Fresh Juice 10th November 2025

Big Thief – Grandmother

Taken from the bands sixth studio album ‘Double Infinity’, the now three piece Big Thief are seen here with a recent live TV performance of one of the stand out tracks from the album. It is the first song in the bands catalogue to feature a co-writing credit for all three members, Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek and James Krivchenia. Although the lyric explores a theme of intergenerational emotion, directly addressing Lenker’s grandmother, I do like the way the “gonna turn it all into rock and roll” refrain points to a connection across the generations through music. Big Thief remain predictably brilliant on an album which serves to establish their prominence and position as one of the definitive and essential bands of our time.

Lisa O’Neill – The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right

Whilst it may not be a lead in to a new album any time soon, this latest EP release from Lisa O’Neill is a welcome return from one of the central voices in folk music today. And just as the folk music of yesteryear would sing out the hurt, toil and human endurance faced by ordinary working class people, so too does Lisa’s music reflect with needle-eye precision the turmoil and knock on effects of the political battles raging around us today. ‘The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right’ is a powerful hymn, a defiant anthem that rages against the capitalist regimes making up their own self-serving rule books in a stoically dignified, but no less enraged, manner. As emphasised in the traumatic video, laced with guest stars, the message feels like a line being drawn, the limits of where our cruelty to each other can go have been realised and now, maybe it is time for the pendulum to swing back the other way.

Vanity Mirror – White Butterfly

In a delightful amalgamation of the mid-sixties electric jangle of The Beatles and the irresistible primitivism of The Velvet Underground, Vanity Mirror conjure magic new sounds out of old recipes. Just let the shape of those verses take a hold and it is impossible not to summon thoughts of ‘Rubber Soul’ and the snaking melody of ‘Lady Godiva’s Operation’. The band are Brent Randall from Canada and Johnny Toomey from Los Angeles who used to play in a band called Electric Looking Glass but formed Vanity Mirror in order to develop a more lo-fi production with a songwriting style that references sixties style melodies. They have recently released their second album ‘Super Fluff Forever’.

Michelle David & The True Tones – Speak To Me

Well this is a banger indeed, a real super-spreader of a tune that takes up a long term residence inside your mind and simply refuses to recognise an eviction notice. This is what happens when you combine Motown production values, a strong song writing discipline and Northern Soul energy to a track, the sweet soul sounds of decades past still lives and breathes in 2025. The band themselves are a fusion of US and Dutch heritage who make music of a vintage soul and gospel persuasion that also manages to blend a gorgeous retro sound with a contemporary edge. This spiritual, open hearted floor filler has been released as a single this Autumn ahead of a brand new album called ‘Soul Woman’ set to arrive in February 2026.

Mood Bored – All The Time

This is a crunching indie guitar trio from the Netherlands who released this aching bittersweet gem from their EP ‘Too Much’, on Mattan Records, earlier this year. They represent a vibrant Dutch scene that includes names like Dutch Mustard and Tape Toy. ‘All The Time’ is especially notable for its grungy reverb and vocals that sing of burnout and existential pressure, asking “don’t you wanna break all the time?”. They already have some notable support slots under their belts, including Wolf Alice whose influence is apparent in the textures and pop inclinations, and their high energy performances have the desired attention grabbing effect.

Frankie Cosmos – Your Take On

Seen here in a punchy recent live clip, Frankie Cosmos perform a typically short and poetic track from their latest album ‘Different Talking’. They are an archetypal DIY indie band built around the music of Greta Kline who began the project in 2011, initially building a following through Bandcamp. They evolved into the larger ensemble featuring Alex Bailey, Katie Von Schleicher and Hugo Stanley and their music too evolved into a refined blend of bedroom pop and indie. Their latest was home recorded and self produced in upstate New York and refines the essence of Frankie Cosmos across 17 songs that rarely exceed the two minute mark. Greta’s presence has been felt across several other projects this year including ‘What Love Is’ by Soft Surface and a powerful version of ‘Hard Rain’ with the Kronos Quartet.

Live Reviews

Scott Lavene – Cambridge Portland Arms 29th October 2025

Scott Lavene is a modern-day Essex likely lad, a unique music vessel and a stylish composite of Mod, Two-Tone ska boy with a hint of Where’s Wally. He is an individualistic UK voice who belongs somewhere in the Ray Davies, Steve Marriott, Billy Bragg, Ian & Baxter Dury lineage. Singing cartoon snapshots of his storied life, tonight the audience are let in on a bit of family history; it turns out Scott’s Granddad was a famous jazz trumpeter. I had picked up lyrics referencing this in his music before, there is the line about his Granddad saying “never trust a town that doesn’t have a jazz club” in the song ‘Disneyland In Dagenham’ for example, but tonight he imparts this as a fact. Why would it not be? Well, if you take all the colourful back story Scott puts into his songwriting, then some details might seem a tad far-fetched. If all true, this man has an incredible autobiography in him at some stage. Earlier, he told another story relating to the opening lyrics of ‘A Bus In July’, admitting that “I really did live with a Moroccan armed robber”, the story unfolding to the point where he was also playing tennis with the crack head lawyer from Finchley featured in the songs second line. And if you follow these random Lavene threads you might also detect a love of custard, which makes the lyric about first meeting his future wife on a bus with a carrier bag full of the sweet creamy dessert all the more believable. He is potentially the epitome of an artist unloading real life into his art with grit and raw honesty. I suspect the Scott Lavene we are presented with in concert is not a fictitious creation, more likely an exaggerated version of the real self, for the man has such an acute ear for the absurd minutiae of daily life that his sense of what can pass as entertainment is probably pretty fine tuned too. That said, I cannot find any information about the jazz playing grandfather online, so who knows? Does it matter anyway? Scott Lavene is a magnetic, charismatic performer arriving off the A13, wheel spinning a vintage Volvo estate car loaded with a cassette deck full of great songs.

To hold on to the jazz connection, rightly or wrongly, for a moment, there is a subtle musicality at play here. Scott fronts it out as a plain speaker which distracts a touch from the often disarmingly melodic and colourful flourishes in his playing. The guitar style can slide into hot progressive explorations almost despite itself and the piano songs have a touch and tone full of tenderness and colour. Even his singing, when he allows himself to let go without obscuring the vocal with a slice of cheeky chappy ham, hits the spot with a purity of tone. Scott Lavene could be an Essex soul boy if he did not feel so riled by the pretensions, posturing, double standards and hypocrisies in the world around him. Music might be his font for expressing feelings, but it also gives him an outlet to let off steam about everything from electric cars, overpriced posh coffees, gentrification and the ignorant soulless leisure activities of the newly minted. Tonight in Cambridge, he opens up about his own inner conflicts, alighting on his previous disdain of the middle classes alongside the realisation that he might now be one of them. These days Scott tells us, in one of many extended introductions (he does enjoy a chat with his audience), that he lives in a house with a garden, adapting to little things like stairs on the indoors, lawnmowers and neighbours who bring home made brownies. All of which makes his take down of middle class problems, ‘Waitrose Has Run Out Of Lobster’ with its images of burgundy chinos rising up in resistance to the shortage and specifically Janet, who has bought them all to store in a large freezer, all the more delightful.

While running through a superb set that draws from latest album ‘Cars, Buses, Bedsits And Shops’ along with generous pickings from records released over the past six years (he had to play longer tonight after the support act pulled out), Scott tells the crowd about a couple in attendance who travel around to every gig, giving them a shout out on their wedding anniversary. Scott inspiring this kind of loyalty is understandable, it is plainly clear that he is not an artist dialling in an identikit performance night after night. He plays solo, mainly an electric guitar with effects and loops but also a few songs in a piano ballad form. The music is a living being with Scott; if he plays about with form like this every night, it can only be to keep that restless inventive mind of his engaged. The delivery of a Lavene signature tune is anything but set in stone. ‘Broke’ is the story of an Essex lad riding his luck on the poverty line, shadow boxing with self-mocking wit as he thinks on his feet among societies forgotten and ignored, finding comfort in his vices, unexpected twists of fate and life’s simple pleasures; tonight it is caressed into a wholly different beast to the trodden slog heard on record. It is more like an electric free-form hymn with Scott crowd pleasing, after the line about his girlfriend sighing the longest sigh he ever heard, by repeating an impressive breath zapping example of that very thing. Like many artists who leave a little too much of themselves on stage, a gigs merits may depend on where their head is at on any particular night. At the Portland Arms, Scott Lavene seems relaxed and engaged, a venue he once worked as a chef is now a well-attended first headline gig in Cambridge. He takes requests and we sense that here is a songwriter in a golden moment; riding an upward curve in his fortunes, both personal and artistically, but still close enough to the sharp edges of life that shaped him to thrive in the creative inspiration those experiences provide. Get on to Scott Lavene at your earliest convenience, he is the ultimate Essex man in music, proving that a much-maligned region still has so much to offer the culture.

Words: Danny Neill Photos: Sophie Reichert

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 3rd November 2025

Josienne Clarke – What Do I Do?

Josienne’s latest album ‘Far From Nowhere’ is a record created and recorded in the isolation of a remote Scottish cabin. Deliberately lo-fi and intimate, it is a fine piece of work that sits together well as a suite of songs wrestling with questions, anxieties and motions that play-out as if being processed in real time. There are no easy answers, in fact often there are no definitive explanations at all, just questions, and this song is a good example of that. It also stands as a singer-songwriter album that honours the tradition of artists charting their journey through life via music; when real experience and feelings are the source, it is often reflected in songs that have more bite and depth, as heard in the music of Josienne Clarke

The Len Price 3 – Gypsy Magick

New music is always welcome from a trio with some of the purest sixties garage rock sounds you can find in 2025. As the title of their new latest album ‘Misty Medway Magick’ indicates, they are a power pop outfit from Kent who have been heavily gigging and recording for over twenty years with all original members, none of whom are actually called Len Price. That sound is hard to resist but I never warm to mere retro photocopyists, it is when bundled in with creativity and original ideas in composition, as the Len Price 3 have always done, that the music comes alive, fizzing with energy and vitality. It is a big part of the Fruit Tree Records ethos that design classic sounds and genres can continue to be enjoyed outside of their original eras, provided they are approached with the right attitude. As far as I am concerned, ‘Gypsy Magick’ is just a rollicking 2025 pop record, so dig it.

Tristen – Because Your Love Is Mine

Tristen (full name Tristen Gaspadarek) is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee who first came to my attention around 2018 with the swooning song ‘Glass Jar’ that appeared on the album ‘Sneaker Waves’. She has released several records at this point and is about to put out the brand new ‘Unpopular Music’ LP on Well Kept Secret. As heard here, the melody driven sounds and personal narrative infused lilt to the lyrics remain at the fore. There is a deceptively gentle, hazy energy to the music of Tristen that ensures any new recordings are always worth checking out. Of this new song she confides it is “about the healing power of connection, something we are starved for in the age of artificial intimacy”.

Neko Case – Wreck

Neko Case first came to my attention when she topped the John Peel Festive Fifty over 25 years ago, the legendary DJ’s championing of new country artists around this time may not have been a huge part of his celebrated legacy, but I think the fact that Neko is still making essential new Americana today proves he knew a good thing when he heard it. Her latest album is called ‘Neon Grey Midnight Green’ and is out now on the Anti- label; she describes is as a “love letter and a testimony” to her friends and influential musicians, producers and activists who have passed away in recent years. In focusing on these departed souls Neko Case has once again produced a work with a deep timelessness that pushes country music into the stratosphere.

Good Flying Birds – Fall Away

Newly signed to Carpark and Smoking Room, the Good Flying Birds are a jangly guitar-pop outfit from the Midwest who have just released ‘Tallulah’s Tape’, a mix of stripped down home recordings that includes this falling tumbleweed of melancholic pop timbre. It features backing vocals from Wishy’s Nina Pitchkites along with Kevin Krauter on drums and demonstrates a fine appreciation of the DIY aesthetic and the enduring persuasiveness of melody and hooks. Earlier this year they sold 300 copies of a self released cassette in under a month but now sound poised to take it to take it a lot further on down the road.

Pino Palladino + Blake Mills ft. Chris Dave – Taka

Blake Mills is a guitar hero with a difference, a genuine sonic explorer and visionary who takes the absence of macho posturing adopted by indie guitar gods and pushes it into progressive territories others could not even imagine are possible. This piece is taken from his second collaboration with Welsh bassist Pino Palladino following on from their first 2021 set ‘Notes With Attachments’. New record ‘That Wasn’t A Dream’ picks up and expands upon the innovations from before, recorded at Sound City Studios it again features contributions from Chris Dave and Sam Gendel. Another dimension to the work this time around is Blake Mills’ use of a prototype fretless baritone sustainer guitar, making for a unique, woodwind-like texture to the sound. ‘Taka’ was the lead track from the album and here we capture them cooking up their magic in the studio.

Monthly Playlists

November 2025 Playlist

The cover star for this playlist is Scott Lavene, whose show at the Portland Arms in Cambridge last week will be reviewed on this site later this week. A lot of my time this past month has been spent diving into music documentaries and cinematic biopics. For my documentary fix I watched the whole of Ken Burns 2001 ten feature length installment series simply titled ‘Jazz’. Each episode ran to over an hour making this a deep dive into the history of Jazz, putting forward a compelling argument for it being America’s greatest contribution to the cultural landscape. As you would expect, some of the meat on the bone of the series was the incredible archive film clips incorporated into each episode, lacking in the earliest episodes simply because they centered on the late nineteenth, early twentieth century but from the 1950s onwards this is a jazz archive bean feast. It is the main reason to view a program of this nature for a jazz fan because the stories themselves are often well known and time restrictions, due to the sheer scope of the project, lead to only surface level commentaries. Key figures like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis are appreciated in greater detail than many others, the knock-on effect being the surprising absence of certain big names. I spotted a couple of photos of Lee Morgan but not an actual mention, Chet Baker was spoken about in passing as was Glenn Miller (who is almost totally dismissed as a commercial phenomenon only), whilst I do not think I heard the name Nina Simone even once.

All that said, it does remain a worthy watch. Some of the talking heads stitching the historical contexts together are very listenable and explain their points concisely whilst (then) modern day faces like Wynton Marsalis proves himself to be an absolute master student of the music. Historical music documentaries often struggle with contextualizing more recent events leading up to the present day and Ken Burns ‘Jazz’ is no different. The period 1970-2000 is speed-skimmed over and even though I get the point they are making about Jazz’s marginalization in the eighties, to imply that the music was all but dead is inaccurate. They also appear to believe that Wynton and his jazz revivalist peers were the key to the future of the music, but it is all too easy for me with all this hindsight to go picking holes in that, overall ‘Jazz’ is a superb visual document and precursor to a similarly deep series about country music that Burns would turn his attentions to later.

I also went to the cinema this month to watch the Bruce Springsteen biopic ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere.’ I approached this one with a little trepidation because the potential for a cliché-ridden rags to riches story of rock ‘n’ roll savior seemed like a possibility. However, lead actor Jeremy Allen White is a serious performer who gives the impression of some professional integrity, so I felt this alone was a bit of a safety blanket. The film is actually a thoughtful piece of accurately shot cinematography, set in 1981-82 when Bruce was on the cusp of the worldwide acclaim and success he would soon be indelibly showered with. Here we see Springsteen hit a mentally low ebb as he channels deeply personal background issues into the new music that would become the lo-fi ‘Nebraska’ album. He home records demos onto a cassette and the difficulties in recreating these songs in the professional studio environment is heavily focused on, as is the record company frustration expressed as Bruce holds firm about releasing the cassette demo as the actual record. We also see him capturing, during the same sessions, the first few tracks of what would become 1984’s mainstream smashing ‘Born In The USA’ album, which does point to the most obvious omission from the script. As Bruce’s manager defends his artist to the Columbia hierarchy, keen to support his acts artistic vision and holding firm that ‘Nebraska’ is to be issued with no promotion, no singles and no Bruce Springsteen face on the album cover, it is hard not to assume he also would have bartered “but don’t worry, if we indulge Bruce now and put this out, the record he’s nearly got ready to go after this is going to make us all millions, so let’s just play the long game and go along with him for now”. But the script did not include such a calculating line. Either way, a good film with impressively authentic audio performances in which the Bruce Springsteen legend remains intact.

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 31st October 2025

Kate Bush – Hammer Horror

Recognising that it is Halloween, this week’s retro music selection is a gathering of spooky, ghostly, blood, gore and horror music that are all hauntingly superb in their own way. We begin with the lead track from Kate Bush’s 1978 second album ‘Lionheart’ and it is a song that deliberately summons images of the cultish British Hammer films. The production especially gives a nod to atypical tropes heard in seventies scary drama incidental music, but in Kate’s hands it is also deliciously camp and extravagant. It is worth noting that the lyrics actually tell the tale of an actor haunted by the ghost of the man he replaced following that performers death in a tragic set accident.

Tom Waits – What’s He Building In There?

This is one of several stand out tracks from the Tom Waits 1999 album ‘Mule Variations’. Far more than a song, this is a sound collage and spoken word atmosphere piece that deals in the realms of suspicion and over-imagination. It hears Waits narrating the thoughts of a paranoid neighbour, allowing the unexplained private activities of another household to overwhelm him with suspicion, fantastical theorising and a haphazard joining of the dots in which two and two add up to five. The track brilliantly paints the paranoid mind state caused when a little knowledge becomes a dangerous thing. He works himself into such a state about these unknown activities that by the end Tom’s character has decided “we have a right to know” what they are.

The Tiger Lillies – The Crack Of Doom

If there is one act on the live scene today who fit a Halloween themed music selection like a glove, it has to be these fine purveyors of pre-war Berlin infused cabaret and macabre gypsy tinged dark bonhomie, The Tiger Lillies. In a long career and an impressively deep back catalogue, even their songs adopting a lighter, jauntier hue, are rendered unsettling by the falsetto pitched Martyn Jacques vocal delivery and that terrified white face stage make up they adopt; not so much a horror clown as a horrified manifestation of our worst nightmares. This song, one of their greatest, delights in the levelling effect death brings to all walks of society from top to bottom, highlighting that all human endeavours, both good and bad, high or low, turn to dust in the end. Cheers.

The Rattles – The Witch

I do not need too much of an excuse to move the sound in a psych-rock direction. Still, this does at least fit the bill in terms of subject matter and frenzied, spooked-out delivery. The fact that it is also a buzzing pop juggernaut with an over-abundance of hooks and riffage is just the icing on the blood red cake. Becoming a massive hit in 1970, this German band spent time in the sixties treading the same Hamburg boards as The Beatles, it was actually a re-recording of a track originally put out in 1968. This one, the famous version for sure, features a startling and startled vocal performance from Edna Bejarano, who was only with this long running band for three years.

Dusty Springfield – Spooky

I actually discovered over the past month a brilliant instrumental version of this song by Lack Of Afro (it will feature on next months playlist) but I thought for this feature, it has to be the classic 1970 Dusty version. However, this was not the original as the song was first written as an instrumental, in part by saxophonist Mike Shapiro who performed it in 1967 under the name Mike Sharpe. Lyrics were then added later that year by guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie for a recording by Classics IV. The soulful Springfield version however, is rightly regarded as a classic and it enjoyed a second wave of popularity after 1998 when featured in the film ‘Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels’.

R. Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House

I am closing the feature this week on a high by including a song that, whether with my DJ hat on, or just sitting at home playing records, in fact wherever I may find myself controlling the music on October 31st in any year, I just cannot leave out. This northern soul stomper, originally from 1967, had a major revival and re-release in 1974 thanks to the thriving dance scene in northern England driven by the Wigan Casino. R. Dean Taylor himself was a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer working for Motown records, which is how he came to release a couple of breakout hit singles on the label. The most notable one at the time was ‘Gotta See Jane’ but ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’ is the undisputed classic. Just slide away to that descending guitar riff, crank up the volume to the spirits drowning max and give those kids knocking on your door a treat of a more musical nature.

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 27th October 2025

Bernardo – Go Blue

The newly released debut album from this London based British / Portuguese singer songwriter is called ‘Secrets Of Six Figure Women’. Her full name is Sonia Bernardo and the record shows an independent free spirit whose music is floating somewhere around indie music and soulful electronica without truly belonging to either. With ‘Go Blue’ there is a lot going on underneath a framework that is deceptively simple. Piano droplets usher the track in, which settles for a moment in acoustic introspection before sonic references to trip-hop coalesce a sublime chorus part into play. There is something quite divine in the way the centre point of the track glides through some beautiful chord changes then, without warning, the whole thing is over. It really does leave the listener hungry for more, so further Bernardo investigating will certainly be around the corner.

Courtney Barnett – Stay In Your Lane

This is a very welcome return to the momentum and grunge attack heard on the first Courtney Barnett releases over ten years ago. Released on Fiction Records in the UK, it sees Courtney deliver her first new vocal performance in four years, her previous album being the 2023 ‘End Of The Day’ which was an instrumental score for the documentary ‘Anonymous Club’. This one includes a video that has a concept straight out of the Hammer Horror playbook, set in a blood stained hospital ward, it was directed by Alex Ross Perry who has previous with the V/H/S horror series. There is no word of a new album yet but if this is a hint of what we are in for when one does appear, then it could feel like a glorious comeback for this much loved artist.

The Cords – Fabulist

A purists throwback to the kind of DIY indie energy that fuelled the C86 movement in the eighties. ‘Fabulist’ is a fast peddling, jingle-jangling, melody grabbing, knee-bending and heel clicking ride through a bullseye hitting assault on liars and people who make their money from dishonest endeavours. The Cords have arrived with this stunning presentation of proper pop music from Scotland, they are a duo comprising sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi. Their self-titled debut album is newly released on Skep Wax and Slumberland and it too is overloaded with energy, attitude, zip, zap and hooks. Among the acts they have played with Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian stand out, for it is their brand of intellectually stimulating and musically satisfying Scottish pop that The Cords lean closest to. The comparison is legitimate, these are a band to keep an eye and an ear out for going forward.

Sarah Kate Morgan & Leo Shannon – Featherbed Medley

This is a live session rendition that has a rough, rural hue ahead of a rousing change in the second half that marks this duo out as performers with a wonderful touch. This is the title track of a new release whose seven tracks fall somewhere between an EP and an LP. It is the work of a Kentucky duo one of whom, Leo, is a multi-instrumentalist whilst the other, Sarah Kate, is a mountain dulcimerist. Theirs is a sound in which the influences of Irish music, Americana and traditional fiddle tunes all add vital elements to the sonic potion and yes, it is a little old-timey in its sensibilities but that notion is becoming increasingly irrelevant in 2025. Good music just exists sitting side by side with many different styles old and new, just as bad music exists in precisely the same way. That is the key difference ultimately, why listen to something bad when the good stuff is so readily available now. And Morgan & Shannon are indisputably delivering the good jelly aplenty, in all its down home, unplugged, warm, grainy and authentic glory.

Griff Lynch – Fe Lyncodd

A Welsh language record can feel a little out of reach to a non-Welsh speaking man like myself, but when the music and production are as deep and inviting as this it actually matters little. This is a beautiful tune whatever it should happen to be about, it is written with a craftsman’s ear for melodic progression and the sound has some heady textures and sparks flying in the background that serve to lock the listener in tight. Taken from his brand new album ‘Blas Melysa’r Mis’ released on Lwcus T, a record which also features James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers, Griff has translated the title of this song as meaning “he swallowed”. He continues, “this one is about greed and being careful what you wish for”. The thing is, now I know that, it kind of makes the music even more marvellous. For me, it is a sound that illustrates that exact type of reverie, it has a dreaminess but one that is anchored by reality. Superb stuff.

The Ocelots – The Good Of A Bad Year

My first encounter with this track was viewing the video online and I will admit, I was troubled by the piano and harmonica playing initially. I mean, he is not even close to hitting the right notes on that keyboard and the miming on the mouth organ has got to be amongst the worst ever seen on film, especially when you consider it is probably quite an easy instrument to mime to, you’ve only got to stick it in your mouth! But I completely parked those actually quite irrelevant thoughts as the music unfolded because the realisation dawned that this is actually a rather sublime and very well written song. What begins as a straight ahead piano ballad pulls away and blossoms into an elegantly swooning, gently pouring jar full of audio honey. The band are made up of twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson and this tune is taken from the album, released earlier this year, called ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’. They originated from Wexford in Ireland but are now based in Germany, however it is that easy Irish charm that permeates their winning brand of folk-rock and cinematic pop, so do not ignore the Ocelots.

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 24th October 2025

Phil Ochs – I Ain’t Marching Anymore

This week’s selection of older music recommendations is a feature inspired by the soon-to-land new Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 18 box set. It offers a deep dive into the early Dylan period when he arrived in New York, soaked up the culture, history and political positioning of the folk scene around Greenwich Village and very soon became the most famous songwriter at the forefront of the protest movement. To compliment that, here are six tracks from some of the other musicians and songwriters Bob would have been rubbing shoulders with during this era. Many would influence Bob directly, some would collaborate with him whilst others, with Phil Ochs being the prime example, would motivate Bob more as artists he viewed as rivals within the topical song explosion. Dylan and Ochs had flashpoints in the mid-sixties (Dylan once booted Ochs out of a cab with the words “you’re just a journalist” ringing in his ears, his crime nothing more than, correctly, ascertaining that ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’ was not as good as Dylan’s previous release) but a mutually respectful connection did survive with Ochs often publicly defending against criticism of Bob’s adopting a folk-rock sound. Ochs tale is a sad one of mental health decline and a terminal downward spiral in the early seventies that he could not lift himself from. But, despite his lack of commercial success, Phil’s reputation must have held among peers. It is fascinating to hear on the new John Lennon set, focusing on Lennon’s own dalliance with protest music around 1971-72, how he jammed with Phil upon arriving in America, trying to find inspiration from the man clearly still regarded as one of the more effective, credible writers of this kind. One of the songs Phil played John that night was this, a pacifist classic from the mid sixties about turning away from military combat in search of another way, an idea that definitely chimed with Lennon’s own ‘War Is Over’ publicity campaign.

Carolyn Hester – Dink’s Song

Carolyn’s bit-part in the Bob Dylan story is quite a pivotal one actually. Her self titled album released in 1962 for Columbia featured Bob as an instrumentalist, playing the harmonica on some of the tracks such as ‘Swing And Turn Jubilee’ and ‘I’ll Fly Away’. Other than it being Bob’s first recording of any kind on a major label, it is also highly likely that it was this session that brought Bob to the attention of John Hammond, soon to be the man opening the doors to Columbia for Dylan to sign a first solo recording contract and make his own self titled debut LP. As can be heard on this selection, Carolyn had a fine voice and style of her own and with Davy Graham backing her on guitar, it is clear Dylan was only one of many folk legends she would work alongside.

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – San Francisco Bay Blues

There is a funny detail within the pages of the new book that accompanies the latest edition of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series. It tells of the hilarity in Bob’s reaction to finding out the news that Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s real name is Elliott Charles Adnopoz. Apparently the former Mr. Zimmerman, whose own backstory and its legitimacy, or lack of, would come into question soon enough could not help but fall about laughing. Ramblin’ Jack would be a key figure in Bob’s early development, with this own absorbing of the sound, manner and music of Woody Guthrie believed to be largely learned from Elliott. He was after all a man of whom Woody Guthrie himself said around this time “he sounds more like me than I do”.

Fred Neil – Dolphins

One of the real buried treasures of the Greenwich Village sixties scene was Fred Neil. A singer songwriter who seemed to have no commercial instinct whatsoever and displayed absolutely no interest in finding one. He is mentioned by Dylan in ‘Chronicles’ as being one of the first connections Bob would make upon his arrival in New York and he soon found himself backing Fred on harmonica. As a writer and performer this enigmatic singer really did have some gorgeous music up his sleeve, all delivered with that laid back bottomless baritone of a vocal. It was Fred Neil who wrote and recorded ‘Everybody’s Talkin”, a soon to be classic that rose to the top when sung on the ‘Midnight Cowboy’ soundtrack by Harry Nilsson. However, this deep floating ode to escapism and a simpler life swimming with dolphins is the song that Fred should be remembered for, it is a mid-sixties folk masterpiece with a grace and beauty that remains timeless.

Karen Dalton – It Hurts Me Too

There is a photograph of Bob Dylan playing harmonica with Fred Neil, as described in the intro to the previous song, which I shall feature at the end of this article. The female figure in between them is Karen Dalton, another artist who similar to Fred made some indelible, enduring records at the time but never gained much recognition and faded from view all too soon. Dylan once called her his favourite singer in the village and her mournful vocal style was often compared to Billie Holiday. Despite the appreciation of her peers, Karen was a reluctant performer and even more disinclined to play the kind of music industry games that were standard at the time in order to promote your work. Her two albums were released quietly in 1969 and 1971, in fact one is said to have been recorded in a single night session as if by accident, and a justifiably acclaimed reputation today has mainly arisen since her death in 1993 at the age of 55.

Malvina Reynolds – No Hole In My Head

With an image that suggested a safer, approachable grandmotherly figure, Malvina Reynolds presents as one of the more unusual and unique singer-songwriters of the period. Far from middle-of-the-road, her wonderful songs had a healthy bite and cynicism in their veins. One of her songs positioned Malvina as a happy failure in the world, comfortable with her status because “those that succeed are the sons of bitches”. She actually did not start writing music until her late 40s and made serious inroads in the folk scene thanks to the political punch in her lyrics and easy way with satirical, engaging storytelling lyrics. Her most famous composition was probably ‘Little Boxes’ sung by Pete Seeger but other artists covering Reynolds songs included Joan Baez, The Seekers and Harry Belafonte. Later on she also contributed compositions to the children’s show ‘Sesame Street’.

Bob Dylan alongside Karen Dalton backing Fred Neil in the early sixties

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 20th October 2025

Arima Ederra – Heard What You Said

Announcing the next chapter of her career, this is LA based musician Arima Ederra who, having released a pair of songs at the end of a tumultuous 2024, is now restored and inspired with the impression being that this is the first sighting of much exciting new music to come. Her critically acclaimed 2022 debut album ‘An Orange Colored Day’ landed after a four year period in which Arima fine tuned her craft behind the scenes. Now, in the artists own words, this new track is about “the strange grief of losing someone who was never really there. When shared memories become questions and years of connection dissolve into misunderstanding”. It is a deep, heavy soul sound on show here, packed with sonic drama and sung with pulchritudinous feeling, it whets the appetite with expectation for more to come. Watch out for Arima Ederra.

Emma Pollock – Future Tree

Best known as a key member of Scottish indie heroes and Peel favourites The Delgados, Emma Pollock has returned with her first solo material in almost a decade. The album ‘Begging The Night To Take Hold’ is already a 2025 favourite here and this track is one of the many highlights. She always seemed to have an adroit grasp of sweeping chamber pop in her old band and that expressive slant is very much at the forefront with this new release, it overflows with tone, tempo and colourful brush strokes across the whole record. ‘Future Tree’ is especially buoyant with those pounding, building keys and that craving voice but as always with Emma, there is a delicious undercurrent of melancholy to even things out. This is well worth a listen.

Love Spells – Wish I Didn’t Love You

If the previous tune instigated a little melancholy then this one will amplify the reverie and lock you down in that space for a further few minutes of longing, floating and wistfully sighing resignation. This is a newly released slice of haunting, dreamy pop written by Sir Taegen Harris (originally from Houston, it would appear that Love Spells is his creative outlet although information is a little sketchy) and produced by Alex Craig. In spite of the obvious yearning and desire evident in the lyric, this tune hovers around the territory of classic, dangerous obsession songs with lyrics like “I wish your name meant nothing but it lingers everywhere”.

Robin Ross & The TW Howlers – Walk With Me

This is one of the tracks from this outfits latest EP which also happens to be their debut release. It is a collaboration between singer songwriters Robin Ross and TW Howell, both from Pennsylvania, which presents five original compositions co-written and recorded in the early months of 2025. This is a fantastically ramshackle country come-on of a song, inviting the listener to “walk with me” as our seasoned narrator exudes an unfaded thirst for curiosity and exploration. The bending of guitar strings and soulful rough edges in the playing all add-up to a track with the kind of analogue warmth that many strive for but not all can achieve. But then Robin Ross can boast an audio engineering degree and was heavily involved in the opening of several recording studios, including Triple R Studios and Sound Complex, so he does know what he is about when it comes to audio.

Iraina Mancini – Running For Your Life

There is no new album from Iraina Mancini just yet but this new track did appear earlier this year, along with news that a follow up to her ‘Undo The Blue’ debut album was in the works. Whenever that does appear it promises to be a gem, especially if this release is anything to go by. Co-written with Mark Neary, ‘Running For Your Life’ hold on to all the vital elements that made Iraina stand out from the crowd in the first place; the steadfast dedication to classic song-writing standards, vintage productions values combined with a glossy modern sheen and a stylish, dramatic vocal presence that really pushes the Mancini music to the forefront with conviction and purpose. There should be a lot more to come from this corner of the pop world.

Laura Jurd – You Again

My recent feature on the late double bass maestro Danny Thompson also highlighted how little the worlds of jazz and folk have intersected, at least to the high standards that Danny hit on his solo jazz releases that pulled on the folk world he knew so well to stunning effect. Well, with her newly released album ‘Rites And Revelations’, trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd has added to this rather hidden lineage quite superbly. She is no stranger to cross pollination of the genres but this new album, featuring a freshly assembled quartet, has a singular focus towards folk lineage with a collection of compositions built around a simple, folk inspired melodies. As always, once Laura has established the framework, her playing and arranging results in fireworks abounding between all the musicians. Just listen to this live rendition and marvel at the explosive way the music erupts when that distorted electric guitar kicks in. There can be no doubt about it, in the year 2025 it is often the jazzers who are showing us the way forward.

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 17th October 2025

Deradoorian – A Beautiful Woman

This week’s vintage selection of tunes jumps back exactly ten years this month and re-investigates some of the new music Fruit Tree Records was getting excited about in October 2015. Top of the pile back then was this debut release by a former member of the Dirty Projectors. Working under the solo name Deradoorian, this genre surfing experimental art-rock artist had released her first album ‘The Expanding Flower Planet’ and, just as that title was a self-proclaimed attempt to represent “the expansion of consciousness”, so too did the music display a bold visionary leap into the realms of multi-layered exploration and spiritual open minded release. The hypnotising opening track is performed live here in a stunning video highlighting the artists sense of sonic purpose and clever mix of technology and soul.

John Howard & The Night Mail – Intact & Smiling

It wasn’t all just young sonic space cadets making the most musically satisfying sounds this month a decade ago. I was also thrilled by a new release from the legendary Pretty Things as well as this slice of late (two decades late) period Britpop from John Howard. His career had begun in the seventies with the debut album ‘Kid In A Big World’ on CBS being regarded as a bit of a cult classic. This track from the then new album with the Night Mail was released on Tapete Records and it sat well in the catalogue of a label known for its support of artists crafting intelligent pop and song writing. Having at one time retired from performing, the album was a key part of his second act and he continues to release new music to this day.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B.

The opening pair of tunes this week were top drawer musically but they remained decidedly underground in 2015. This one on the other hand was a major breakthrough for the artist and enjoyed some major exposure on mainstream TV (as seen in this Jools Holland clip here but the big one for Nathaniel in 2015 was probably his Jimmy Fallon performance of the song) as well as numerous commercials and TV shows including ‘Fargo’, ‘Brockmire’ and ‘Two Doors Down’. It also represented a significant shift stylistically for Nathaniel whose previous work had leaned into more of a folk style but here, on his bands full length debut, they grabbed this gospel referencing soulful groove with both hands and ran with it to memorable, shoe-shuffling effect.

Widowspeak – All Yours

This dreamy dose of Americana sounds like a cross between Mazzy Star and The Cranberries which is no bad thing. Widowspeak are a duo comprising Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas and this was a tune featured on their third album ‘Captured Tracks’ released in 2015 representing a shift in their creative process towards a more organic style of writing and playing. They managed to exude both an intimacy and a grand expressiveness with their sound; the former is clear enough in the emotive manner Molly brings to the reflective lyric but the latter is evident too in the depth of the sound and those echoes of vintage rock ‘n’ roll heard in the sumptuously twanging guitar.

La Luz – You Disappear

It is no surprise upon returning to this track to recognise that La Luz and their main woman Shana Cleveland have become firm Fruit Tree Records favourites over the last ten years. Everything I rate about the bands sound was already on display here, those heavy sunset sonics in the keys and melodies combined with the organic rough edges of their garage band aesthetic. They were also writing some damn fine pop songs which appeared on the second La Luz album ‘Weirdo Shrine’ that year, a record that undoubtedly found the right producer in the shape of 21st century garage rock king Ty Segall. If you haven’t woken up to them already, then just ride the waves of those surf-sounding guitars and let this sensational band take you there.

Timo Lassy – Hip Or Not

It was not just acts with garage band sensibilities summoning up the echoes of sixties vintage music in 2015. This track has all the elements of a funk-infused sixties Blue Note jazz classic waiting to be heard in its grooves. ‘Hip Or Not’ is from the album ‘Love Bullet’ released by the Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy and whilst it does conjure thoughts of a golden era, it can also claim to possess a timelessness and true class in the production. This was Lassy’s fifth studio album and it was to be a record he regarded as a reaction to a few colourful years of his life, which maybe accounts for the inviting intimacy of the music in tandem with its infectious warm grooving. This one, as have the other selections this week, has been a welcome resurrection and is ripe for rediscovery, so dig in.

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 13th October 2025

Flock Of Dimes – Long After Midnight

We begin this week with a delightfully simple video idea that is startlingly effective alongside the lyrical premise of the song. In ‘Long After Midnight’ singer Jenn Wasner is caressing a gentle acoustic ballad in which the narrator is willingly giving everything she owns in an unshakeable loyal commitment to an ailing loved one. Viewed here, we see her offering these caring gestures whilst behind her the room is stripped bare, piece by piece, of belongings and furnishings. Jenn’s Flock Of Dimes project, which she has maintained alongside her indie duo Wye Oak, has long been a font for personal and musically bold exploration and so the new album from which this comes, ‘The Life You Save’ out now on Sub Pop Records, brings a sonically warm and personable new chapter to the project and is well worth a deep listen.

David Byrne – Everybody Laughs

David Byrne’s post Talking Heads solo career has seen many sudden gear shifts and changes in direction. His art-rock leanings have ensured he would remain an artist uncomfortable with sitting still or falling into a repetitive routine. Despite this though, he cannot shake that knack of his for creating a slice of celebratory, genre-defying and downright catchy pop such as this. It is to be found on the essential new album, his first in seven years, ‘Who Is The Sky?’ Every now and then in the career of an art rocker (I’m thinking of albums like Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ or David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’) they put out an album with the intention of catching some mainstream attention, these are often surprisingly pleasurable listens. David Byrne may just have pulled that punch here, for the album is overflowing with melodious ideas and electrifying musings. That is what we hear on this one, an insistently bouncy number that runs through a shopping list framework of shared human experiences.

Walter Trout – Sign Of The Times

In a career that spans five decades Walter Trout has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the electric juggernauts of blues music. With a deep solo catalogue but also an impressive collaborative CV that has seen him shine during stints with Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (stepping into shoes previously filled by legends Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor), Trout deserves his place in the pantheon of modern day blues elder statesmen. That firecracker style of his is still blazing as it takes aim at the disconnect in a modern day society with their heads buried in screens, apparently oblivious to the wider world around. This is also the title track from Walter’s newly released album which is one of the strongest collection of new songs you will find in 2025. It features lyric writing contributions from his wife Marie all of which help shape an emotional core in tracks responding to the external chaos and internal battles we all feel living in these modern times.

Wednesday – Bitter Everyday

It is not only the older generation who are feeling disillusionment these days. Now already up to their sixth album, the newly released ‘Bleeds’, Wednesday sound typically punch drunk and cheesed off on this crunching highlight from the record. Frontwoman Karly Hartzman does seem to have definitively found her writing voice on the last two Wednesday albums and it is with good reason their “Wednesday creek rock” sound is beginning to win some wider acclaim and recognition. Still, the band are not without inner turmoil with some line-up changes; they were possibly a little wrong footed by the rising solo career of MJ Lenderman over the past couple of years. He remains a studio member but will no longer be touring with the band. Still, despite these bumps in the road, they sound more determined and likely than ever to break on through.

The Onlies – You Climb The Mountain

There is swingin’ old-time string band action aplenty from the US right now too, here in the hands of some lively young pickers, pluckers and slashers named Vivian Leva, Leo Shannon, Riley Calcagno, and Sami Braman. ‘You Climb The Mountain’ is the bands fourth album, although the first two were recorded before they could drive. They are all 27 years old now but got their start twenty years ago, with Vivian drafted in on guitar ten years later, as a kid band; this might be a clue as to why their playing is so tight and infused with passion and feel, what with two decades of practice and refinement behind them. The bands Riley says that “there’s a careful balance between crazy intensity and melancholic peace, I like that both of those exist on the album.” This pulsating, string-laden steam train of a modern folk and bluegrass album is out now.

Jalen Ngonda – All About Me

Finally this week are some sumptuous new laid-back vintage reggae vibes from soul singing supremo Jalen Ngonda, released on Daptone Records. He is joined by veteran keyboardist and producer Victor Axelrod and the pair wrote the lyrics then recorded the vocals all in one night. It already has the aura of a reggae classic to it, the song is a direct pitch for entry into the catalogue for bragging and self-aggrandisement songs. With lyrics like “I may cloud up your day, yet I light up your night and by the morning I make you feel alright” there is no modest humility being portrayed by Jalen here, it is a peacocking strut in every sense and he nails it with his vocal. The genius in the performance is appearing in the final verse, for all his posturing and bravado, there is a little crack in Ngonda’s voice that tells you, he really wants this. This may well be a new route away from the Motown sophistication Jalen has previously shown, but it is no less wonderful for it, so dig in.