Rough Trade Shops/ Psych Folk 10

Rough Trade Shops
Psych Folk 10
(V2/Cooperative Music)

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a Rough Trade shop, but if you have you’ll know that the staff there have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of music. You can go up to the counter (and I seriously recommend you do this) with the records you want to buy and ask them to recommend some stuff you might like based on the contents of your basket and I guarantee you’ll come away with some newly discovered music that you’ll wonder how you lived without. The Rough Trade Shops compilations are basically the CD equivalent of this. Compiled by the guys and girls behind the counter, they choose a genre and then pick 21 tracks that remind you your knowledge of music isn’t as good as you’d like to think!
In this instance the genre is psych folk, though there is a good representation of English folk here too. Amongst the 21 bands contributing to this compilation are several bands you will probably know (Sleepy Sun, Hush Arbours and Espers in particular) and many others that you won’t.
Amongst them, the ones that particularly stand out for me are the ‘Ladies Don’t Go A Thieving’ by The Owl Service (who remind me of one of the greatest folk rock bands Steeleye Span) and the brilliant ‘Borrow My Bed’ by Men-An-Tol with its vocal harmonies. If you like folk rock then this is an essential addition to your record collection.