HOME CONTACT US Get our RSS feed: DISCLAIMER: Music hosted on this site is for preview purposes only. If you like what you hear please buy the artist's work. You can find much of it here: ARCHIVE January 2007

Strange Bedfellows (RIP Harold Hunter) As in the seminal buddy cop film 48 Hrs., where grizzled Jack Cates and street-smart Reggie Hammond reluctantly team up to outwit their murderous foes, it seems the new-folk and dubstep scenes have formed an unlikely alliance in order to serve justice on the UK pop charts. Jamie Woon’s soulful take on folk standard Wayfaring Stranger reached new ears thanks to a bleak reworking by the reclusive Burial, and James Yorkston’s new single, the charming Woozy With Cider, comes with a FWD-thinking remix from Kode9. While many dubsteppers are indeed boisterous young roustabouts and new folk singers are almost always cranky and badly dressed, their alliance is not as uncommon as that of their wise-cracking LA counterparts. Jamie Woon - Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Mix) [mp3] [buy] James Yorkston - Woozy With Cider (Kode9 Mix) [mp3] [buy] One thing they share is motive. The fledgling dubstep and new-folk scenes were both born of frustration. Dubstep charted a course away from the tired and cliquey worlds of two-step garage and drum and bass, while the current crop of folk troubadours enjoy nothing more than to cock a snook at the fusty world of traditional folk music. But what really binds them is that, despite their protestations, both scenes are just polished, politer versions of their forebears. It was The World Is Gone released last year by the shadowy Various that first made clear how happily these disparate genres can sit together. While not especially true to either scene, Various had Massive Attack’s magpie eye for pairing sounds and their synthesis has obviously proven popular. However, though we quite like the remixes posted here, we do fear for the future. These acts may nudge their way on to a few coffee tables, but they stand to lose more than just their edge. Soon this combination of pastoral plaintiveness and sleek futurism (it’s earnest and ghetto!) will soundtrack car ads, Hollyoaks and dinner parties across Stoke Newington. Who knows, in 2008 we may even see Gordon Brown shaking his fat pre-election booty to a tastefully morose Findlay Brown Vs Virus Syndicate cover of Things Can Only Get Better. Nobody needs to see that. Various - Hater [mp3] [buy] Video for Jamie Woon's Wayfaring Stranger: Video for James Yorkston's Woozy With Cider: Watching that Yorkston video put us in the mood for more bearded Hebredian spoken wordery, so as a bonus here's Arab Strap's winning remix of David Holmes's Don't Die Just Yet from 1997. David Holmes - The Holiday Girl (Don't Die Just Yet) remixed by Arab Strap [mp3] Posted by: Scott 21/02/07