How happy am I? We just go the new Beck album! Well… we got the new Beck album if you’re a European user. And I am a European user, so I’m happy - although it’s a selfish kind of happy.
I’d sort of let Beck fall by the wayside a little. Odelay was the sound of [...]

It might be something about the time of year and wanting to waft about fields in a floaty dress like a girl in a Flake advert, but my favourite folk albums are dominating my most played lists right now. I love British folk for its weird and wild aspects; the storytelling - the green men, [...]

We’ve had some really great albums land on the UK side of things over the last few days. Here’s my mix of the good and the ‘interesting’ (yes, I’m looking at you, so-called Russian Madonna.)

Porkpie hats; eighties cocktail frocks; Winehouse-eyeliner; pastel tights; skinny jeans, obviously; checked shirts, granddad cardigans and Converse, Converse, Converse. Camden’s always been London’s Indie Central, but during the two days of the Camden Crawl the area becomes slightly monocultural – anything goes so long as it’s indie.
In fairness, the modern indie fan prays in a [...]

So happy St Patrick’s Day to all of our Irish users. My American colleagues have chosen their favourite Irish music, which you can cast your eyes on here. For myself, I’ll be celebrating with The Undertones and fervently hoping St Patrick himself will come back down to Earth and continue his good work by getting [...]

“I’m going to do a cover,” says Billy Bragg highlighted by a row of amber spotlights. “So do you want one by Glen Campbell or one by The Buzzcocks? And I won’t be doing ‘Wichita Lineman’ because the chords are too hard.”
The Buzzcocks won, of course. It’s hard to imagine a typical Billy Bragg crowd [...]

The music policy in the eMusic Europe office is usually dictated by whoever gets to the stereo first (and it’s right by my chair, so I have a natural advantage here) but when we can’t agree on anything we listen to FIP.
FIP is a French radio station, based in Paris (the initials stand for [...]

Yes, I am bitterly disappointed with Carla Bruni. Not musically, not with her music in the slightest. More with her choice in men. Last Saturday she became France’s first lady. She’s gone and married the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Oh dear.

Emmy The Great has been pleasing me in a quiet, understated way for almost a year now. London girl Emmy, real name Emma-Lee Moss, makes wonderfully delicate indie-folk, but never really stumbles over the twee-line. She’s supported Martha Wainwright and Kimya Dawson and if you’re fan of either of them then you’ll probably find Emmy [...]

Today’s new arrivals heading out of London, rather than New York, today but I promise to be fair and cover all the sites. So what have we got? Read on.

Here’s something that came in a while ago, but is worth lending your ears to. The Marseille Figs first album The Dirty Canon came out last November and has been gathering a slow swell of underground support.

As a way of discovering music, fiction is often overlooked. True, a band you read about in a novel will never be the newest undiscovered big thing and there aren’t too many books out there with music at their heart, but fiction excels at giving you a flavour of what’s gone before and at giving [...]

The Everly Brothers, Nellie McKay, John Fahey and others pace an incredibly strong selection of Thursday new arrivals.

Just a quick note for those looking to spend those last downloads this month. eMusic received an excellent comp yesterday called Give US Your Poor featuring Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, Buffalo Tom, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Jewel, Dan Zanes and many more.

Photo by EightJs
Not a Tuesday to write home about…

Don’t you just love happy coincidences? While researching a label for a future 17 Dots post, I came across something that I’d never seen before, downloaded it and have been listening to it all day.

New albums from Aesop Rock, Angels of Light, Wiley and Kathryn Williams (among others). To borrow a phrase from Barton Fink, “Let’s spit on our hands and get to work.”

Three quick recommendations. Ready. Set. Go.

Photo by Karen Hoffmann
Four days late and thousands short, here’s a look at some of the best titles to hit eMusic this week.

Scrolling through the Aladdin’s Cave of curiosities and strange delights that is eMusic’s soundtracks/ other section; I came across this collection of British Pub Songs. They’re not presented in the best way here – far too much evidence of electronic input and bad production for songs best sung whilst having ‘a bit of a knees [...]