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n_jones has written the following articles:

Josephine Foster - Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You

Josephine Foster - Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You

Review by Neil Jones

One of a proliferating number of artists in the alt-traditional freak folk movement, Josephine Foster stands alone with a markedly dark enchantment and seems to revel, convincingly witch-like, in her own cocktail of nocturnal folk spells.»

Mercedes Resolved

Mercedes - Resolved

Review by Neil Jones

Mercedes' Sharon Pinchen has the kind of voice that immediately evokes the sublimely ornate, yet it's a humble Hartlepool soul that lends their dreamy, atmospheric sound a unique charm.»

Be Your Own PET - Fire Department

Be Your Own Pet - Fire Department

Review by Neil Jones

Nashville erupts! Second single from industry phenomenon Be Your Own PET»

Laura Cantrell Humming by the Flowered Vine

Laura Cantrell - Humming by the Flowered Vine

Review by Neil Jones

At the third album stage, Laura Cantrell oozes the kind of quality she could only have achieved from an utter immersion in the whole expanse of her homeland genre.»

Lucinda Williams

Alt.Country Legend Rides UK Again

News by Neil Jones

Hold onto your hats for the return of the real thing...»

david wrench 1

David Wrench - Superhorny

Review by Neil Jones

Far from fairground freak show: Introducing a 6'5" albino synthesiser sex-god from North Wales»

Amy Allison No Frills Friend album cover

Amy Allison - No Frills Friend

Review by Neil Jones

The burgeoning Scottish label Spit & Polish delivers another quaint gem in the form of veritable jazz/blues legend Mose Allison’s daughter.»

the AM A.M.

The A.M. - The A.M.

Review by Neil Jones

As the New Wave of stylishly lethargic American rock continues to gather momentum, we are not surprised to see more and more young bands previously lost for direction jumping on the bandwagon to peddle what’s become an increasingly homogenised sound with no more in mind than attainment of the sheer glamour, and, of course, “the women”. The A.M. are a thoroughly more mature proposition.»

Laura Cantrell guitar picture

Laura Cantrell at Cardiff Barfly Club, Mon 04 Aug

Review by Neil Jones

After years of aiming to reconcile the old with the new as a disc jockey on New York’s freeform radio, Laura Cantrell seems to have disappeared utterly believably into an enchanting time warp of Nashville’s creative heyday.»

Laura Cantrell picture

Laura Cantrell to return

News by Neil Jones

Following rapturous receptions last time around, New York alt-country chanteuse Laura Cantrell makes a return to Britain with the following dates over the coming weeks: JULY
29th - Birkenhead Pacific Road Arts Centre
30th - Nottingham Rescue Rooms AUGUST»

ooberman live photo 02

Ooberman at Cardiff Barfly Club, Tue 11 Mar

Review by Neil Jones

Far away from the rat-race and fickle trends and ingratiations of the indie scene, Dan Popplewell and his band are introducing a new generation of disaffected kids to the joys of all things exotically classical, through music which hits all the heights of their indie routes and soars far above. It's hard not to»

Ladytron Light & Magic cover

Ladytron - Light & Magic

Review by Neil Jones

Avoiding any impulse to comply as darlings of a “New Wave”, on their second album Ladytron stay true to the beguiling, icy detachment of their sound.»

Laura Cantrell picture

In Conversation

In Depth by Neil Jones

In a world where popular country music is currently as ludicrous as a group of banjo-strumming hamsters, and also invariably performed by them, Laura Cantrell, an elegant, jaw-droppingly sophisticated natural from Nashville, is breathing air into it that's as fresh as a daisy. She's the new Laura Cantrell, a new»

jj72 live picture No2

JJ72 at Cardiff University, Mon 11 Nov

Review by Neil Jones

Merging the lyrical sensibility of a genuinely burgeoning poet with the sheer spectacle of rabble-rousing live “rock” performance is what JJ72's Mark Greaney is doing currently with a profundity beyond his years.»

Nice Man album cover

Nice Man - Sauchiehall and Hope (A Pop Opera)

Review by Neil Jones

Francis Macdonald has turned his hand to creating a record which blends the best of his melodic indie roots with the fruits of his new musical passions.»

Life Without Buildings

Life Without Buildings to split

News by Neil Jones

Lo-fi, post-punk pioneers Life Without Buildings have announced that they are to split. In a statement put up on their website, lifewithoutbuildings.com, on September 25, they made the following announcement: "Some of you may have gue»

When The Roses Bloom Again album cover

Laura Cantrell - When The Roses Bloom Again

Review by Neil Jones

On very first listen of this record it’s not hard to see why Laura Cantrell would have excelled as a young tour guide at the Nashville Country Music museum. With further listens it becomes brilliantly apparent why she is now the genre’s great new hope.»

A Small Big Match Preview: England v Brazil

In Depth by Neil Jones

World Cup Quarter Final: England v Brazil. Friday, June 21, 2002. (While not for a moment questioning in any way the Englishman-in-the-pub's good sense in shouting his country on to success in this big quarter final clash over a gallon of beer or two; the impartial onlooker would surely ask:) Wh»

Ooberman - Bluebell Morning EP

Review by Neil Jones

Dan Popplewell and his band are taking the alternative indie genre to its very limits with a growing musical maturity that is quickly moving towards utter transcendence of genre.»

Hefner - The Hefner Brain

Review by Neil Jones

Turning away suggestions that they should release quaint album track 'Half A Life' accompanied by a tattoo-filled video suitable for the MTV2 generation like they were offerings of buckets of dry paint, Hefner instead bring out 'The Hefner Brain'. Shunning what would would surely have been th»

Ladytron - Playgirl cover

Ladytron - Playgirl

Review by Neil Jones

You can only get away with walking the gravel-gilded streets of Liverpool dressed in the tradition of four Milk Tray men if you’re as cool as Ladytron are.»

ooberman running girl

Ooberman - Running Girl (Mini album)

Review by Neil Jones

That the band who wrote a song that soared to the melodic/poetic heights of their ’98 single ‘Shorley Wall’ face such a struggle these days to even get a release seems to their small army of admirers like a gross injustice. But it’s welcome to the real world for Ooberman, who’s lead singer Dan Popplewell, judging by ‘Running Girl’, seems only to have profited artistically from adversity.»

Life Without Buildings

Aereogramme, Life Without Buildings, Sammo Hung at Cardiff Sam's Bar, Thu 31 May

Review by Neil Jones

The beauty of being in on a secret that not many others know about or probably care about. Tonight's small venue and crowd full of people more at home at home in front of the mirror do no justice to the wiry talents of the Life Without Buildings singer Sue Tompkins. She bounces on stage at approxima»