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Label:Wavelength Records

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

Hotel Brown are an oak that we've watched grow from a little acorn. The promising sapling of the early singles has grown into a magnificent and solid album. To flourish it needs good roots and you don't get roots that go deeper than well written songs. The crown stretches wide and high as tight arrangements and vocal dexterity takes those songs in and out of the darkness. "Do You See Devils" just sets the trunk quivering. With vocal duties shared between genders, Hotel Brown have so many options. The result is an album that constantly surprises and delights.

Beaches Of The Proud

EP:The Truth Always Follows Me Around

Website: http://www.myspace.com/beachesoftheproud

There's a caveat on this. We don't normally feature electronica so why have we included this? The simple answer is the way the tunes have been constructed. Beating at the heart of this record is dark and brooding folk music. Ok it's not using the organic sound of a melodeon or the rhythmic beat of a bodhran. It may hide beneath the textured layers of synth, but you can hear the heart and passion in the recording, it has a life that most electronica lacks. If folk noir and antifolk have an instrumental counterpart this is it. Check the webpage and choose to accept or reject.

Website: http://www.paulliddell.com

You've only got to hear the first song on "New Thing Coming" to know that Paul has his origins in the North East. You're barely a few lines in when you realise that you're listening to someone that really knows how to throw a song together. The lightness of the music often belies the strength of the underlying song. At times it almost sounds frivilous, but you can't but help to keep returning to the narrative and understand just how good this really is. By remaining true to his location, Paul Liddell has infused his songs with a sound that is instantly identifiable and relevent.

Alice Mclaughlin

Website: http://www.myspace.com/alicemclaughlin

There is something exotic about weaving an ethereal, floaty vocal over a track that is essentially percussion. Done well it stays with you long after the song has ceased playing. Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins was a mistress of the art. Alice McLaughlin steps up as the young pretender to the throne. "Dolly Figured" is more stripped in it's construction. You can hear the lyric as well as feel the words, but you don't need to. Voice and backing on their own interact with your spirit and leave you feeling a little other worldly. It haunts and enchants and two songsaren't enough.

Album:Unembroidered (£10)

Label:Ginger Records

Website: http://www.myspace.com/charlotteevesings

'Unembriodered' is a raw and emotional collection of 11 beautifully crafted songs that hit you somewhere deep. Charlotte Eve lives every word she sings and every song touches you profoundly. The subject matter is often painful but the melodies are uplifting and stirring. Charlotte's piano playing is the only accompliment needed to support her husky and unique voice and stunning songs. The production is deliberately unembroidered and fits with the honest and frank nature of the music. Buy this album and get swept away to the beautiful world that is Charlotte Eve's songs.

Julia Palmer-Price

Website: http://www.myspace.com/juliapalmerprice

When a cd arrives so carefully packaged and protected as this one, you know that you are dealing with an artist that has a deep attachment to their music. That's certainly the case with Julia Palmer-Price and her self released album, "Back To Life". Add in some genuinely witty lines and observation, some, oh so georgeous, cello and you have the makings of a fine album indeed. The songs have blend of temporary and contemporary that give a sort of timeless quality to the album. A couple of songs were written for husbands and friends as well as about them, it's good to share.

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

"Cianalas" has been out a couple of years, but for our sins we managed to miss it, a mistake we're correcting now. Singer/songwriter, actor and observer of life, Fraser Nimmo, is one of those salt of the earth guys that manages to incorporate life into their songs. It's all here, love, humour, politics, journeys, both spiritual and actual. Fraser has a positive outlook on life, even when it comes to death, imagining he'll be going out doing what he loves. Songs don't have to be about the big issues to make an impact, Fraser breathes interest into the mundane and makes the day to day matter.

MV & EE with The Golden Road

Label:Ecstatic Peace

Website: http://www.ecstaticpeace.com/mvee

Like mutated offspring of a bizarre cloning of Bjork, The Incredible Stringband, Mazzy Star and Free, MV & EE evolve through yet another incantation, this time Golden Road, to shower the world with a new barrage of finely honed songs, that fight against and combine with layers of sound to produce an album that can be just about anything , except ignored. Not all of the songs click first time. "Gettin' Gone" comes more out of the left field than we normally feature, but when songs can be as beautiful and chaotic as these, frankly who cares.

Ricky Fitzpatrick

Album:The Same Only Different

Website: http://www.myspace.com/rickyfitzpatrickmusic

Ricky Fitzpatrick is being hailed by critics as being the next James Taylor. Catchy melodies, smart lyrics and a voice "as smooth as moonshine". The Same Only Different is a live, solo acoustic CD of mostly Fitzpatrick's fan-favorites (and a couple of new tunes), recorded at the legendary Eddie's Attic, breeding ground for numerous singer/songwriter greats for the last 20+ years. If you like singer/songwriters like JT, Jim Croce, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Shawn Mullins...do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this recording. Catch one of the rising stars on the scene while you can.

Album:Pour Away The Ocean

Website: http://www.myspace.com/hoaxfuneral

Hoax Funeral is a UK alt-folk band fronted by American musician Anjy Hall. Blending elements of the folk traditions with indie and a smattering of alt-country they create a unique sound unlike anything else around at the moment, although comparisons have been made with Tunng, Espers, Mazzy Star and Low//There will be a full review of Hoax Funeral's album in the review section, it will also look at the way Hoax Funeral have taken their do it yourself philosophy and applied it to their music and their pr etc. In the meantime give the album a good listen.

Album:Washington Square Serenade

Website: http://www.steveearle.com

Grumpy old man of the US folk movement, Steve Earle, returns with a twelve tracker, "Washington Square Serenade". It's an album that reminds that Steve is not just a singer with a political agenda, which in it's self would be enough, he's also a top performer and observer of life. There are slices of New York places people and attitude that permeate through the album. There's time for a duet with his wife, Allison Moorer and a chance to indulge snippets of other genres, bordering on rap, within the songs. Steve Earle is a man that knows how to put an album together and have it mean something.

Album:Stick With What You Know

Website: http://www.pattravers.com/

This album is subtitled "Live In Europe", which made me think it was going to be a hybrid of several shows. Fortunately the sleeve notes tell me this is a one gig party. When an album starts "My name is Pat Travers, this is my band. We're going to kick your ass!" it gives the rest something to live up to. "Stick With What You Know" does it's best, but falls short, just. The guitar heroic, drum pounding, blues rock hits the mark and hits the mark hard, power and energy driving it forward, unfortunately not quite enough to sustain it to the end, two tracks shorter and it would have been a great set

Website: www.timarnold.co.uk

Proliffic singer-songwriter Tim Arnold returns with his latest album "Another World". It's his 6th album in eighteen months and is proof that you don't have to sacrifice quality for quantity. You don't have to spend a fortune on recording either, if you know your way around a laptop. "Another World" will start life as a download album, before getting a cd release in the new year. Personally, I wouldn't wait. Arnold has an expressive voice, that seems to be matched by his arrangements of the accompanying strings. Why complicate life when it can sound this easy.

Album:Unknown Soldier

Website: http://www.myspace.com/jonamormusic

"Unknown Soldier" shows that Jon Amor is a whole lot more than a one trick pony. It's good honest riff based r'n'b, with an emphasis on the 'b. It's also an album full of songs, changes in tempo and power. Consequently it's an album that holds your attention all the way through. It doesn't drift off into background music, it stays very much to the front of the mind. Throw in a guest appearance by a certain Robert Plant and you begin to get some idea of the quality, as well as the depth. Jon Amor is an under estimated force in blues, hopefully not for much longer.