« 28x28 Day 4 - lyday | Main | Good Weather for Airstrikes: Filmclip Top 50 »
February 04, 2007
Webzen: Folk & Anti-Folk
*blows in category*
*dust flies out*
Been a while since I posted in playlist. High time I actually used it. Oh no! I'm breaking the 4th wall! :(
I've been listening to a lot of folk records lately. Mostly because of a little act called the mountain goats. And it's high time I did a roundup of the cream of the folk crop. So you can locate and listen to some good music. Why folk though? I dunno, but i'm pretty sure nobody can do decent bloody minded optimism as well as your folk band. Also, and this is a recent discovery, but apparently anti-folk is a thing - which is pretty much folk with a bit of punk sensibility injected. It's a good thing.
Oh, and I'm going to post Amazon links to my Amazon store. So far I've made $1.74 on my Amazon store, so I'm well on my way to a country house and a cool car.
Okay So bands worth checking out:
The Mountain Goats
These guys got me interested in acoustic guitar music again, and they also made me feel a whole lot better when going through a really shitty time. Typical features are intelligent angst ridden lyrics, filled with quiet hope, optimism and sometimes, killer hooky riffs. Amazing and transcendent live, I cannot strongly enough recommend The Mountain Goats. For my money, the spiritual successor to Jeff Buckley, what John Darnielle lacks in ethereal waif singing makes up in heart and style. Just sublime.
Album recommendations:
The Sunset Tree
Kimya Dawson
Well, this is what anti-folk is apparently about. I could care less, sometimes these new genre names rub me up the wrong way. Kimya Dawson is a supremely talented singer/songwriter. For further evidence, I recommend My Mom off the Remember That I Love You record. I will wait while you go check that out. Convinced? I am. I cannot stop playing Remember That I Love You and really is amazing. What gets me is the mix for the soft of her voice contrasted with darker & sub-cultural references with little regard for standard song convention. I like that it reflects cultural artifacts that have been otherwise ignored, like Kimya's references to videogames such as the largely overlooked Gamecube title Supermonkeyball Deluxe.
Album recommendation:
Leo Kottke
Many years ago, I was given a tape recording of Leo Kottke's 6 & 12 String Guitar Album. I had heard nothing like it before, and it still makes me immensely happy to listen to Leo Kottke's amazing music. He is nothing short of a genius on Guitar. His skill on 12 string guitar is almost legendary, and when you find a guitar nerd who knows about his work, you should see their face light up. Amazingly gifted, and a prolific back catalogue of work means there is an incredible depth of music for new fans to get into.
Album recommendations:
6- and 12-String Guitar
Iron & Wine
I must admit Iron & Wine was recommended to me a long time ago, and I've only just started to get into it, and it's been an unexpected joy. It's quieter and more mournful than your average folk bear artist, but really wonderfully and darkly constructed. Famous recently for his cover of Such Great Heights by The Postal Cover on the Garden State soundtrack, Iron & Wine are getting a lot more attention recently. The Rooster Moans on The 2002 album Creek Drank the Cradle is possibly my favourite track, even though it's a little more stylistically departed from the rest of the songs on that album. Lovely stuff.
Album recommendations:
The Creek Drank the Cradle
The Frames
I've no idea whether this actually properly classifies as folk, but it's my birthday (it's not actually) and I'll miss-classify music if I want to. Paired back, downtempo, and beautifully evocative is the best way I can describe the work of The Frames. I got very heavily into For The Birds and I haven't investigated their other music. That I think may have been a mistake, and I intend to check out their back catalogue next time I head down to the music shop. Lay Me Down off For the Birds is absolutely compulsory listening.
Album recommendation:
Well that's just a few bands and records that I've come to genuinely love recently. I hope that this has been an interesting read, and if you think that this section worked well for you, drop a comment here or on the forums and I will do more like it.
Posted by funnelbc at February 4, 2007 03:02 PM
Comments
hi
i saw your into the frames, if you go on their site and sign in on their chatroom the people on their will sort you out with all the band's bootleg live gigs. if you stick to the people who are on the site most you wont go wrong, and the frames manager claire will put you on to music by josh ritter and such. if you ever get a chance go see the frames live do!! amazing! glen isa exellent front man and if bass player joe joins in on the fun it makes the gig,
also josh ritter is a good tip, great songs by a reaaly nice man. best album for me is "the animal years" or mini album "good man e.p."
Posted by: dave release ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.onetonnemusic.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 23, 2008 06:27 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)