Irfan - Salome

Irfan is a Bulgarian band founded in 2001 in Sofia. The band's name is taken from the Arabic/Persian word "Irfan", meaning "gnosis", "mystic knowledge" or "revelation". Though similar in style to established bands such as Dead Can Dance, Love Is Colder Than Death, Sarband, and Vas, Irfan is known for its extensive use of a choir of male singers in addition to the female vocals of Vladislava Todorova, and in in combination with an assortment of traditional mediaeval percussion, stringed, and wind instruments, including the darbouka, daf, bendir, oud, saz, santoor, ghaida, duduk ,and bass viol. Irfan's music and reliance on traditional instruments is based on a blend of the musical influences common to Bulgaria, and thus represents a blend of European medieval music, Balkan folk and Middle Eastern styles. The band was first signed by the French label Prikosnovénie and made its first appearance on their "Fairy World" compilation of various bands in 2003. Their first album "Irfan" was released in Europe that same year by Prikosnovénie, and released in North America by Noir Records.  From: https://www.last.fm/music/Irfan

Silly Wizard - The Parish of Dunkeld / The Curlew

There have already been thousands of words written about Silly Wizard during, and after, their remarkable 18-year career together (1970-1988). I was fortunate to see them perform several times during their heyday in the 1970’s and 1980’s and that was worth more to me than several volumes of narrative. Those nights still echo round my head, and in my mind’s eye, I can still see the fiendish, fluid, sometimes frantic, but always measured, fiddle playing of the boy genius that was Johnny Cunningham (fiddle, viola, mandolin), who was later joined by his equally talented brother Phil Cunningham, a brilliant accordion player. The solid foundation that “kept the ship on course” was provided by Gordon Jones, the rhythm engine room on guitar. His vocals and bodhran playing were also a major contribution to the band’s overall sound. His great friend, who was also there at the beginning, Bob Thomas, one of the finest acoustic guitarists of his generation, wove intricate patterns around Gordon’s solid rhythms, and had a lovely touch, and a great feel for the music. When Bob left the band (1978), Gordon‘s, “signature, percussive guitar playing” (brother Brian’s description), took on even more significance, although his bodhran playing continued to excel, and drive the band’s tune sets. Over the years, Gordon became one of the best exponents of this surprisingly difficult percussion instrument, and his playing, as with his guitar, certainly helped to drive the band along in many of their memorable instrumentals.
A heady mixture, with those already mentioned above, the final piece of the jigsaw came with their talismanic lead singer, Andy M. Stewart. Surely, one of the finest vocalists on the Scottish traditional music scene, Andy also turned out to be one of the best songwriters of his generation too. He had the incredible ability to write a new song and make it sound traditional. Who could ever forget, “Golden, Golden”, “The Ramblin ‘Rover”, “The Queen of Argyll” and “Lovers Heart”, among the many Stewart originals. In praising his writing talents, we must also not forget that he was an exceptional tenor banjo player, who also added tin whistles to the band’s already full sound, when required.
After all that build up, the song seems almost immaterial, but for those song and tune collectors among you, “The Parish of Dunkeld”, was first published in 1824 by James Maidment, and the tune that follows, “The Curlew”, was written by piper Donald McPherson, a former Boys Brigade musician, who died at the grand old age of 89 in 2012. In this instance, it is typical of, the band’s mischievous, tongue-in-cheek humour. “The Parish of Dunkeld” does not sound the most reverent of places but, like many of their songs, it provides the launch pad for those brilliant instrumental breaks.  From: https://openhousefolk.com/the-parish-of-dunkeld/

The Jellyman's Daughter - Wake-Up Call

The Jellyman’s Daughter are a unique duo from Edinburgh. Their interweaving vocal harmonies are complimented by an interesting mix of cello and acoustic guitar. One of the distinguishing features of The Jellyman’s Daughter is the innovative rhythmic style of cello playing providing a catchy percussive backbeat to some of their songs, contrasted by the intimacy of others. Emily and Graham started 2020 in front of a sold-out Celtic Connections crowd and had just set out on their most ambitious tour yet to promote their 2020 EP, Wake-Up Call which had them booked at festivals and shows across the world with dates in the UK, Australia, Europe and America before the pandemic pulled the plug. They were due to play such prestigious festivals as The National and Blue Mountains Music Festival but thankfully managed to squeeze in Port Fairy Folk Festival days before they had to return home. All was not lost for the year though as they were delighted to be made patrons of Music Venue Trust and worked to help raise money for struggling venues as well as working on songs for the next album.  From: https://www.widedays.com/the-jellymans-daughter

Cleopatrick - Family Van

Meet cleopatrick, the heavy alt-rock duo that’s changing the game (yup, the ‘c’ is lower case). Here’s a bit about them in their own, lower case, words. I assume that caps lock keys are hard to come by in the wilds of Ontario…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

we are from the very small town of Cobourg, ON, Canada.

How did you meet?

we met on our first day of kindergarten at st. michael’s elementary school.

How long have you been playing as a band?

we have been playing music together for about 12 years total, and in this band for 3 years now.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

when we were initially brainstorming ideas, luke kind of just came up with it. i didn’t really like it at first but over time it grew on me.

What are your influences?

i believe that everything we experience influences us. we try to take the world as it is and depict it in our own words and views through our music. music wise, our biggest influences would be highly suspect, ready the prince, and brockhampton.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

our music is honest. a lot of rock music (like all genres of music) these days tend to glorify and exaggerate lifestyle. we write about how or what we feel. we like our music to be heavy and have weight, whether that is referring to the instrumentation or not.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

we have both had relatively “normal” lives – growing up no matter where you are or what your circumstances may be, you feel things. so we just make honest music about things we’ve lived through or seen.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

we like to keep the live show as high energy as possible. if we are having fun, then the crowd is having fun and if the crowd is having fun we have an even better time. we’ve played at least 150 shows.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

luke has crowd surfed while playing guitar and successfully made it down for the last chorus of “city kids” twice now. i don’t think it gets much better than that honestly.

From: https://www.moshville.co.uk/feature/botd/2018/05/band-of-the-day-cleopatrick/

Saint Agnes - Diablo, Take Me Home

East London-based rage-propelled quartet Saint Agnes have just unleashed Bloodsuckers, their ferociously therapeutic Spinefarm debut. A largely self-produced record, it combines metal fury with punk attitude, industrial intensity and raw emotion – in particular This Is Not The End, an extraordinarily powerful piece recorded in the wake of the sudden, unexpected passing of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kitty A Austen’s mother. We caught up with Austen and Jon James Tufnell (guitar, vocals, bass) recently to discuss the on-going passion of Saint Agnes. A matter of life and death? It’s way more important than that.
Saint Agnes’s creative core came together as a direct reaction to the sonic complacency of the prevailing rock scene. “We were two lost souls,” says Tufnell. “In different bands, looking for a musical match. We got chatting and discovered a shared passion for bands with real intensity.”
“It was ten years ago now,” Austen adds. “It was all psychedelia and shoegaze back then, and while there’s a place for that, we both wanted to be in a bombastic, balls-out rock band.”
“It felt really rebellious to do that in London back then,” Tufnell says, smiling. “We had to tell people we were a psychedelic band to get gigs.”
Austen has no doubt what feeds her scream: “A lot of anger. I’m an angry person, and there’s a lot in the world to be angry about. I’ve had a difficult time, particularly over the last couple of years. I’ve had some mental health problems, and my mum passed away unexpectedly. All that stuff channels into a rage that’s all over the new album.” While Bloodsuckers is a very angry record, it’s also very joyous. “When you’re facing the worst times,” Austen continues, “you enter a headspace where you’re also experiencing strange euphoric highs. So while the record is really, really angry it’s also full of hope.”
Austen the performer and Austen the interviewee might appear to be polar opposites, but the transformation that takes place at the microphone is more instinctive than deliberate. “I never adopt a persona, that’s just the part of me that comes to the fore when I perform. As soon as I hit the stage, the cocky, arrogant, angry and powerful part of me comes out. I’m always the best version of myself in that kind of do-or-die situation.”
“I see this happen up-close,” says Tufnell, “And it’s an instinctual part of entering the mind-set necessary to delivering this music. The music and the band matters so much to us that it is do-or-die. You simply have no choice but to run in all guns blazing.”  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/saint-agnes-six-things

Queen (Brian May) - Long Away / She Makes Me / Some Day One Day

Maybe the most famous piece of trivia about Queen guitarist Brian May is that he built the electric guitar he has used for most of his musical career. It's called the Red Special, and it was constructed with his father when May was 16. So, it's ironic that the only Queen single in which May sang lead vocals, "Long Away," he mainly plays a Burns 12-string guitar. This choice, as much as the song itself, serves as a reminder of May's and the band's relentless creativity.
"Long Away" is the third track on the band's fifth album, A Day at the Races, which was the follow-up to their 1975 masterpiece A Night at the Opera. That album had catapulted Queen to international superstardom on the back of the single "Bohemian Rhapsody." With A Day at the Races, the band opted for a pure more-of-the-same approach, making the album almost an extension as much as a sequel. Both featured the same style of artwork (one in black, the other in white), both took their names from Marx Brothers movies and the pairing of day and night in the titles suggested an almost cyclical link between them.
This linkage extends through May's songwriting and lead-vocal contributions to the albums. His folk-influenced song "'39" appeared as the fifth track on A Night at the Opera, serving as a kind of palate cleanser between the more aggressive, high-concept and baroque compositions that make up much of the rest of that record. May's "Long Away" serves much the same purpose on A Day at the Races.
Opening with a shimmering 12-string riff on one stereo channel, the song sounds far different than the others that precede it on the album. After several bars, May lays down another 12-string track and the rest of the band comes in behind him, operating not in their more traditional, early metal or glam/prog mode, but almost like a holdover from the heyday of the '60s Laurel Canyon sound.
May's 12-string playing has echoes of Roger McGuinn's work with the Byrds, and the vocals that the band develops over this bring to mind the harmonies of the Beach Boys and the melodic sensitivity of the Beatles. May sings the lead, with Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor backing him on the high end, and the whole thing dances along as effortlessly as dandelion pips in the wind.  From: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/queen-long-away/

Erykah Badu - Booty

Track 7 on Mama’s Gun, “Booty” deals with infidelity. In the song, Erykah addresses another woman, reminding her of all the ways she could take her man with relative ease – but she doesn’t want to, because she’s not interested in a man who would cheat on his partner. She hopes the other woman would have the same respect for Erykah’s relationship if put in her position – seemingly implying that the reverse situation has already occured, and the woman didn’t have the same regard for Erykah. Questlove on drums and J Dilla on bass contribute a funky rhythm section to the song, which interpolates elements from Johnny Hammond’s “Gambler’s Life”.  From: https://genius.com/Erykah-badu-booty-lyrics