Across The Sea For A Trove Of Treasure.

When it comes to finding out about new music, something that is a bit of an obsession for me, I have a few favourite means. I did mention here before my favourite music magazines and Spotify as two places I go to, but I'd now like to share with you a new, very firm favourite.

Folk Radio UK is an online radio station and blog run by husband and wife team Alex and Amanda Gallacher, that is a daily musical Aladdin's Cave. I now keep a notebook handy for jotting down names that catch my attention throughout the day and then later on off I go to youtube or Spotify to check them out further. Nothing beats hearing music you love on someone else's playlist, and combined with endless new-to-my-ears artists, well, it makes for one endless happy experience!
I first discovered Folk Radio UK when booking tickets for a gig which I will blog about very soon, and since then have been listening almost every day. Do check it out if any of what you see here is up your street.
So here is one gorgeous lady I have discovered thanks to FRUK. And there is many more to come!

Kathryn Calder is a member of The New Pornographers and this song is taken from her solo album 'Are You My Mother?'  And you can hear more of this gorgeous album here.



Enjoy!

Joanna, Oh! Joanna!

Joanna live!

In Dublin.

And oh what a wonderful night it was.

Northbound, On The Road.

Train to Belfast for the night with my man 

to see Iron & Wine

and The Low Anthem.

Wonderful show apart from the incredibly noisy and talkative audience.

Very frustrating.

These guys were my highlight.

Absolutely incredible.

Sounds Of My Summer.

I think this may well have been where it all started. And with song titles like "Perfect Neglect In A Field Of Statues", and "An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death", of course I was bound to want to know more.

Who: Matthew Robert Cooper, here known as Eluvium.
Where: Now based in Seattle, Washington.
What: His 2004 album 'An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death', and 2006 EP 'When I Live By The Garden And The Sea'.

Listen here for more devastatingly beautiful melancholia.

Sounds Of My Summer.

Continuing on this most lovely of ambient soundtracks of summer, I became lost somewhere in the ice fields of this impossibly young man's impossibly beautiful mind. His music described as "beautiful in the same way the Arctic is..."

Who: Ólafur Arnalds.
Where: Iceland.
What: His 2009 album 'Found Songs'.

Listen here for more exalted loveliness, including from his 2010 album "...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness". And read here for a lovely review of him performing.

Sounds Of My Summer.

At some point in this summer I found myself on a beautiful winding gossamer path of ambient loveliness, thanks to Spotify and my own curious mind. I can't even remember where it began, but I'd like to share with you some of the gems I found.

Who: Balmorhea.
Where: Austin, Texas.
What: Two of their albums in particular, River's Arms, and Constellations.

Described as a 'minimalist instrumental ensemble',  they create music that is both evocative and visionary. I find listening to them sets off a visual transportation of the mind! Wonderful and sublime.

Listen here for more.