I’m a major fan of this tape series, if not its medium of choice, but let’s save that rant for another day. The label’s been operating for 6 years now and has risen to the surface of the music deluge by dint of not just its quality, but also its raw and uncompromising nature.
From day one it’s been a split series, with the sides often having quite contrasting sonic aesthetics. It’s also a treasure trove of traditional folk, drone and improvised endeavour, that has introduced me to no end of great artists who would normally only be found at quaint festivals and squashed up against the cigarette machine in the back room of a traditional boozer. Some of the artists can’t even be found on streaming services, although that says more about the streaming services than them.
The first half of this latest transmission comprises four fine, unaccompanied vocal duets from Bridget & Kitty, normally to be found fanning the folk flames and promoting the oral tradition at gigs around South East London. Their voices are pure and true, the harmonisation real and the recording up close and unadorned.
Flip the tape if the machine won’t do it for you, and you come across Resonant Bodies, an improvisatory duo from Sheffield who “love medieval music and minimalism, and not much in between“, which as well as making me chuckle, pretty much sums up the uncompromising nature of the label. The recording sets off easily enough; nyckelharpa and hammered dulcimer (I believe) engaged in polite yet insistent conversation, until about half way through when they’re joined by a tipsier fiddle, provoking a livelier debate that hypnotises and sweeps you along, and before you know it 15 minutes of your life has been well spent.
Start with this latest label release and work your way back through the series, you’ll be ditching the smartphone, foraging and cooking over wood in no time.
Companion Playlist
For more folk and folk mutations head over to the Slow Folk Playlist - https://www.submithub.com/link/slow-folk-playlist
Comments