No Polaris Prize for Brasstronaut this year, but the Vancouver band have still come a long way.
Brasstonaut – Mean Sun
Andy Johnson
Rebekka Karijord – We Become Ourselves
Norway’s queen of serious singer-songwriters re-stakes her claim to the throne.
Lucy Rose – Like I Used To
It’s first album time for folk songstress Lucy Rose – but she’s been at this for five years, you know.
Stealing Sheep – Into the Diamond Sun
With this diverse and dynamic yet still accessible set of songs, Stealing Sheep look to have a bright future ahead of them.
Festival Diary: Truck 2012
Even in belt-tightening times Truck Festival manages to be one of the most precious small festival in the UK.
Foreign Slippers – Farewell to the Old Ghosts
More than three years in the making, the debut album from the band fronted by Swedish folk-pop singer-songwriter Gabi Frödén pushes all the right buttons.
Fixers – We’ll Be the Moon
The long wait is over, and the celestial debut from Oxford five-piece Fixers delivers in spades.
Dr John – Locked Down
A musician who has been there and done that offers a new musical and personal perspective on problems which, like John himself, got started decades ago: making the future looks just a little brighter.
Blood Red Shoes – In Time to Voices
It’s difficult third album time as Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes return with a successor to 2010′s “Fire Like This”.
Thomas Truax – Monthly Journal
Outsider inventor-musician Thomas Truax attempts an experiment too far with the LP version of his song-a-month project.
The Megaphonic Thrift – The Megaphonic Thrift
While never as explosive as their live shows, the studio comeback for Norway’s supergroup-of-sorts the Megaphonic Thrift sees them expand their noise pop palette.
Fixers – Imperial Goddess of Mercy
It’s out with the UFO cults and in with a somewhat sketchy set of songs for Oxford fivepiece Fixers writes Andy Johnson.