Hands up if you
remember the Top of the Pops performance by the
Cranberries where Dolores O'Riordan wailed some
ghostly lament without her DMs on. Just [^]LAND
then. But it was memorable because she had the
cutest little ivory toes, and one can only hope that
Alex Carson of Barefeet records has similarly
pampered pinkies.
The anti-folk label
was conceived in Norwich by David Nickerson as an
antidote to struggling independent artists and bands
trying to get recorded and their music released.
Shortly after its conception Alex Carson, a long
time believer in all things bare foot, joined
Nickerson in his diabolical scheme to monopolise the
music industry. Together they sit and organise gigs,
parties, bonzanza's, recording sessions, E.P
releases, compilation cds, box socials, and the
occasional hootenanny in the Norwich area. So
they’re the kind of DIY chancers that [^]LAND is
soft on.
Jenny Didn't like to be
Photographed's Debut 4 track EP "The Night"
Bare-feet record has worked with Scraps, the
all-innocent songsters who may be the complimentary
romantic pill to Baudrillard’s Novocain-gobbling
theory of post-modernism. Their sugary floral
tributes lay at the grimacing mouth of the cynical
Cerberus himself, Jeffery Lewis. How twee they
sound, harmonizing like Steamboat Willy about a dead
bunny’s intestines. Barefeet have also worked with
Beth Jeans Houghton, whose Sweet Tooth Bird feels
like a spooky Wonderland trip on the gallopers with
Stanley Kubrick. Houghton’s mix of glam-folk is a
hot-pants wearing, devious absinth fairy chanting
tunes in a kaleidoscopic trance of Joanna Newsome-ish
wonder and Coco Rosie wackiness.
Their most recent release is Jenny Didn't like to be
Photographed's Debut EP: The Night. It’s a
four track ambient folk masterpiece. The Night
serves as a finely crafted show piece for Jenny’s
superb songwriting and delicate performances. The
whole EP was recorded in one day and mixed in one
night in the affectionately nick-named Bare-Feet
Records studio "The Cupboard."
