While some may be tempted to class Parr with acts like Seasick Steve, there is only the most superficial of similarities in their music. Charlie is considered “one of the most important contemporary protagonists of the American folk tradition” by the Bath International Music Festival, and it’s no surprise. These songs are records of the journeys, troubles and experiences of real people. Charlie creates music in the folk and blues tradition of just about anyone you’d find on the Smithsonian’s seminal box-set, the Anthology of American Folk Music, many of the artists within he’s cited as influences.

Songs

1. Don’t Send Your Child to War
2. Far Cry From Fargo
3. Walk Around My Bedside
4. Warmin’ by the Devil’s Fire
5. Midnight Has Come and Gone
6. Come Along and See
7. Adrift in Lake Superior at Sunrise
8. Cropduster
9. Last Payday at Coal Creek
10. The B&J Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hole in the Groud
11. Farmer
12. God Moves on the Water

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Reviews

Zeitgeist
One of the best albums I’ll hear all year, anyone who likes their blues done the old way needs to have this.

Subba-Cultcha
No-one who didn’t live this music could pull this off as well. Any bluegrass / country fan should move hell or high water to get their hands on a copy.

Norman Records
Anyone into American folk music will love this. It’s done with so much feeling and knowledge about the subject you’d think Charlie was about 100 years old and had been making it for years. Authenticity is the word here.

Sunday Tribune (Ireland)
Arguably the best blues guitarist of his generation, the aftermath of Parr’s live shows have more than once been marked by accomplished guitarists approaching him and saying they can never play again having just witnessed his technique.

Irish Times
The way his songs mark the comings and goings of his local community is fascinating, while his love affair with country-blues is reflected in his timeless sound. His music can sound like a field recording, and sometimes actually is, as with this new collection, his seventh. It can also sound quite stark and rough. If this all sounds too much like the economy, fear not, Parr is not out to tax your ears.

This record is packaged in 100% recycled materials. All packaging comes from old unsold records, unwanted packaging and unused photos. The inner bags are made from partly recycled materials.

Limited to 200 copies, with the first 50 copies coming with a bonus 3″ cd of remixes courtesy of Epic 45, Remote Viewer, Part Timer and Northstation.

Songs

1. yorkcitythree
2. We Use to Read Books

This record is out of print, but you can listen to it on Last.fm.

Reviews

Norman Records
It’s finally here!! After months and months of waiting The Declining Winter single is here and what a joyful beast it is. The Future Sound of Hip Hop Parts 1 and 2 is a total breathe of fresh air hovering above a stagnant pool of filthy gassy music. We have 2 tracks of pastoral beauty on this 7″ from founding Hood member Richard Adams. Musically it’s very much like Hood with it’s wonky lazy sounding acoustic guitar and a simple drum beat (with nice added dub effect). If that wasn’t enough the bass line bobs along extremely successfully. There’s some nice chinese sounding sounds in ‘part 1 yorkcitythree’ which lift the mood slightly though it lives in a permanent state of falling down around itself as it’s possibly the most shambing thing I’ve heard in a while. It’s an absolutely beautiful piece of music though. Both sides are absolutely glorious and initial copies come with a bonus 3″ CD featuring remixes from Part Timer, The Remote Viewer, Northstation, Epic 45 etc.

Boomkat
Now there’s an eyebrow-raisingly bold title, if ever there was one. Given the sort of personnel involved with this project you suspect there might be more than a hint of irony involved. The Declining Winter is the solo project from Richard Adams of Hood, who calls upon a number of likeminded souls such as his brother and fellow Hood-ite Chris, and Many Fingers’ Chris Cole. The two tracks on this 7″ are beautifully rendered snapshots of a kind of rustic rethink of what hip hop might sound like if you happened to live in Wetherby. The instrumental A-side, ‘Yorkcitythree’ could easily be considered to be a new Hood song, fusing a delapodated drum sound with wistful acoustic guitar arpeggiations whilst flickers of dulcimer add further colour and texture to the mix. Equally beautiful is B-side ‘We Used To Read Books’, a slightly more upbeat affair complete with backwards vocal passages melted into a slow, languid drum pattern and more of that instantly recognisable acoustic guitar work that’s so characteristic of Hood’s mournful compositions. This release comes with a handmade sleeve made from 100% recycled materials and is limited to just 200 copies, each one with its own unique photo on the sleeve. Highly recommended – ESSENTIAL PURCHASE!

Songs

1. 1st Cabinet: Iron Henry/Keys
2. The Turbulent Syrup of Ambition
3. Interlude: Whitby Museum
4. On Lake Above Thee
5. Teeth of Living Coral
6. 2nd Cabinet: Frozen Charlottes
7. Worms
8. Tempest Prognosticator
9. A Nose-Mounted Observatory (of My Other Eye)
10. Sea Bishop
11. Hand of Glory

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Reviews

I’d Rather Be Fat Than Confused
This is the sound of something sinister, the sound of trouble brewing, the falling of leaves as a gunshot clears a tree full of black crows, this is something special.

Gareth S Brown is formerly of the band Hood a band I always felt would’ve been better had they been slightly less productive, forever releasing songs yet rarely reaching the giddy heights of what till this day remains one of my favourite songs, namely (the weight), if you need proof that good things come to those who wait look no further than Iron Henry, an ongoing project mixing some extraordinary ideas and naming amongst its influences “…funeral marches and jewellery boxes” this is the sound you read about when you read reviews of Colleen, a fragile beauty, so secret its kept in a box but when its allowed out it twinkles like the stars. 1st Cabinet: Iron Henry/Keys, Teeth of Living Coral and Tempest Prognosticator stand out, the latter like a mini orchestra as conducted by tin soldiers, the gentle bells contrasting with the slow deep strokes of the cello creating something really quite wonderful and otherworldly. Teeth of Living Coral takes it cue from Amelie, the hustle and bustle of the streets of Paris, speeded up and sprinkled with the magic that makes Paris such a fairytale place. Along with Detectiv Byron you will struggle to find another album quite so unique and beautiful this year, if you love Big Eyes, Fortdax & Adrian Klumpes, you will adore this.

Sandman Magazine
There’s nothing like a good first impression, is there? Coming from an independent record label called Misplaced Records [sic] and being recorded by someone who lists jewellery boxes as an influence, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Iron Henry might be odd. Forgiven, because you’d be right.

Gareth S. Brown has perfored and recorded twelve tracks of what could only be described as post-rock i.e. no singing. But whereas some bands make the music and miss the point, Mr. Brown has managed to capture the spirit of post-rock by producing a concept album without a concept or a story.

Beginning with the minimally fitting ‘The Turbulent Syrup of Ambition’, we embark on a journey that takes us through the nineties ambience and seventies experimentation, through beautiful string orchestrations and the subtle chimes of music boxes. It is very beautiful, very epic and needs to be listened to repeatedly. Soft lighting music.

Jumbo Records
Superb solo album by Gareth S. Brown of Hood. A mixture of post-electronic, classical and British/East European folk. Highly recommended.

Norman Records
The mood is euphoric melancholy. Untouchable neo classical beauty that expresses itself in many forms. Playful, layered, twinkling lullabies fall into somber electronics… album of the week.

Songs

1. It’s a Breeze (Number 45)
2. So Toxic
3. I keep up! I keep up! I keep up!
4. Card Shark Shoe Shine
5. C.C. Brady

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Reviews

Norman Records
Time For Rodeo are a Leeds band and have their spiffing debut 5 track E.P. released on the superb Misplaced Music. I’d like to think of the bands that inspire them but some clever nitwit has gone and put a sticker on the front to like, totally assist me!! So if you fancy a delightfully catchy amalgam of “Clinic, Pixies, The Fall, The Beta Band, Syd Barrett, A smidgeon of Wedding Present plus a Thinking Fellers lollipop” I’ve just phoned up their record label manager to give him a right old ticking off for only pressing up 100 of this intoxicating brew. I’d say buy this, spread the word & lobby the buggers for more (sorry for cursing but I’m livid!)

Every penny of profits from this CD are being donated and so far we have be able to raise nearly £1,500!

Songs

1. Homeland – Grace
2. Aarktica – Brokedown
3. James Green – Damphound
4. Sufjan Stevens – Niagara Falls
5. Empress – By The Lamproom
6. Pedro – Heaven and Earth Magic
7. Burd Early – Drizzle (Alive)
8. Vibracathedral Orchestra – Sparky’s Songs
9. Martin Finke – US Coast
10. Al Duvall – Admiral of the Narrow Seas
11. Remote Viewer – If You Think I’m Funny
12. Havergal – Jessica Just Because
13. Seaworthy – Lost Highway
14. Hood – Another Year
15. Fairweather Friend – Fraction To A Solution
16. Adrian Crowley – These Icy Waters
17. Portal – At The End Of The Day
18. Bill Ricchini – To Come Back New
19. The Unpleasants – Gone To Croatan
20. Lucky Luke – To Know Is To Love
21. Alasdair Roberts – Lullaby To Holly
22. Charlie Parr – Roses While I’m Living

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Reviews

Record Collector
Few compilations come with such care and passion as this.

FACT Magazine
Buying Misplaced Pets is to do a good deed, without the guilt of aesthetic compromise.

Songs

1. Worried Blues
2. Posessed by the Devil
3. Union Tramp
4. Reverend Eviction’s Blues
5. Miner’s Lament
6. V8 Ford Blues part 2
7. King Earl
8. Ode to a New Dealer
9. Mule Rider
10. 1917
11. Jefferson Street Express
12. West Bank 10 String Rag
13. Worried Blues

This CD is out of print.

Reviews

Road Records
This is exactly how folk music should sound, it’s raw and exciting.

Americana-UK.com
This album is about dark, gothic blues; men ruined by love, sinners searching for redemption and hope in hopeless times. That someone can still conjure up all of these images with just a voice and guitar confirms, after all these years, the undiminished strength and continuing relevance of traditional American folk music.

Losing Today
King Earl is that rarest of treats all wrapped in a natural, honest to God rawness. Now you treat it with respect y’hear.

Leeds Guide
In 40 years time King Earl will be hailed as a classic.

Rough Trade
…intimate, soulful, transcendent and essential

Norman Records
Some of these songs are so good it beggars belief.