fatandconfused

Tom Brosseau - Grand Forks (Loveless)

In my childhood and early youth my dad constantly tried to brainwash with me with all sorts of country music, generally it would be quite horrible and sickly sweet, fiddles galore and yodels aplenty. Ever so occasionally though the odd track or artist would stand out, Johnny Cash obviously (although my younger brothers constant repetitive playing of Folsom Prison Blues should yet somehow didn’t turn me off that song for life) Willie Nelson, Lonnie Donegan and perhaps with the most long lasting effect Hank Williams. And so it remains that in my blood I have both a loathing and a small box room in my house of music for out and out country *(I’m not talking bonnie prince billy, Sparklehorse etc)

Tom Brosseau has instantly been promoted to the top of that list with his wonderful album Grand Forks, recalling the Smith Garrett Band, at times Benjy Ferree with his Steptoe and Son pop so delightfully done on opening track I Fly Wherever I Go, Down on Skidrow is like the moody dusty best of Calexico and both At the Close of Everyday and Misplaced Music’s Charlie Parr on the accentuated Plain Lined Jacket.

A gloriously simple album to coast down still waters on with a picnic basket and a bottle of cider.

Tom Brosseau - Plain Lined Jacket MP3

Cocorosie – The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (Touch & Go)

To say that Cocorosie are slightly weird would be more than a slight understatement, they are a personification of the whole new weird folk movement yet as many of the bands and individuals that find themselves pigeonholed into the genre they have occasionally suffered from over hype, leaving you a little bit disappointed when their albums aren’t quite as spectacular as originally made out, with new album The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn they have at least to some extent delivered a work of wonder, something also truly unique. I will however state that of the 12 tracks on offer 5 are fantastic and would’ve made an exceptional EP, yet that’s not to take away from the “weaker tracks” so to speak which have their place just don’t quite stand up to the awesome folk hop of Rainbowarriors, Promise, Werewolf and Animals or the bizarre, best thing since Prozac of Japan, a song sure to make you smile if only momentarily, mixing high pitched cheeky rhymes with operatic breaks, really quite lovely. The four previously mentioned songs catch a certain sound that is so refreshing and clean amongst a genre that so often lets itself down with its determination to make bad language and violence cool, the hip hop beats are accompanied by toy instruments and half spoken lyrics covering allsorts of subjects and feelings, here we have something new and unique, something to hype over yet I hope they stay amongst those in the know, that they won’t start thinking they are Jesus just like Devendra, letting the hippy thing go a bit too much to his head, going over indulgent spoiling the illusion just like Herman Dune, lets hope.
www.myspace.com/cocorosie
www.touchandgorecords.com

A Hawk & A Hacksaw - And The Hun Hangar Ensemble (The Leaf Label)

Its hard to explain and even harder to understand how much I struggled with A Hawk and A Hacksaw, I tried so hard to fall in love with them & The Way The Wind Blows album, the one that so many people raved about, the one that was included in so many end of year polls, and rather highly too, yet it never really struck the chord, just like Beirut whatever everyone else was seeing was passing me by, I was probably staring right at it but couldn’t see for looking. So its comes as quite a surprise that the follow up that has scarcely been mentioned, I’ve yet to see any hype on the forums from the very same people that championed The Way The Wind Blows, has had such an instant appeal to me. Each track warm and inviting like an evening round a fire snowed in in a Hungarian log cabin, accordions and all sorts of weird instruments at the ready, taking in the Amelie soundtrack, the most mariachi parts of Calexico along the way and much beer from silver tankards, overflowing as they clash together in pure ecstasy. Let this soundtrack your next Hungarian disco.
www.myspace.com/ahawkandahacksaw
www.myspace.com/hunhangarensemble
www.myspace.com/theleaflabel