While doing my review of the Castlefest Collective album, there was one name that I didn’t know: Le Garçon de l’Automne. A bit of internet research told me that Le Garçon de l’Automne is a pagan folk project by the starting French musician Quentin Maltrud. After listening to Eluveitie, Quentin started to play the hurdy-gurdy five years ago. And while Quentin was discovering more and more European folk bands he also acquired more and more folk instruments, working out himself how to play and use them.
Two years ago he started recording the first songs for what would become his debut album Leaves Are Falling. This album came out in October of last year and it is, as to be expected, a journey through European folk music. I really enjoyed listening to it. Sure there are some ‘moments’, but in general, Quentin can be proud of this first CD. It shows a musician that is passionate, who dares to try out things, and who has fresh and original ideas. Besides that, he is eager to learn. So my first impression of Le Garçon de l’Automne is a real positive one. And I’m convinced that in the years to come Quentin will grow into a really interesting, surprising artist. He has all the potential for it.
Want to know more? Here is the link.

So what Am I supposed to say about Trolska Polska‘s latest album that I didn’t already say in the review? That it is a great album? That the band worked out the Troll concept to perfection? That I love the artwork? That it is a must-buy for e-v-e-r-y (bal)folk enthousiast? That it is in my top 3 list of favorite folk albums of all time!? Well…., I mentioned ALL of that already!

So it has finally come to this! I am out of words! And it are Trolska Polska that are to blame. I guess there is only one thing I can do now. insert the link here, and lead you to what made me speechless.
It’s something called: EUFoRI!

Today it’s the 3rd of February, which means the first Friday of the month is fast approaching. And since the start of the corona pandemic,that has become a special day on Bandcamp. Why? Well, every first Friday of the month Bandcamp wave away their share of the revenue of the music you purchase from their site, giving the artists that extra boost to help them through these rough times. Ever since we got wind of this initiative, I tried to review an album that is only available on Bandcamp in the week before Bandcamp Friday. Well, this time we didn’t find one album, we found three!
Två Fisk Och En Fläsk was a young Swedish folk band that released three records between 1998 and 2016. Starting out playing ‘classic’ medieval folk, the bandmember’s diverse musical backgrounds surfaced and the sound quickly turned towards alternative prog-folk. We managed to contact Jan Liljekvist, one of the former violinists of the band, and he was quite willing to tell Två Fisk’s story. And here it is.

When an album gets featured as a Daily Disc, a full review AND a Monthly Marker, you know it has to be something special. And the newest ZiRP album is just that. Something really special. With Circle Divine, ZiRP ‘invents’ a whole new genre: instrumental fusion folk-funk. and we at Celtcast absolutely love it.
Circle Divine is one of those rare albums that is earcatchingly good at the start and still gets better and better as you play it again and again and again and again. There is nothing more here I can say, that I didn’t already said in the review, so here is the link, enjoy the read, and enjoy listening to this amazing band.

It took the new The Moon and the Nightspirits‘ record a while before it reached my CD player. Already released in June of this year it almost got lost in the stream of releases that were coming out this fall.
Almost but not quite, and that is a good thing because Aether swept me off my feet from the very first note I heard. This is the best album I’ve heard this year. and that with stiff competition from bands like M’anam, Jyoti Verhoeff, Priscilla Hernandez, Rachel Croft, Grumpy O sheep, Gói, and Irdorath. (what a musical year it has been.)
With Aether, The Moon and the Nightspirit wanted to add a certain ‘masculinity’ into their sound and the result is a gothic/medieval pagan folk CD that just blew me away. Now you could follow the link and have a read what I find so special about this new album – (and it would be highly appreciated by yours truly) – but really, if you love the music of Dead Can Dance, Shireen, Cranes, and of course The Moon and the Nightspirit themselves, don’t be bothered; just buy the record; put it on; get yourself a headphone; a chair; and vanish in this beautiful masterpiece.