Folk Music Thread
 

I don't think we've had a multi purpose folk thread, so now we do.

The first purpose of this thread is to recommend me some folk of the wyrd/psych variety.
I like things like Fursaxa, Spires That in The Sunset Rise, The Tower Recordings or this real media player clip, i.e. strange, mysterious, very psychedelic, and primitive sounding.

What I'd like to know is if there's old stuff that these people are particularly drawing from, bearing in mind that that link i posted is to an acid mothers temple song and how much AMT wear their influences on there sleeve, I'd say their must be old stuff like this, and I know there is a vast quantity of 60s & 70s psych folk, but it encompasses so many varieties of folk that i have no idea where to go to next after having checked out the obvious stuff like fairport convention, pentangle, john fahey, pearls before swine, incredible string band, etc, besides as much as i love those things, i want something weirder.
If batreleaser comes into this thread and writes a list of every folk music thing he's ever heard and says they're all his favourites (or some equivalent) it means he's gay.
And if someone comes in to this thread and says that things like hiphop and death metal are the true folk musics of the modern day then that means they admit that they like to give their dad blowjobs.

mmm interesting. dunno about the influences but i really dig Spires...
Eerie muzak.
completely disconnected.

Death Vessel are one of the new interesting acts on the scene lately. Willy Mason has been making some good folk music, though his last album was really disappointing. M. Ward's hands are possessed by the spirit of Fahey, I'm sure of it. I could go on and on about M. Ward all day though..

howe gelb blah blah

As far as older folk influences go I have no idea. Sometimes you don't really need to listen to a lot of folk to make folk- M. Ward's favourite band is Sonic Youth.

I wanted to point you towards the unbroken circle website, but it seems to have disappeared, which is strange because it used to turn up every time that I googled anything even remotely folky.

Try this though: http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features...0interview.htm

yeah i was looking for it this morning too, i found out the guy who ran it took it down because it kept on getting attacked my hackers and he couldn't be arsed to deal with them anymore

Maybe try: http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de...olk/index.html

I quite enjoy Mike Harding's folk show on Radio 2 on Wednesday evenings, but it's very rarely all that wyrd: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/harding/index.shtml

It's a shame about unbroken circle. The same guy's download site has disappeared too. He curated the John Barleycorn Revisited compilation on Coldspring though:

VA - 'John Barleycorn Reborn' 2 x CD (Cold Spring CSR84CD)

A discovery of folk music from dark Britannica. 'John Barleycorn Reborn' explores seasonal birth, death and rebirth on this double CD. This compilation explores the darker side of British folk music, evoking the mystery of our ancient past and peoples, the strangeness of their beliefs, arcane traditions and the remnants of this carried down the centuries as folklore. The set has an extended booklet with articles, essays and explorations of the album's concept. Curated by Mark Coyle (Woven Wheat Whispers). Features 33 artists:

CD1: Alphane Moon, Andrew King, Charlotte Greig & Johan Asherton, Damh The Bard, English Heretic, Far Black Furlong, Mary Jane, Pumajaw, Peter Ulrich (Dead Can Dance), Sharron Kraus, Sieben, Sol Invictus, The Horses Of The Gods, The Owl Service, The Story (Tom & Martin Welham / Forest), The Triple Tree (Tony Wakeford / Andrew King).

CD2: Clive Powell, Doug Peters, Drohne, Electronic Voice Phenomena, Martyn Bates (Eyeless In Gaza), Quickthorn, Sand Snowman, Stormcrow, The A Lords, The Anvil, The Kitchen Cynics, The Purple Minds Of Lazeron, The Straw Bear Band, Tinkerscuss, Venereum Arvum, While Angels Watch, Xenis Emputae Travelling Band.

Awesome, thanks.

I found this this morning, not the same league as the unbroken circle, but better than nothing.
http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com...delicfolk.html

It's a bit of a difficult one, because [if you'll excuse the prickery] 'true' foik music isn't really about instrumentality or jamming, so the psychedelic bit is tricky.

Having said that, you want to get a bit of Munir Bashir in your lug-holes. Or possible some Qawwli [sp?]. Both a bit on the long dribbly psychedlic side of things, but probably not what you're after.

probably not in this specific instance, but i've been meaning to check out munir bashir for a while, will take note of the other thing that may be spelt incorrectly.

anyway, we've already got one world music thread.

john fahey
bert jansch
anne briggs
pelt/jack rose
flying canyon
warmer milks (on the recods when theyre not making noise)
balkan folk (bulgaria's dan milev and croatia's peter brosso are some of my favorites)
fairport convention
incredible string band
early tyrannasaurus rex
current 93
the fugs

I like making lists. It's fun when I'm bored. If that makes me gay, than so be it.

Probably heard of all of these people before but:
Wooden Wand
Robbie Basho
Eyes And Arms Of Smoke
Prompiquity
Van Dyke Parks

robbie basho is BY FAR my favorite artist that is usually considered "folk".

Simon Finn, Joanna Newsom, Juana Molina, Vashti Bunyan, Marissa Nadler... I like female folk singers hah.

Also love folk guitarists like Fahey of course.

I'm not listing Fahey because he really doesn't sound like folk music and he hated folk music and says he should not be included with them at all. Even though obviously he has some stylistic similarities to folk music, I felt that mentioning Robbie Basho made more sense, because he has the American Primitive Guitar sound of Fahey mixed with some more classical folk singing and songwriting.

True... I'd still put him under 'folk' though if I had to generalise.

Well, if we're reeeeeeeeally generalizing then, everyone should check out Cerberus Shoal. Easily the best "folk" band of any type.

http://www.last.fm/music/Cerberus+Shoal

Lots of free tracks (though their music is very easy to find on soulseek). Listen to SOLE OF FOOT MAN!

Chaiming the Knobblesome, Land We All Believe In, split with Alvarius B, and Mr. Boy Dog are some of my favorite albums ever.

Yum! :)

I'm downloading this stuff off soulseek...

you'll enjoy.

They've got a really kayo dot-ish feel to some of it actually, really epic and proggy stuff at times.

But then they've got some really really straight-ahead folky abstract songs too..

Songs like something right up my alley!

Man music is great.

A little bit of traditional folk music from my lands:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_umlvybcac

I've been listening to Valet and the new Grouper record a lot recently, they might be worth checking out if you haven't done already. Both are quite strange and psychedelic sounding, although I'm not entirely sure where they draw their influences from.

Valet and Grouper are great!

He didn't hate folk music, he just didn't like most of the people playing it when it was super popular in the 60's, mostly because he felt that all that hippie stuff was mainstream posing, and lacked the historical perspective that he had come to expect from it.

Clive Plamer's C.O.B.

Absolutely check out Dom, and their album 'Edge of Time'. It's on the pscyh/acoustic/droney side of things, and excellent.

i guess the obvious are sunburned, nnck but you know about those already. what about bert jansh, pelt and jack rose?

Jack Rose = hell yes.

Fairport Convention (electric folk), John Fahey and Incredible String Band are excellent recommendations. I think so are Grateful Dead to a degree. Let's not forget Dylan, or The Band for that matter There's also the oldies like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger (also The Weavers), Hank Williams, Sr., and The Kingston Trio. For a bluegrass tinge there's Flatt & Scruggs and THe Stanley Brothers that kind of stand out for me.
Then there's some of the stuff by Donovan, Neil Young (CSN&Y mostly), Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon (& Garfunkel), Marc Ribot (in his own and some of his playing w/Waits), Chris Spedding, Ry Cooder (w/Capt. Beefheart too), The Mamas & Papas, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Pentangle, Fresh Maggots and Tim Buckley (both himself and Lee Underwood's playing).

Listen to "Hong Kong Bar" from Tim Buckley's uneven foray into L.A. Blues funk called "Greetings From L.A." The album is a bit odd, but the guitar on "Hong Kong Bar" is just remarkably nuts. Maybe pick up some quirky approaches from The Shaggs Philosophy of the World.

A bit more recent are Suzanne Vega and Richard Thompson.

"How can I be folk? I'm from the suburbs you know" - John Fahey. That's enough for me to not list him.

Anyway, if you guys do want some american primitive guitar (and related) suggestions, then I posted some near the bottom of this page: http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=12246

If you don't feel like reading or you want to keep it all on this thread or whatever, then here are some good suggestions of American primitive and fingerstyle/folky guitarists I like:
- Robbie Basho
- Max Ochs
- Bukka White
- Harry Taussig
- Peter Lang
- Loren Mazzacane Connors
- Jack Rose
- Leo Kottke
- Wooden Spoon
- Pat O'Connell
- Andrew Stranglen
- Terry Robb
- Dale Miller
- Tetsui Akiyama
- Michael Gulezian
- Sandy Bull
- James Blackshaw
- Sir Richard Bishop
- Gillian Welch
- Sean Smith
- Glenn Jones
- Harris Newman
- Six Organs of Admittance
- (some) M. Ward
- (some) Jim O'Rourke
- Triple Burner
- Steffen Basho-Junghans
- George Stavis
- Bob Hadley
- Wayne Lopes
- Bob Brozman (who played in many different styles but I think you'd dig if you like any of the above artists; a true slide guitar king)

Its funny because Fahey was on the same label as Basho and Kottke, I wonder if all on the tahoma roster shared the same sentiment.

Kottke probably did. Basho probably didn't care, he was too busy playing a 100 year old guitar and singing about vultures.

Takoma Records was amazing... I love "the psychadelic saxaphone of Charlie Nothing" record.

yeah charlie nothing was insane
oh and i recently bought james blackshaw's sunshrine. its an amazing album. highly recomended.
i was wondering what other albums of his to check out. did he release something this year? (something new, not areissue like sunshrine)

Supreme Dicks

awesome, thanks

Yeah I have sunshrine and one other one, can't remember the name of it.

He released one this year I'm pretty sure. It got good reviews if I remember correctly, not that that means anything. Haven't really sat down with it yet myself.

Accidentally, this board could really do with a healthy, happy, joyful and totally necessary thread about Cornwall folk bands that have been buried by more fashionable trends, which in turns could enrich people's lives in ways that they didn't even know about.

i finally got around to listen to the dom. and the cd is amazing. its like all the acoustic drone thats happening today, but 40 years earlier.
i also bought the cerberus shaol album chaiming the knoblesome a few weeks ago. and it is amazing. i constantly listen to it, simpy because there is so much going on in it. every lesten is rewarding and i discover new sounds and ideas.

i am folked out of it to be honest....

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to atsonicpark again.
Great list, I'm certainly going to check some of these out! A teacher at my old school worked with some of Triple Burner's production, so that's how I learned about him.