November 16, 2009
Since the BBC ceased its Awards For World Music after 2007, the fRoots Critics Poll Albums Of The Year continues in its own right as the de facto flagship industry awards. They have wide support including from all the previous partners in the BBC Awards.
The nominees for the 2009 awards have been announced:
November 13, 2009
Our friend Tom Rose from Navigator and Reveal Records have compiled a 30-track mix “tape” of some of their favourite artists, including Jon Redfern, Bellowhead, Chris Wood, Kris Drever, Madam, Alyth, Mawkin:Causley, Lau, Boo Hewerdine and many others.
The songs are all available for download as well as streaming and you can find them on the Independent website. The music is available for 4 weeks only (ie. until Friday 11th December 2009) so make sure you get over there and download the lot for free!
November 10, 2009
Yours truly has just had the pleasure of making some promo CDs for The Imagined Village. We had a listen to it too! It was very good! But you’ll have to wait to hear it! Ha ha!
November 9, 2009
A torrent of new releases floods towards you today, like wild rapids in a Canadian mountain river:
Rupa & The April Fishes – Este Mundo
With their second album, Rupa & the April Fishes hold up a carnival mirror to life and present a warped, humorous and occasionally disquieting reflection, blending an alternative pop attitude with international spices, mixing in elements of Gypsy swing, Colombian cumbia, French chanson and Indian ragas.
October 31, 2009
A Hallowe'en Episode of The Simpsons
Boo! Yes, it’s another commercial attempt to squeeze some money out of you by twisting the context of the ritual celebrations of our ancestors. A bit like the c word. (Having said this, i’ve just found out that trick-or-treaters in America often raise money for UNICEF, which is a good thing.)
So what does this have to do with music? Well, (more…)
October 30, 2009
A box o' CDs
Hello! I’ve got a box of CDs next to me that need to be won, pictured. Please note though that i’m not giving away my keyboard and mouse, as otherwise i won’t be able to use my computer, hence won’t be able to run any more competitions.
The reason we have these to give away is because they are the sole survivors of a massive clear-out of our promo rack we had a couple of weeks ago.
So to enter our competition, all you have to do is answer this question:
October 28, 2009
This review comes from Colin Coates, who didn’t have to pay to get into this gig in exchange for some flyering, as he is a member of our street team.
Bellowhead – Norwich Waterfront – Tue 20/10/09
Another wonderful evening in the company of Bellowhead, and again thanks to Andy and Jon at Properganda for getting my mate and I on the guest list.
Belshazzar's Feast
The support were Belshazzar’s Feast (one of Paul Sartin from Bellowhead’s other projects), clever, musically astounding, and very smutty at times! (An example of this was how in the past the letter “f” was used instead of “s”, so Paul said they would “suck it and see” how a tune would work out.) I bought their album Frost Bites as a result, and highly recommend it.
Bellowhead themselves were on for 90 minutes or so with two encores; the set was mainly from Matachin, with the arrangements looser giving the band a chance to show off their musical skills. Highlights for me were Fakenham Fair (it had to be, me being from Norfolk), Kafoozalum, and Whiskey Is The Life Of Man, the number they started with, Jon toasting us with apple juice!
Bellowhead
A few new numbers, the best being the ‘begging song’, and old faves like Haul Away, Rigs Of The Time, The Rochdale Coconut Dance but sadly no Jordan.
As ever great to watch, the “posing”, the “dance”(!) routines and how they seem to be having as much fun as the audience is.
A GREAT evening, and look forward to the next time they play Norwich, one of the best gigs this year.
October 26, 2009
A steam-train of new releases choos and choos towards you today, including but not limited to:
Show Of Hands - Arrogance, Ignorance And Greed
October 21, 2009
Many of our readers will be familiar with our magazine, Properganda. In fact, visitors to this blog may not know that it was from our magazine that this blog was spawned. For the benefit of the latter, you can read more about it on our Properganda Magazine page.
Properganda 14 - Nov/Dec '09
October 19, 2009
An avalanche of new releases heads your way today, although instead of being a fearsome, deadly force of snow it is a considerably less life-threatening cascade of CDs which don’t actually physically move towards you or cause you any harm but which you will probably want to listen to instead.
Portico Quartet - Isla
Drew Hill
Esther Tewkesbury
Jon Roffey
stevekersley
simon holland
andy kiang
Dean Owens
folkboy
lisa goodall
jamiehalliday
