WEEKEND WAYBACK MACHINE"Tenderness"from the album There Goes Rhymin' Simon1973iTunesRetaining the buoyant musical feel of Paul Simon, but employing a more produced sound, There Goes Rhymin' Simon found Paul Simon writing and performing with assurance and venturing into soulful and R&B-oriented music. Simon returned...

With the release of their first record in five years, Neon Blue Bird, Ollabelle remind us just how stirring the right combination of vocal harmonies can be. Led by Amy Helm, Levon’s daughter, and Jimi Zhivago, this New York-based roots outfit revels in tweaking traditional tunes such as Stephen Foster’s...

In March of last year Mariachi el Bronx were invited to take part in an evening of Mariachi music staged at London’s Barbican centre. The leading practitioners of the form were also invited to appear â€" but, and at least to the casual ear, the group reviewed here stood...

One of the most impressive things about Martin Simpson’s Indian summer is his willingness to keep ringing the changes and refuse to settle for a winning formula. Decorated with awards for his previous two albums, Prodigal Son and True Stories â€" both of which broke new ground...

Being a product of the age it was written, Slow Club's 2009 debut, Yeah So, dealt with the all too familiar space between adolescence and the oncoming storm of adulthood. A boy-girl duo who played a flower-adorned chair live, they were the polar opposite of what was coming...

Bob Dylan had barely put miles on his 23rd year when he wrote My Back Pages, his gleeful kiss-off to finger-wagging folk turning on his political idealism, its key lines: "But I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now". Laura Marling is only 21...

Seeking refuge from steady driving rain outside and buoyed by the collective body heat in the packed arena, the assembled crowd for the much talked about Benjamin Francis Leftwich are a-buzz. Chatter fills the air, strangers stand tightly together glancing shoulders, whilst a dull, ever-changing galaxy of phone screens push...

Former law student turned singer/songwriter Chris Velan makes another switch on his fourth album Fables for Fighters. He infused his previous albums with reggae and world music influences acquired when producing for Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars, but showcases his guitar melodies on folk-indie pop album Fables. The hand-clapping cadence and...

With Mark Olson returning as co-leader of The Jayhawks after 16 years away, Mockingbird Time marks a long-awaited reunion for nostalgic fans. Its familiar noises are pleasing, too â€" though it’s hard to believe this was ever a band which made music that sounded new.

Long ago, The Jayhawks...

Whenever a new, fashionably-attired boy/girl duo appears on the UK music scene, especially one as handsome as Big Deal’s Alice Costelloe and Kacey Underwood, certain Ting Tings-shaped nightmares are inescapable. It’s an involuntary style-over-substance association, just one of the unfortunate by-products of that pair’s 15 minutes of ubiquity. Luckily...