What the hell is going on? #2: FOLK WEEK
By: Thomas Hannan
Rockfeedback’s core team often moan about how little time we have to actually write about music these days (for example, all I seem to do is open post and drink orange squash), but last week, office big wig Tim Dellow went to a show so inspiring he actually put fingers to keys and with a dashing eloquence described what is surely one of the gigs of the year – Laura Marling’s spectacular showcase at London’s Royal Festival Hall, unveiling not only some of her haunting new work but also thrusting in to the limelight the likes of Mumford and Sons, Johnny Flynn, Alessi’s Ark, Andrew Bird and Peggy Sue. It dawned on Mr Dellow that this show was expertly capturing the zeitgeist, or at least it would have been, if the mainstream press deemed any of these bands worthy of the attention we think they should be receiving. Which is why we thought we’d dedicate this week across the site to the blossoming of the UK folk music scene at the moment -it deserves it.
And what will that entail exactly? Well, for starters, HERE's an in depth look at the gig in question in the form of the aforementioned article, which further explores the emergence of the scene and some of its key players. Furthermore, today (Monday) sees us upload HERE an exclusive Rockfeedback TV session from one of the most literate and engaging of the current crop of young singer songwriters in the country, none other than Emmy The Great, followed on Wednesday by yet more exclusive footage filmed of Peggy Sue (now sans the Pirates, or les Triplettes, or anything – it’s just Peggy Sue, OK?) performing an acoustic set for us On Location at this year’s Camden Crawl. We’ll wrap things up on Friday with an elder but no less vital statesman of the scene, Andrew Bird, who we’ll hope you agree delivers something of a spellbinding acoustic session On Location at this year’s SXSW conference in Texas. Granted, he’s not from the UK. But he did play Laura’s gig. So shut up.
Speaking of artists who played Laura’s gig, we’ve also got a proper coup in show stealer Alessi’s Ark (pictured) writing an article for us in the coming days, and have duly made another of the finest names in the game, Mumford and Sons, our Artist of the Week for the duration too. Check out our competition HERE and win a load of Mumf bumf.
So, that’s how Rockfeedback TV and Rockfeedback.com do folk week! Rockfeedback’s live department however seems to not care for it one bit, and is instead putting on two gigs of horrific noise, lo fi guitar bashing and psychedelic wig outs – the first being Wednesday’s Strange Boys and Male Bonding show in a mysterious warehouse on the Hackney Road [TICKETS HERE] and the second coming a day after when Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros with support from Dimbleby & Capper and Jeremy Warmsley’s Cold Sweats grace our London Lexington club night [TICKETS HERE]. Diversity is, after all, always preferable to coherence.
It’s a real shame that Blur never figured out how to play ‘Caramel’ live, isn’t it?
Tom.x
Artists in this article: Emmy The Great, Mumford and Sons