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Album:All I Have Is Here

Website: http://www.barricadesrise.co.uk

Barrocades Rise are like a troupe of troubadours rolled into a duo and sent out into the world with a mission to entertain. "All That I Have Is Here" is an album powered by the spark of life and imbued with a rousing spirit. This is keenly observed poetry served up as acoustic rock. It's as much about life's simple pleasures as it is about the more complicated ones, often in the same song. "Making Faces From Clouds" is a song about one of those things that we've all whiled away time doing, then weave a song about relationships through it. It's an album easy to start, hard to put down.

Album:What The Night Delivers...

Website: http://www.scottmatthewsmusic.co.uk

"What The Night Delivers..." is an album of brooding intensity. Scott Matthews is blessed with having one of those voices that almost says as much by letting the sounds and silences linger as he does with the words, which leaves an awful lot of lines to read between. That sense of deep thought is enhanced by the excellent string arrangements that provide an array of depths and moods for the vocal to work with. Danny Thompson makes an appearance on the double bass, but it's the cello of another Danny, Keane, that shines through on an enigmatic recording.

Website: http://www.robertbrownmusic.net/

The first thing you notice about this mini album is the wall of strum backing from which the rest of the songs lay their colour against. Subtle guitar picking carefully defining the notes of importance as the songs deliver a sound that falls partway between Americana and blues rock. "Road Dog" feels like an album that's been cut south of the Dixie Mason line and yet at the same time feels as if he's never ventured west beyond Dublin. There is something difficult to define about Robert Brown, he feels like he's been sat in the melting pot of life and absorbed the flavours.

Catherine MacLellan

Website: http://www.catherinemaclellan.com

This is the fourth album of Catherine MacLellan that I've reviewed and for the life of me I can't understand why she's not better known. I know the female alt.country scene is a crowded one that's packed with talented singer/songwriters and I guess no matter how talented you are, you still need that lucky break, well fingers crossed that "Silhouette" is the album that does it for her. Songs like "Keep On Fighting" highlight her willingness to deliver issue based songs like they really matter, and they do. She's a really expressive songwriter and the album a great songbook.

Album:Fascination Nation

Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/michaelstegner

Michael Stegner hasd been a sidesman in a number of bands and has played in a whole range of styles from jazz through church and gospel music and back out through rock on the other side. All of these influenced his writing along with the likes of Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash. "Fascination Nation" is a quirky album that can't seem to settle on what it wants to be, except that it wants to do it with a sense of style, panache even and a sense of humour. Taken individually there's not a song on this fourteen track album, somehow they don't feel like they should be together.

Heath Common The Thin Man & The Bee

Album:Songs From The South Bay

Website: http://www.commonthinbee.com

Available for free from their website, "Songs From The South Bay" is the debut album from songwriter collective Heath Common, The Thin Man & The Bee. It's an album that feels like a showcase, because that's what this is, three artesans showing off their craft. There's a theatrical nature to a lot of the songs on the album, you can almost feel a production for which their destined, almost as though each song is coming from it's own play, play's where the songs find their context and the characters and chorus give it their all, but off Broadway away from shining lights.

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick

Website: http://www.fellside.com

For fans of the two folk bastions that are Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick, this album will come as absolute delight, for those new to the duo, it's an exciting place to start. "Walnut Creek" features a dozen live songs that were recorded between '89 and '96, pretty much before the internet age and yet except for three tracks where the name of the man on the desk is known, these recordings have been assembled from recordings that have found their way back to the duo. It's a remarkable album, not just for how it came together, but for the sheer quality of the performances captured.

Website: http://www.nicklowe.com

Two years younger than David Bowie, Nick Lowe is becoming a grand old man of music and both the album title, "The Old Magic" and "Checkout Time one of the tracks on the album show he doesn't care one iota. His sound has changed since his pub rock days, taking into account more country and showband influences on his sound. This is an album of a man that is enjoying making music and always looking to keep his sound fresh with new ideas and influences. I'm particularly enjoying the roackabilly underones that permeate through this album. A class act.

Jacqui Dankworth

Album:Jacqui Dankworth

Website: http://www.jacquidankworth.com/

"It Happens Quietly" was the last album arranaged by the late great Sir John Dankworth and had it not been a family album, would probably not have happened at all, with some of it being recorded in the front room. Whilst the album has Jacqui Dankworth's name above the title, the importance of his contribution is on the front cover. It's a fighting trbute that means he went out on a high point. His daughter has a fantastic voice, one that, almost literally, was born for jazz. This is an album of bright vibrance one that brings light into the room.

Virgil And The Accelerators

Label:Mystic Records

Website: http://www.virgilandtheaccelerators.com

There's a bit of a jazz feel to some of Virgil & The Accelerators intros on "The Radium", at times almost dischordant solos where the various members of the band play off each other to showcase their instrumental dexterity. It has to be said that there are some incredible instrumental passages right across this album, but there's also a lot of posturing that, for me, distracts from the main thrust of the songs that come from a hard hitting blues rock sound with lyrics that at times sit on the edge of being misogynistic. Musically and interesting album but....

Album:Until Morning/Come Out The Dark

Website: http://www.torisparks.com

"Until Morning/Come Out The Dark" is not so much a double album, but more conjoined twins, linked, but still very much individuals. Tori Sparks is a hard grafting(200 gigs a year), prolific singer/songwriter originally from Tenessee, but currently based in Madrid. Her music comes out of the Americana school, but takes in latin influences, which are enhanced by being performed in Spanish, Tori also performs in French. The people and places in her songs come from both sides of the Atlantic, whilst the love themes are universal, thoughtful and reflective, a joy.

David Sinclair Trio

Label:Critical Discs

Website: http://www.davidsinclairuk.com

David Sinclair is a journalist andhis love of langauge comes across in his lyrics, quirky and poignant. "Loneliness (Won't Leave Me Alone)" is a great example of the songwriters art, a series of connected vignettes that map chapters in the life of the main protaganist. It's wrapped up in the music of a power trio that somehow manage to be more Kinks than Jam. The David Sinclair Trio are way more than a hobby band, even if they aren't the prime focus of the man at the front. "Take Me There" is a strong well written album of thought provoking songs.