Britannias Daughters

Daughters of Albion is happy Californian pop/rock music, imbued with streaks of the kind of weirdness that only cropped up in otherwise normal pop/rock records in the late 1960s. Some of the harmonies are good, if a little on the super-sweet and high side. The odd interjections of orchestration and weird little effects - most likely producer Leon Russell was a strong contributor in this regard - make this more interesting than you might expect from the basis of the songs alone. If you're looking for rough ballpark cult figures that might indicate whether you should seek this out, it's kind of between the albums of the era by Millennium and the Judy Henske-Jerry Yester duo. With its frequent good-time bounce, it's closer to Millennium than the darker and more resonant Henske-Yester collaboration, though it doesn't sound extremely close to either act, and isn't as good as either…

Daughters of Albion is happy Californian pop/rock music, imbued with streaks of the kind of weirdness that only cropped up in otherwise normal pop/rock records in the late 1960s. Some of the harmonies are good, if a little on the super-sweet and high side. The odd interjections of orchestration and weird little effects - most likely producer Leon Russell was a strong contributor in this regard - make this more interesting than you might expect from the basis of the songs alone. If you're looking for rough ballpark cult figures that might indicate whether you should seek this out, it's kind of between the albums of the era by Millennium and the Judy Henske-Jerry Yester duo. With its frequent good-time bounce, it's closer to Millennium than the darker and more resonant Henske-Yester collaboration, though it doesn't sound extremely close to either act, and isn't as good as either…

For the first time on vinyl; two super rare 1980-82 tapes by Two Daughters; a near-mythical, Throbbing Gristle/Industrial Records - affiliated duo who recorded glossolalic hymns, spectral percussive rituals and Bowie cut-ups in Brixton, c.1980-1982 for Nurse With Wound's United Dairies. A huge recommendation if you're into Dome, Zoviet France, O Yuki Conjugate, Panda Bear, NWW, Early Current 93 - what a find!

Songs of Our Native Daughters gathers together kindred musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell in song and sisterhood to communicate with their forebears. Drawing on and reclaiming early minstrelsy and banjo music, these musicians reclaim, recast, and spotlight the often unheard and untold history of their ancestors, whose stories remain vital and alive today.

The material on Songs of Our Native Daughters - written and sung in various combinations - is inspired by New World slave narratives, discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience, as well as musicians such as Haitian troubadour Althiery Dorval and Mississippi Hill Country string player Sid Hemphill, and more.