Full Time Hobby レコード& CD

Review: You might not have heard about Spencer Cullum, but that doesn't mean this pedal steel maestro hasn't been at the top of his game - and hugely respected by a ton of major names - for years already. As with most of the best out there, he's plied a trade for ages as a session musician in one of the planet's sonic epicentres, Nashville. Working with the lines of Deer Tick, Caitlin Rose, and Kesha, to name but three. He's also one-half of the cosmic-country duo, Steelism. Despite those accolades, he's actually originally from London, and describes himself as "the guy who looks like he's studying for a test in the background." Clearly not just talented, but also humble and pretty witty, Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection might be the most anticipated folk album of the year. Reassuringly in the age of disappointments and nihilism, he doesn't let the side down, paying homage to the greats of the 1960s and 70s while offering something that sounds contemporary and entirely his own. Good enough to drown in, then.

Review: Returning after three years, the husband and wife duo of Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderdice aka. The Saxophones have announced the arrival of their third album, To Be A Cloud. Plunging their honest indie-folk sound in natural rooms and tape recorder hiss, this album certainly isn't one for the steely of heart. Its themes of impermanence, vulnerability, guardedness, and existentialism will all beguile, as you the listener choose either to bask in the pair's saxophone playing, or revel in the grin-and-bear-it nature of their lyrics. One thing's for certain: To Be A Cloud will help you on your way to finding the silver lining.

Review: Critics should never have drawn comparisons between Tunng and Beta Band. Tunng have always kepy many of the traditional English folk totems alive and well in their work, only using electronic drums, details and samples when it's really necessary, and in subtle ways. Beta Band can barely be described as folk, but if you do it's surely a folk turned inside out in a field the morning after a rave.

Mother's Daughter... and Other Songs is a case in point. Even at its most machine-made, perhaps 'Kinky Vans', the way in which modern production kit and techniques are used sounds as natural as you could ever make compressed drums and staccato, typewriter percussion. Elsewhere the balance is weighted even more in favour of the timeless; 'Fair Doreen', 'Out of the Window' and 'People Folk' bringing in pure campfire vibes. A genuine genre-defining classic, now re-released to mark its 15th anniversary.