We have been enjoying Take The Air, an album of authentic, old-timey, soulful folk by Jenn Rawling, which she has now made available for free download via her Soundcloud page here.

From slow country to uptempo neo-folk, the gently weaving rhythms and honeyed harmonies are a delight. Here are a couple of our favourites, Big Old Lake and Lonely Owl should you want to sample the wares on offer first.

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Buy a physical CD from her Bandcamp page here.

Mike Doughty releases his new album Yes And Also Yes on February 13th. Previously front man of Soul Coughing, he has also written a brutally honest and unflinching autobiography that catalogues the utterly dysfunctional nature of his band and his own descent into full-on drug addiction.

The album is his fourth as a solo artist and it is immediately apparent that the man’s scalpel sharp lyricism and wordplay have not deserted him – just listen to the opening lines of first track and single Na Na Nothing below. While a playfulness is undoubtedly evident throughout the album, and sometimes this almost spills over into frivolity especially in some of the shorter tracks (four clock in at under two minutes), it would be wrong to pigeonhole this as a happy album. In truth if you examine a little more closely, this surface joy is often only a flimsy mask for some of the darker, more disturbing thoughts and self-doubt at work elsewhere on the record.

What is clear is that inspiration and imagination is never in short supply on this record, whether it be in the sardonic lyrics, the restless instrumentation that alternates between the uptempo and the understated, or the shift between introspection and experimentation. It has a feel and style to it that calls to mind some of our very favourite songwriters – Eels, Vic Chesnutt and Sparklehorse.

I have to confess though that this is our first proper introduction to Mike Doughty – a clear case of better late than never. We have us a back catalogue to go get acquainted with.

Watch and / or listen to Na Na Nothing below.

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You can also read a superb extract from his autobiography, The Book Of Drugs here at The Arts Desk.

As is often their wont, Mojo magazine have produced another fine cover disc this month, with a tribute to Leonard Cohen’s masterpiece of a debut The Songs Of Leonard Cohen plus a ‘bonus’ of five extra classic tracks from his back catalogue.

The array of artists is mightily impressive from acclaimed new soul artist Michael Kiwanuka to Cass McCombs, Field Music and J Tillman recording under the name Father John Misty. The bonus tracks include Dan Michaelson, Diagrams and My Brightest Diamond.

As always, Mojo is available from all decent newsagents or like us you can subscribe via their website. Certainly worth it as it is one of the best music monthlies we have.

Here are two of our favourites from Bill Callahan and his version of So Long Marianne and the Low Anthem putting their stamp on Stories Of The Street.

Download Bill Callahan – So Long Marianne mp3 (from The Songs Of Leonard Cohen Covered)

Download The Low Anthem – Stories Of The Street mp3 (from The Songs Of Leonard Cohen Covered)

Young Prisms are a band from San Francisco who deliver a beguiling mix of dreamy psychedelia over a fuzz of shoegazey guitars and reverb. Floating In Blue is the first taste from new album In Between.

Download Young Prisms – Floating In Blue mp3 (from In Between)

Children: they really do f**k you about don’t they? In a week when our eldest sprat managed to eclipse his younger sister’s great show of academic prowess by making us all as miserable as sin, I think I should resign defeated. I blame the parents; he seems to. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Most things in life that are worth something demand some sort of effort – sadly my darling son, that sort of self motivation is something that you have to find inside yourself.

Swimming against the tide this Friday.

Mrs Mackerel x

Download Calexico – Deep Down mp3 (from Garden Ruin)

Download The National – Ashamed Of The Story I Told mp3 (from Ciao My Shining Star – The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy)

Matt Cranstoun is a singer-songwriter comfortable and confident enough to imbue his music with genres and styles that should, by rights, probably be more used to staying well away from one another.

So is then that despite a classic troubadour’s husky drawl and some classic folk chops, funk and soul and some classic rock are bedded in too, and the results, whether backing whispered intimacy or a visceral howl, create a blend that is both captivating and provocative .

Tattoo is the first single from his sophomore album The Last Drop Of Color, which was released back in November of last year.

Grab it for nothing here.

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The Ex-Girlfriends Club specialise in the sleazy blues-punk riffs so beloved of the Stooges, the glam rock attitude that so defined late-era T-Rex, and the garage rock rawness that heralded trailblazers The Seeds.

The result is a incendiary mix of distortion, proto-punk and voodoo blues that manifests itself perfectly in the primal stomp of their cover of the Sonics classic The Witch, being the first single and a taster from the band’s forthcoming debut album Boo Hoo Hoo.

The album is out on the 31st January via Amazon, iTunes and cdBaby.

Download The Ex-Girlfriends Club – The Witch mp3 (from Boo Hoo Hoo)

This week we can offer you the Byrdsian jangle of White Fence’s It Will Never Be, more high octane, clattering punk riffage from Terry Malts, Grouper’s unique ethereal ambience comes to the fore on her take on Dead Moon’s Demona, and then there is the elegant piano and guitar washes of Damien Jurado’s latest track from new album Maraqopa, on Museum Of Flight, desperation never sounded so beautiful.

We have some more slowed up, goth tinged indie from The Royal Baths, while from Tiny Victories we have a classic slice of indie-rock that recalls Interpol, and by way of perfect contrast Big Deal’s sweetly strummed, harmonious title track from their new Chair EP. Finally we have the shimmering electro-pop of Bear In Heaven.

Something for everyone there we’ll wager!

Download White Fence – It Will Never Be mp3 (from Family Perfume Vol. 1)

Download Terry Malts – Nauseous mp3 (from Killing Time)

Download Grouper – Demona mp3 (from Yeti 7″)

Download Damien Jurado – Museum Of Flight mp3 (from Maraqopa)

Download The Royal Baths – Faster, Harder mp3 (from Better Luck Next Life)

Download Tiny Victories – Lost Weekend mp3 (from Those Of Us Still Alive)

Download Big Deal – Chair mp3 (from Chair EP)

Download Bear In Heaven – The Reflection of You mp3 (from Bear In Heaven)

Since we last posted about them at the start of the month Last American Buffalo have continued to release new, free tracks via their Bandcamp page. Thankfully, the quality which you might expect to dip a little with such regular releases has confounded expectations and Last American Buffalo are rapidly becoming one of our favourite bands.

The latest are the superb So Cruel with its precise uptempo percussion and plaintive, almost wistful paean to “whiskey smirks” and grass, which is one of our favourite tracks of the month so far. Accompanying it is the perfectly paced, mournfully traditional Americana of (the equally good in its own way) Baby I’m Alive.

Both tracks are on repeat here at MM, and for the price of an e-mail we would most heartily recommend them as an addition to your iTunes library.

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Bunny Ultramod is perhaps unsurprisingly the lead singer of technology obsessed and resolutely lo-fi, perv-punks The Ultramods, but now has a solo album, This Is Hollywood, out on general release.

It is an autobiographical 16-song release detailing three years in Hollywood leading up to the L.A. Riots. The album details life on the margins of early-1990s Los Angeles, including stories of sex workers, failed writers, male prostitutes, and homeless teens, and borrows from the music of the era to tell these stories, including late-80s new wave, pop punk, and, in particular, the Fast Time at Ridgemont High soundtrack.

Grab yourself L.A. Xpress, about the notorious Los Angeles sex publication below, and order your digital copy via Amazon.com here or cdBaby here.

Download Bunny Ultramod – L.A. Xpress mp3 (from This Is Hollywood)