Rusted Rail 2009 Round Up!!

I can’t believe that 2009 has flown by so quickly! So here’s a round up of the releases from Rusted Rail and a look ahead to what 2010 holds for the label....

Music for Dead Birds “And then it rained for seven days”

It's amazing the amount of genius song writing and structure that is unveiled on the Music For Dead Birds album considering its tiny size - a mere 3 inches (and no rude comments please.) Acoustic patterns knit warm, cozy comfort blankets of sound. An auditory trip through a rural acoustic electronic hinterlands. The natural elements intertwine with uplifting processed electronic beats that overall blissfully exudes and creates an air of alt country charm. MDFB have embraced their surroundings and fed them musically into machinery that has harvested some of the most fertile musings I have heard this year. At times quirky and at others deadly serious, MFDB musically take flight where few others dare or are even capable of venturing and whilst you can hear tiny snippets of influence, MFDB are the true sounds, sights and delicate smells of the countryside in summer. - Crumbs In The Butter

'What did you expect' recalls some of Sebadoh's earlier experiments in distorted confessional pop, 'The Sex' is a tender folkish chestbeater with a hearty vocal chant, some really emotive guitar picking and a stunted primitive drum line. It gets folkier on the the sing-song 'To Grow Up Wet', the clickety dub laced snare cracks on the eerie & quite wonderful 'Pill, Oh' are a fine backdrop to the hazy boy/girl vocals and a shambling, meandering acoustic guitar. Fans of early Hood will REALLY like this one, it's boss. - Norman Records

What Music for Dead Birds are trying to do is channel as many different styles of music as possible into one album. 'Pill, Oh' sounds like a lullaby and with all this talk of falling asleep into the deep and being asked to come with him, it is perfect to drowse to. 'The Sex' - is an attractive, melodic number while 'To Grow Up Wet' accounts for the 'acoustic' tag. As for experimental, that's catered to by the last track which features the sinister opening monologue advising us to head to the country or the sea so as to avoid certain death. - Comfort Comes

The album opens up with some perfectly ramshackle lo fi indie rock ala Pavement or Sebadoh before settling into a much more laid back indie-folk mood. Sounding at times like some bedroom folky take on Grandaddy meets early Elliott Smith, the album will tick all the right boxes for all you lovers of lo-fi indie sounds. Its got that lovely laidback loose kind of sound that will most definitely appeal to early Yo La Tengo fans with just a hint at the weirder side of psych-folk. - Road Records

The Dovetail Consort “East & West”

Bristol based solo artist Tim Newman releases this very beautiful collection of guitar instrumentals...calling to mind the likes of James Blackshaw with some added strings. Fans of the slightly eastern tinged avant folk sounds of the likes of John Fahey will instantly fall in love with this one. Features some beautifully meditative folk guitar picking with a lovely spacial kind of ambient feel about it. - Road Records

“East & West” is a simple yet delicately harmonious record that shifts slowly through many acoustic fields of vision. Songs that are plucked delicately, shift in waves of gentle repetition and slip you into hazy fields of humid summer country air. An apt title, as this release mixes many ingredients from the musical world of the Eastern and the Western hemispheres of this world and the results are palpably hypnotic. "1919" has that uplifting melancholy that just makes you want to stare from your window and pretend the world does not exist. Once the song ends, it's clear that the real world could never be as beautiful as the one created in this song. Acoustic guitars spin joyous patterns and the listener becomes giddily trapped in this world of ambient folk inspired haziness. - Crumbs in the Butter

Essentially these tracks are based on simple, but heavily edited, folky guitar pieces which take on an almost mantra-like quality through the repetition of notes and phrases. It's quite beautiful really. - Norman Records

There's something rewarding about a record which is open about reference points and inspirations without sounding like any of those catalysts. Bristol-based Tim Newman's titles refer, variously to David Crosby's boat (Mainsail), Indian classical music (Devotional) and Ian Carr's Nucleus (Elastic Folk) and all of these points of his musical compass make me warm to the record before the laser hits the pits. The music created by Mr. Newman is a charming world of guitar melodies with mandolin, 'cello, thumb piano and percussion, all wrapped up in Rusted Rails hard-to-resist 3" format, delightful on both ear and eye. - Boa Melody Bar

The adorable 3-inch disc, which is placed in a hand-made sleeve, features a scenic photo of a dusty road at sunset, prepping you for the 20 minutes of serene lullabies that lie within. The group's sound features mainly acoustic guitar and strings, but there are many more instruments thrown in to give the album an eclectic blend of Eastern and Western sound, hence, the album title. The opening track, "Devotional", is a positive, earthy tune. It could easily be used on a movie soundtrack, playing while the credits roll after a bittersweet ending. It reminds me of what I imagine the Tuscan countryside would sound like, if hills could make music. - BalconyTV

This 3” manages to squeeze six little compositions into its twenty minutes, favoring a vast and dusty folk sound emphasizing vast, wheat-filled vistas and back porch moments of tenderness. Performed and written solely by Tim Newman, who, it seems, is quite capable on a number of instruments ranging from guitar to fiddle, the album is unapologetically countrified and folky, as well as utterly sincere - this is an honest and credible approach at folk that pulls far more from Doc Watson than it does from John Fahey. There remains something cinematic and rich about this stuff that, though sounding instantly familiar, is not really in the vein of a distinct approach. A fine effort, this is a voice that anyone into folk of any sort should give an honest chance - extremely earnest stuff, and beautiful for it. - Foxy Digitalis

CWK Joynes "LHR Twins"

The opener sounds like a Mandolin is being mauled (lovingly) by talented fingers whilst zither, piano, cello and musicbox are employed in varying degrees of audibility. It gets quicker to the point where you could possibly do a spindly Irish Jig to it. Amazing stuff! 'Lay You Down O My Brother' is of the Rose/Parr/Blackshaw/Cam Deas school, an hypnotic steel guitar mantra that never fails to thrill. A plaintive acoustic finishes the set, reminding me of old Django R, an evergreen influence for sure. This Cambridge boy sure knows his way around the strings, long may his precious pinkies play on! - Norman Records

There are 3 instrumentals on here and the disc opens with a fascinating take on what sounds like an Appalachian folk tune played on zither, prepared piano, cello and music box. It's utterly charming. Next up is a long reworking of the spiritual "Lay You Down O My Brother" (used in part on the Incredible String Band's "A Very Circular Song") which also draws in elements of Hildegard Von Bingen's "Columba Aspexit" - the mid-section of this develops into the kind of celestial elegance James Blackshaw's 12 string playing manages. Finally Joynes rounds the disc up with a melancholic meditation, on nylon strings.- Boa Melody Bar

The album features three lengthy avant folk instrumentals from Joynes, who has previously released material on the Bo'weavil label. The tracks feature all manner of plucked instruments including zither, prepared piano, cello and guitar. Beautiful folk tinged with little hints of traditional middle eastern folk and the avant garde sounds of early John Fahey. - Road Records

Yawning Chasm “The Shadow is That Hidden”

This is beautifully crafted, hypnotic folk of the like you don't hear much nowadays. Simple guitar motifs are punctuated by thoughtful and reflective vocals and executed in short sharp doses. Some of the additional guitar effects and sounds help push these formal sounding tracks into the space zone. Blissful musings and beautiful melodies. - Norman Records

Slow shed-recorded songs accompanied by gorgeous (mandolin/guitar) finger-picking, casio and a haunting use of delay/reverb and shortwave radio that gives the songs the feeling of being beamed in from afar. Dreamy melancholia. - Boa Melody Bar

Yawning Chasm explores a modern, ruminative, psychedelic folk-rock..."The Shadow Is That Hidden" has a rich, deep, and full sound, more impressive than its humble origins suggest. - Galway Advertiser

A lovely rustic selection of weird folk sounds with hints of early psychfolk and intimate lo-fi bedroom indie folk. - Road Records

Aaron M Coyne has crafted a hauntingly exquisite work of personal, idiosyncratic psych-folk. Employing little more than his strummed electric guitar and his sublimely understated, Kozelek-meets-early-Callahan voice, Coyne designs passionate and memorable songs that come off as original despite their minimalist composition...one of the strongest psychedelic folk releases in recent memory. - Indieville

Agitated Radio Pilot“A Field Day”

This new release from Dave Colohan's Agitated Radio Pilot contains 6 new songs that are amongst his finest. Dave's music is a perfect accompaniment to autumn - minor key and melancholic - although some of the songs on here sound more upbeat than normal with a full band arrangement including double bass, mandolin, guitar, banjo, melodica, piano and some unexpected wah-wah guitar. Wrap up warm, have a single malt and enjoy - this is a treat and a half. - Boa Melody Bar

An impressive example of modern psychedelic-folk....beguiles with its poetic and deeply personal lyrics, and its autumnal, pastoral atmosphere. - Galway Advertiser
Summery feelings, a bit of the usual melancholia, and nice instrumentation... - Evening of Light
A lovely rustic collection of laid back alt-folk sounds with a somewhat dark sombre feel about it. Features lots of gently plucked acoustic instruments, scratchy droning sounds and some truly haunting strings. - Road Records

A 6 track EP of earnest singer songwriter gear that straddles a folkish vibe... it all sounds really quite delicate leaving plenty of space for the songman to do his thing. It's no happy ride mind but a goodie to weep into the whisky glass to. - Norman Records

More unique pseudo-folk brilliance from the Rusted Rail label. The lead singer's crisp voice is unmistakeable, a distinct mish-mash of Johnny Cash, Stephin Merritt, and Leonard Cohen... A Field Day is a very strong EP from Colohan and company. Unique delivery, melodic composition, and a knack for atmosphere make these six tracks remarkably unforgettable. – Indieville


and coming in 2010.....

Brigid Power Ryce will release a stellar yet earthy ep called “You Are Here” in Februrary
Paul O'Reilly is about to begin recording an ep for Rusted Rail.
Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon just submitted the master copy of their absolutely stunning debut full length cd “The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream” and that’ll be getting pressed in the new year.....a very special album indeed!
Cubs will release their long-awaited debut full length CD...
while
The Driftwood Manor are also recording an ep too for RR.
These and more delights will emerge in the next year on Rusted Rail!

Thanks for all yr support his year!!
RR