
Believe it or not, Mad Mackerel has been around for more than five years now. During that time we've posted more than 4,000 times, and offered more than 5,000 songs for your listening pleasure. And more than three quarters of a million people have paid MM a visit during our lifetime on Google's godawful blogspot and since April 2010 on WordPress. We asked some of the regular MM contributors to give us their top twenty songs since MM first went live and we're also going to give you one big mega-listing shortly, but first up with their personal [...]

Here at MM we share, chat, argue, bury and praise music on a pretty regular basis…like daily. So throughout the year, the Mackerel crew (Mrs Mackerel, Barry-Sean, Christy-Popper, Dr Roddy, Polly Pocket, Starbar, MM and others) keep their own ever-changing top tens ready for publication at the climax of the festive season. Fifth in line is the indomitable lion of Hixet Wood...Mr Christy-Popper. 10. Local Natives – Airplanes ( Download here, Daytrotter Session ) The first big tune of the year for me, I sort of rediscovered this while compiling my top ten. [...]

Just shy of a full two hours, this podcast is a new record length for me. I hope it helps you travel, wrap or merry. I'll, of course, be rolling out new video best-of posts, and the next show will be my favorite music of 2010. Blessings to you and yours, whatever and however you celebrate! (artist - song - album + purchase link :: extra info) Brad Walsh - Poppin' Around the Xmas Tree - digital single Bishop Allen - You'll [...]

Here at MM we share, chat, argue, bury and praise music on a pretty regular basis…like daily. So throughout the year, the Mackerel crew (Mrs Mackerel, Barry-Sean, Christy-Popper, Dr Roddy, Polly Pocket, Starbar, MM and others) keep their own ever-changing top tens ready for publication at the climax of the festive season. Now is the time to reveal all... Our third contribution this year comes from the mighty Dr Roddy, house-mate, chef, Leeds fan, and occasional soiler of his own trousers. 10. Strayfolk – What Wouldn’t I Do ( Download here ) [...]

SAVE BBC ASIAN NETWORK (AND 6 MUSIC TOO) Another delayed post featuring some of my musical favourites from the last few weeks. Hurriedly put up (in unfinished form) simply because its the last chance to fill in the BBC's online questionnaire registering your objection to the closure of The Asian Network & 6 Music. Visit here to register your objection with the BBC Trust (they make the decisions) The Asian Network recently picked up a couple of Sony Awards for its output. Nihal won Best Speech [...]

Strayfolk - What Wouldn't I Do ( alt link ) Okay, so I've been listening to a lot of Woody Guthrie lately, and even more Bob-Dylan-trying-to-be-Woody-G uthrie (though this is to be expected). Strayfolk pays obvious homage to the folk legend in this song; the recording is so pleasantly lo-fi that I suspect if Strayfolk were to do a higher-quality re-recording of the song, some of the appeal would be lost. Enjoy. Strayfolk's website / myspace While I'm at it: Woody Guthrie - Hard Ain't [...]

Strayfolk are a country/folk outfit from northern Sweden (Umeå, to be exact) who sound decidedly un-Swedish. In fact, What Wouldn't I Do? sounds like an outtake from Tom Waits' Closing Time , and I'm not suggesting this is a bad thing. Not too much information available on Strayfolk, but I wouldn't exactly call them overachievers based on their recent output, or on updates to their web site. That being said, What Wouldn't I Do? is a mighty nice song, and definitely worth [...]
Strayfolk. Out of Sweden, making some Dylan-esque folk music. Really sweet track, perfect for a lazy afternoon. Love the banjo and guitar. Cheers to netlabel Bad Panda for this one. Strayfolk - What Wouldn't I Do The song is distributed under a Creative Commons License: CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0
At least for us east coast peeps, it looks as if summer has officially arrived. The temperature is crackin' 80, the humidity is already driving us nuts, and free shows are now a plenty. In other words, life is pretty good right now! But what's the one thing that could make it even better? How about another edition of our now legendary - yes, legendary! - Friday Mixtape. As always, included below is a mix of the week's best new singles, remixes, and covers along with mp3s from some up-and-comers you just might want to check [...]

Strayfolk are a Swedish band who play as genuine a style of Americana as you are ever likely to hear. What Wouldn't I Do has been released by net label Bad Panda Records under a Creative Commons license as a freebie and we're absolutely loving it. The song is a mellow mix of gently fingerpicked acoustics and yearning lyrics simply and beautifully delivered. A perfect example of when less is more. Visit their website here . Or MySpace here . Buy their album Strayfolk here . [...]

ganz frisch auf labrador ist die "the night before the funeral" single mit zwei brandneuen songs der popseligen schweden, digital seit 05.05. zu haben: the mary onettes - the night before the funeral bad panda überrascht uns dagegen mit schweden, die es auf eine mischung aus americana, folk und country anlegen, wie immer unter creative commons license: BY-NC-SA 3.0, gut: strayfolk - what wouldn’t i do [...]

Strayfolk is an americana constellation found on along the south-west and wester seafront of Sweden. It is composed of lead singer and band songwriter Henrik Thoren, guitarist and banjonista Carl Malmqvist, batterist Torbjorn Loren, bassmaster Kalle Berlin, steel guitarist Anders Danielsson and piano whisperer Christoffer Ãdman. A primordial version of the band appeared in Umea in 2001 but it wasn't until 2003, after a move to Gothenburg that the current form came into being Musically it has always been some form of americana or the other with the occasional drift into bluegrass and more traditional country. The self-titled [...]

What Wouldn’t I Do is a song by Swedish band Strayfolk who are into Americana. It is offered through Bad Panda Records . The Gothenburg band moves slowly -i it took them a couple of years to complete their self-titled debut album in 2009. Bad Panda Records is a free-download netlabel releasing a new Creative Commons licensed song every Monday. MP3: Strayfolk - What Wouldn’t I Do strayfolk.com

The Swedish americana band Strayfolk released a new song on the netlabel Bad Panda Records . Usually the bands I write about on Swedesplease don't cross over on to Songs:Illinois but this downtempo song with its fingerpicking, mellow delivery, and plaintive lyrics is perfect for a Monday morning. What Wouldn't I Do

Well I did it. I waited `til after Thanksgiving to post my Christmas mix. So far a lot of these songs are from last year (or years past), hell I even recycled the photo. I’ll do my best to update this mix as new songs appear. I love these songs. They are some of the best Christmas songs you’re likely to hear and for a large part they are ones I’ve dug up first. So Enjoy and Merry Christmas (three weeks early). P.S. I’m so low tech it’s not even funny, so if someone wants to create a [...]

One of the leaders ( Wailin' Henry ) of the band Strayfolk has a song in an upcoming Swedish language film. I'm a big fan of Strayfolk so I was happy to hear of this new development. Here's the song "The Water" from the film The Gun . The Water -- The big Swedish Christmas mix update is down at the bottom of this link .
The two musical genres I find myself listening to the most are generally considered to be two of the most reviled: country and metal. I'm sure some of that is due to my steadfast, contrarian nature, but I make no apologies. I am what I am. If having Slayer loaded on my mp3 player and Strayfolk in the car stereo seems at odds, that's too bad. Good music is good music. I've been covering a few things from the heavier end of the spectrum recently, so let's switch sides and talk country. Strayfolk [...]

I've got only 2.5 hours to get this song up in time for Christmas. It's a nice original (or is it a cover?) folk song by Strayfolk called "Christmas Day". Strayfolk was one of the first bands I wrote about on Swedesplease and they continue to astound me with their music. The band has just completed it's debut record and has managed to blend traditional folk with the ever so slight twang of pedal steel and an indie folk aesthetic. Here's two songs from the new record, you can buy [...]