I’m not often one for picking up live releases of songs I’ve already heard on albums, but this sensational EP from Walrus favourites Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling, and their newfound Indian friends The Dharohar Project, has made me rethink my whole approach. Recorded live at this year’s iTunes festival, the three artists have created an eight-track release that confirms that each are deserving of the title ‘artist’ – it’s interesting, diverse, unique and experimental, and captures the energy of their live performances wonderfully. Anyone who has had the …

If you’re not at Leeds or Reading on his fine bank holiday – much like us here at The Blue Walrus – but you’re still in the mood for absorbing yourself in some fantastic festival performances, you can do so from the comfort of your home. “How?” I hear you ask. Through that wonderful invention they call BBC iPlayer of course!
The BBC are offering some great coverage of the festivals – we’re especially enjoying the Mumford & Sons performance, which you can view by clicking here.
Here’s a track from Mumford …

Winchester/Bristol quartet Polly And The Billets Doux are giving away a fantastic free track called ‘To Be A Fighter’, which you can grab via the link below.
Polly And The Billets Doux – To Be A Fighter
The band, who have been causing a massive stir all over the UK festival circuit recently, including performances at Glastonbury, Loopallu and The Big Chill, are going from strength to strength at the moment, and have a UK tour planned for this October:
7th   The Luminaire, London*
8th    Stereo, York
9th    Night & Day Cafe, …

There’s a purity about Rachael Dadd that makes me go all warm and fuzzy. Give me this little lady with a banjo any day and I’ll be a happy, sincerely happy, muso. Her latest release, the gorgeous ‘Elephee’ EP, is astounding. This set of raw yet beautiful recordings captures Rachael at her charming best, and it’s perfect Sunday afternoon listening.
Five tracks of brilliant lo-fi goodness and I can say in all honesty there is nothing bad to say about the EP; hats off to the amazing Broken Sound Music, who …

We were greatly saddened to hear on BBC 6Music that Ou Est Le Swimming Pool frontman Charlie Haddon committed suicide at Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival during the day yesterday. NME.com has reported that the singer jumped from a mast backstage at the festival, and his death has been confirmed by Pukkelpop Festival, with a tribute to him left on their official website.
You might remember Tim featured Ou Est here at about this time last year, and since then the band had gone from strength to strength with a UK headline tour confirmed …

I have to admit that when I clicked through to Boy & Bear’s MySpace page, I was actually quite sceptical. Wow was I wrong to feel like that. I ran across the name because the Australian band played support, alongside Alessi’s Ark, on Laura Marling‘s last tour. I’d seen a lot of tweets at the time calling Laura’s performance mediocre, Alessi’s performance pretty good, and Boy & Bear’s performance absolutely amazing. So, with a spare few moments, I decided to check them out.
Their whole sound is ramshackle folk-rock goodness, and …