the 1971 Rothschild Proust Ball, lots on the Royal wedding and who wore what, editor Alexandra Shulman was one of the guests and gives a good account. The rise of folk (as in music) gets a good spread and supermodel Arizona Muse keeps a diary for Vogue.

I also love the inspirational women who feature in Vogue’s Wonder Women piece, scientists and theatre directors alike. There is also an editorial on fashion dynasties, if you love glamour the way I do you will love reading about the Guinnesses, Dellals, Agnellis/Brandolinis and the Jaggers.

Donna Karen also does a wonderful interview and writer Vicky Ward talks about her divorce; “the equivalent of undergoing heart surgery without anesthetic.” There is also a brilliant free beauty supplement with lots of celebrities and models giving their beauty and health routines, tips and hints.

Glamour has a free Benefit beauty product (I got the Benetint) Karl Lagerfield on fashion do’s, celebrity couples you forgot about, how to find a man anywhere, the rise of gold and fame digging men, why is friendship so hard?, how the Glamour staff got their job, a very good, and slightly depressing article on female war reporters; read about the same time I saw Channel 4’s Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, you think women are equal and safe….

There is interviews with the Glamour women of the year awards, including the brilliant Adele, who is on the cover. There is lots of brilliant fashion and beauty, a very good article on why we should all see Bridesmaids by Zoe Williams, there is a number of articles on how to fake tan well and I really enjoyed the piece on Get a Blockbuster body, what Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence and Rosie Huntington-Whitley did to get in shape for their films. There is also a good article on the secret to good health in 100 words or less.

So, until next month!