Here’s one I completely missed earlier…
After my grumble last week, that I was running short of new albums to love , several people very kindly gave me tips on things to buy. So I’m now wading my way through John Cunningham, Matt Pond, Bob Scheider and the last Delgados album, to name but a few. Full reviews to follow, but Matt Pond, in particular is sounding good at the moment.
One tip, however, came from within the Guardian, via e-mail. ‘Get into the Decemberists‘ it said. ‘Intelligent, folky and practically Dickensian’, it said. Who am I to argue. So I bought up their two albums, Castaways and Cutouts (from 2003) and Her Majesty the Decemberists (2002)’.
How did I miss out on this? With all the whizzy music match software I’ve played with, and all the blog browsing … the name Decemberists had completely passed me by.
Anyway, it’s very fine. Can’t believe they’re from Portland Oregon, as they sound much more like they’re from Liverpool/ Manchester. A slightly more intelligent version of The Shack, even. Of course, you’ve probably known about them for years…but me, I’m happy to play catch-up. (There’s a couple of free MP3s here if you’re even more backward than me).