Laurel Canyon Music

24 Blackbush Avenue Chadwell Heath, Romford, England, RM6 5TU United Kingdom

For fans and musicians of Folk, Americana, Country, Blues, Singer-Songwriter, Rock, Roots & Acoustic and music from the Laurel Canyon late 60’s/early 70’s era.

LCM is a new co-operative music community, promoter, event organiser and on-line magazine to promote & support the music that we love. All the latest news, reviews and interviews

LCM is your indispensable insider guide to the wonderful world of independent music and beyond

We aim to help music fans connect and discover great new music and help indie musicians promote their music and help them build relationships with supporters and industry professionals.

Please join us now and explore our website.

We also have some special and exclusive items in our LCM store that you might like.

Filtering by Tag: LCM New Releases 2017

High Fences - James Edwyn and The Borrowed Band (06/10/17)

November 23, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: James Edwyn & The Borrowed Band

  • Release Date: 6th October, 2017

  • Genre: Americana, Rock

  • Record Label: Dead Records Collective

  • Tracks: 10

  • Website:

  • Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)

Glasgow based Scottish Americana & Folk-Rock band James Edwyn & The Borrowed Band are certainly making waves. After the excitement and critical acclaim surrounding their debut album ‘The Tower’ in 2014, their second album ‘High Fences’ released in October 2017 certainly lives up it’s promise. It’s released on the band’s own Dead Record Collective label and is currently winning them even more attention. The band feature James Edwyn, Emma Joyce, Scott Keenan, Ronnie Gilmour, Ross McLaughlin and Neil McDonald

They thrilled at this years AMA UK conference & showcase and also performed on the main stage of the FATEA’s 30th birthday bash in Bournemouth. They have been very busy this year with a UK tour and many other successful festival appearances.

‘High Fences' is a perfect showcase of the bands unique combination of the finest melody-driven songwriting along with their trademark attention to production and arrangement. The inclusion of pedal steel and horns adding an extra dimension.

There are echoes of The Band too in the interplay and rich grooves in ‘Get Back Up’. It is a album of wonderful contrast and texture including the guitar-driven alt-country of the opening track ‘Passing San Ysidro’ , the gentle flow and reflection of ‘Pushing Statues’ through to the soulful ‘Quoting Sagan’. Soul and heart is what this album has in abundance. There is even the lovely ‘Never In A While’ which strips everything down to just James Edwyn on acoustic guitar. It perfectly suits the intimate nature of the song.

With it’s gentle melodic pop sway, ‘Starlet’ is another particular highlight of mine, with Emma Joyce’s harmony vocals adding to the rich mix. The album closes on two slow waltzers with ‘Burning Man’ and Ronnie Gilmour’s guitar playing perfectly complementing James Edwyn’s soulful and heartfelt delivery in ‘Doubts’ bringing to mind CSNY and The Eagles.

Buy the album here >>>

Comment
categories / Americana Music, Alt-Country, Country Music, Blues Music, Folk-Rock
tags / James Edwyn And The Borrowed Band, High Fences, LCM New Releases 2017, October 2017, P Nov 2018

Snow - Angus and Julia Stone (15/09/17)

October 23, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Angus and Julia Stone - Snow.jpg

  • Artist: Angus & Julia Stone

  • Release Date: 15th September, 2017

  • Genre: Alt-Folk, Folk, Acoustic

  • Record Label: Le Label

  • Tracks: 12

  • Website: http://angusandjuliastone.com

SNOW continues a process the siblings began at the suggestion of producer Rick Rubin on their self-titled album of 2014. "That was the first time that we actually started writing together, in the same room, and I guess we took a leaf from that chapter into this record. This time round though, every song on the record we wrote together" Angus says. The Sydney-born siblings produced and largely engineered it themselves, in Angus's cottage studio, Belafonte, in the Byron Bay hinterland. "It was quite magical because Angus and I have never spent that much time together, just the two of us," says Julia. "There's always at least an engineer or tour manager but the last phase of writing and recording was just eight weeks of him and me and the quiet of the land. It was a beautiful time."

Comment
categories / Alt-Folk, Contemporary Folk, Folk Music, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic Music
tags / Angus and Julia Stone, Snow, LCM New Releases 2017, September 2017, P Oct 2018

No. 79 - Gareth Dunlop (11/08/17)

April 18, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: Gareth Dunlop
  • Release Date: 11th August, 2017
  • Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk
  • Record Label: Priory Records
  • Tracks: 10
  • Website: https://www.garethdunlop.com/

Gareth Dunlop's new album 'No.79' was recorded at his home in East Belfast, Northern Ireland.

“We moved into our house in Belfast about 3 years ago. Spending months at a time away from the house, it just felt right to make this record in my own home. As well as it being somewhere I’m most comfortable, it just has a cool vibe and sound to it, and I wanted to capture that. Something different happens when the studio comes to the musicians… it forces you to approach things differently and think outside of the box. The songs we recorded were all written in the months leading up to the session and I think the emotions of the songs were very much still on the forefront of my mind.”

There are limitations to recording in a house and I wanted to use those restraints as an opportunity to be more creative. It made us all use our instruments in a different way… because we didn’t have a string quartet, we taped up the strings on my old piano to emulate a string part on ‘What It Wants’. That was the story for most days... If we didn’t have it, we had to make it. I spent a couple of weeks driving my family crazy getting the house ready and sound treating the rooms. It wasn’t until we recorded the first take of the first song that I knew it would work. Having great musicians and great friends in my home made the process of recording these songs so much more enjoyable.”          

No. 79
Priory Records
Buy on Amazon
Comment
categories / Singer-Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
tags / Gareth Dunlop, No.79, LCM New Releases 2017, August 2017

Inverse Alchemy - Rob Corcoran (01/12/17)

March 06, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Rob Corcoran - Inverse Alchemy.jpg
  • Artist: Rob Corcoran & The Necessary Evils
  • Release Date: 1st December, 2017
  • Genre: Contemporary Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Independent
  • Tracks: 12
  • Website: https://www.robcorcoranmusic.com/

"Heart-on-sleeve, alt-folk Americana with a Dublin accent" - the debut studio album by Dublin-born troubadour Rob Corcoran in the company of his alt-folk super-group 'The Necessary Evils' 

Comment
categories / Contemporary Folk, Americana Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Rob Corcoran, Rob Corcoran & The Necessary Evils, Inverse Alchemy, LCM New Releases 2017, December 2017

Headlong - John Smith (29/06/17)

January 13, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: John Smith
  • Release date: 29th June, 2017
  • Genre: Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic
  • Record Label: Barp Ltd
  • Tracks: 11
  • Website: http://www.johnsmithjohnsmith.com

It’s all for the love of the guitar. John plays a rumbling fingerstyle and sometimes uses a slide, sometimes plays the guitar on his lap, sometimes he detunes mid-song. His guitar work and honey-on-gravel vocals have brought crowds to pin-drop silence and rapturous applause.

Not by chance is it that John’s new record 'Headlong' comes bearing a title implying impulsive, breakneck motion - written as it was, during various touring stints in North America - with a view ahead, to new horizons and new songs, to new opportunities and new audiences. The album also bears the indelible loss of John’s friend and guitar hero John Renbourn, who called John “the future of folk music” and to whose memory 'Headlong' is dedicated.

John currently has five self-released records out; 'The Fox and the Monk' (2006), 'Map Or Direction' (2009), 'Eavesdropping' (2011) 'Great Lakes' (2013), and 'Headlong' (2017).

Comment
categories / Folk Music, Americana Music, Acoustic Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / John Smith, Headlong, LCM New Releases 2017, June 2017

Cold Rooms EP - Ben Morgan Brown (04/12/17)

January 08, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Ben Morgan Brown - Cold Rooms EP.jpg
  • Release Date: 4th December, 2017
  • Artist: Ben Morgan-Brown
  • Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic, Contemporary Folk
  • Record Label: Ben Morgan-Brown
  • Tracks: 5
  • Website:

Exeter based singer-songwriter & guitarist Ben Morgan-Brown writes intimate & reflective songs heavily informed by the folk-baroque guitarists & singer-songwriters of the late ‘60s & early ‘70s. As a taster of Ben's music we have chosen as our LCM #SongOfTheDay 'No More Fooling' taken from his recently released 'Cold Rooms EP'.

Inspired to pick up the acoustic guitar ten years ago when he first heard Bert Jansch’s seminal debut album, his open-tuned guitar, ethereal vocals & highly personal lyrics tip the hat to Nick Drake, John Martyn, Michael Chapman et al whilst still maintaining a unique musical style & identity.

Having self-recorded his previous two releases (both of which received airplay on BBC Introducing) his new E.P. ‘Cold Rooms’ was recorded by Josh Clark (Kate Rusby, Mike Dawes, Miranda Sykes) and features five songs (with a bonus sixth track only available through Bandcamp) written in the last 18 months, a time during which Ben has reflected upon the past few years of his life, turbulent years that have seen him lose both his grandparents, get married & divorced within two years, spend a month in hospital after catching salmonella in Morocco & which culminated with the death of his father in November 2016.

These events led Ben to reevaluate many aspects of his life & in October 2017 he left his job managing a guitar shop deciding it was time to dedicate himself to music. After five years of life-changing events beyond his control, the release of ‘Cold Rooms’ marks yet another significant moment in his life - the moment at which he begins to give his music & talent the attention it deserves.

Comment
categories / Singer-Songwriter, Folk Music, Contemporary Folk, Acoustic Music
tags / Ben Morgan-Brown, Cold Rooms EP, LCM New Releases 2017, December 2017

Vaquero - Aaron Watson (24/02/17)

January 01, 2018  /  Gary Smith

aaron-watson-vaquero-cover.jpg
  • Album: Vaquero
  • Artist: Aaron Watson
  • Release Date: 24/02/17
  • Genre: Country
  • Record Label: Big Label Records
  • Tracks: 16
  • Website: http://www.aaronwatson.com

Groundbreaking independent country artist Aaron Watson continues to chart his own course with the February 24th release of his new album Vaquero (BIG Label Records/Thirty Tigers). Watson made history in 2015 when his 10th studio album, 'The Underdog' debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, marking the first time an independent, male country artist had ever debuted at the coveted top spot. Watson's unprecedented accomplishment turned heads and opened many eyes to what he had been building independently for years. The new 16-song collection finds the Texas native following the trail back to his roots, keying in on his influences and tipping his hat to the fans and family who helped set the foundation for his success. 'Vaquero', which means the "original cowboy". Throughout, he depicts stories of a rugged people, humble but hardworking, like himself. He puts a playful spin on an insider's view on the Texan way of life with 'Amen Amigo' and delivers life lessons courtesy of an old vaquero with the title track. On the poignant 'Diamonds & Daughters', he opens up his heart for his little girl. 'Mariano's Dream' is a companion piece to 'Clear Isabel' and on 'They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To' he sings of the longing for the nostalgia of an earlier time. Watson co-produced Vaquero with award-winning producer Marshall Altman.

Comment
categories / Country Music
tags / Aaron Watson, Vaquero, LCM New Releases 2017, February 2017

Copyright 2013-22 (C) Laurel Canyon Music

 

 

 

Powered by Squarespace