Psych-freak-geek-folk discussion

Buick6

too punk to drunk
How long has the freak-folk thing be trendy for, I mean the new version..I remember in the early 90s how the Nick Drake and Richard Thompson re-issues were blowing minds and then the OAR re-issue un the late 90s, but did this new trend emerge from that WIRE article a few years back?

Personally I reckon the Hope Sandoval 'Bavarian fruit bread' was pretty much the blue-print contemporary album for this new-wave, but alas there's heaps of stuff like Devendra, 6 Organs etc..etc..and now this fantastic Gary Higgins re-issue that is all good-and well. I kinda find the whole thing an extension of that early mid90s Chicago/Drag City lo-fi damaged indie thing with yr Smogs and Palace Music and Cat Power, but also some part of some 'lost' english roots music, as fold was quite popular in the UK, in fact you hd a folk-superstar in Cat Stevens, which could be another interesting meme/undercurrent considering he's now a devout Shi'ite Muslim !!
 

zhao

there are no accidents
have been for some time very into the abstract schools of new folk:

Richard Bishop, Jungens, Jack Rose, and the entire Wooden Guitar camp - carrying the torch of Robie Basho, Fahey, Sandy Bull, and all the Vanguard mystics.

on the free end I think the Jewled Antler Co is amazing... almost leaving the realm of folk or even of "music" altogether in pursuit of some perfect earth acoustic median, sharing more common ground with the lowercase micro-sound movement. also recently purchased a box of Finnish free-folk which has very nice moments.

Tower Rec. is good but wears thin real quick. no time for the likes of 6-organs at all. what's the (diss/con)sensus on No Neck? shit or gold? should Jackie-O-Mofo be talked about here?

back to the song cycle, I'm really warming up to Devendra. have to give credit where it's due: that guy is very talented. liking Sufjan Stevens OK... but I still think the Iron and Wine schtick is trite and bogus.

sounds like I should look into Hope Sandoval?

been scavenging for 60s british and american stuff a little bit too...

recommendations welcome as always.
 
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Loki

Well-known member
confucius said:
on the free end I think the Jewled Antler Co is amazing... almost leaving the realm of folk or even of "music" altogether in pursuit of some perfect earth acoustic median, sharing more common ground with the lowercase micro-sound movement. also recently purchased a box of Finnish free-folk which has very nice moments.

Agree...the Jewelled Antler stuff is almost not music at all, it's like rock n roll that's been scraped off the earth and strung out to dry... the quality control is not always there with all the CDR releases but the best stuff permeates through all music... and the Finnish stuff is even more amazing - stuff like Kemiallist Ystavat and Avarus and Lau Nau and, well, the whole movement really - music that's sounds knitted, with loose strands all over the place that nevertheless seem oddly considered (i.e. even the free music appears composed and ritualistic)...

I just worry that soon they're gonna run out of ideas since the once problem with this kind of music is that the bands seem to be heading towards blank spaces; they seem to be dragging everything down upon them and there doesn't seem any interest in rebuilding as such...

on the other hand if Wooden Wand and Jackie O Motherfucker can rebirth as rockier versions of themselves maybe we'll soon be treated to the Finnish equivalent of that Bob Dylan gig...

i'm digging out me polo neck and preparing the bile....

(but secretly i'm hoping they all go pop and start an assault on the charts...)

Oh and no one's mentioned Comus yet... they lurch into view every few years and then interest sinks off again... why isn't anyone hassling them for a reunion? are they dead?
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Speaking of which, I'm off to see Sunburned Hand of the Man in a couple of hours. Should be good...
 

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
hail

i'm very fond of Fursaxa and Charalambides and anything Christina Carter related. I also really enjoyed the recent Inca Ore CD-R on jyrk. and pumice from NZ, kind of like early Dead C but with a banjo. and i really like what i've heard from Jessica Rylan/Can't.
Also the INCREDIBLE pyrmamid/elegy 6CD box on LVD http://www.lastvisibledog.com/080.htm

but to be honest i kind of see all the free/freak folk stuff as being inseperable from a lot the noise stuff that's going on right now. it seems like there are quite a few people are doing both and there's a lot of overlap between the noise and folk in terms of people collaborating, and labels releasing both styles of music.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Slothrop said:
Sunburned Hand of the Man

not exactly folk but...

their brand of orgiastic ritual freak-out rock is either hit or miss, from what I understand no 2 shows are the same. I imagine it can be a thrill under the right circumstances, but when I saw them at Arthur Fest last summer it was a BIG miss.

it was Embarrassing... that performance gave hippies a bad name worse then any dead show can do... 12 guys noodle around for 30 minutes "building up the tension", and this bloke holding a baby-doll starts wailing into the mic: "baby wants to cry... baby wants to cry..." shameful experience.
 

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
the first time i saw them (sbhotm), it was hilarious but the music was only OK, the second the were tight as fuck and totally brilliiant.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
confucius said:
not exactly folk but...

their brand of orgiastic ritual freak-out rock is either hit or miss, from what I understand no 2 shows are the same. I imagine it can be a thrill under the right circumstances, but when I saw them at Arthur Fest last summer it was a BIG miss.

it was Embarrassing... that performance gave hippies a bad name worse then any dead show can do... 12 guys noodle around for 30 minutes "building up the tension", and this bloke holding a baby-doll starts wailing into the mic: "baby wants to cry... baby wants to cry..." shameful experience.
Ah. I've got a friend who seems to have caught them on one of the good nights, then, because he was proper enthusiastic (and he has impeccable taste, naturally). Hush Arbors and Vibracathedral Orchestra are on too. I'll let you know what happens...

I always assumed they had at least some of the free folky / weird americana thing going on, though.
 

Buick6

too punk to drunk
big satan said:
i'm very fond of Fursaxa and Charalambides and anything Christina Carter related. I also really enjoyed the recent Inca Ore CD-R on jyrk. and pumice from NZ, kind of like early Dead C but with a banjo. and i really like what i've heard from Jessica Rylan/Can't.
Also the INCREDIBLE pyrmamid/elegy 6CD box on LVD http://www.lastvisibledog.com/080.htm

but to be honest i kind of see all the free/freak folk stuff as being inseperable from a lot the noise stuff that's going on right now. it seems like there are quite a few people are doing both and there's a lot of overlap between the noise and folk in terms of people collaborating, and labels releasing both styles of music.

It's all that post-Sonic Youth lo-fi aesthetic for the cross-over, rather than 'roots' folk.

but once WIRE does a report on a genre, it becomes AVANTE GARDE and IMPORTANT whether they like it or not.
 

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
what's your point? that i didn't talk about bands of the exact same fictional subgenre? what i mentioned is psych folk as far as i'm concerned. ben chasny from 6 organs of admittance (who are mentioned in the first person's post) plays in bagerlore with tom carter from charalambides and one of the dudes from yellow swans (i.e. the jyrk label) which illustrates what i was talking about about the cross over. time lag has also put out records by 6 organs of admittance, fursaxa and charalambides. 6OA even appeared on that By The Fruits You Will Know The Roots 3LP along side Fursaxa. It's all the same scene.
i don't really get what you're saying about the wire/avant garde/important either.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
no intention of turning this place into a file-sharing swapmeet, but I have to post these downloads because this stuff is long out of print, and amazing.

for those not familiar, these albums were released on John Fahey's Vanguard label in the 60s, and I guess can be called transcendental acoustic folk.

sandyb1.jpg


Sandy Bull - E Pluribus Unum

http://rapidshare.de/files/13557330/Bull.rar

from: http://audio-history.blogspot.com/

102382807_5bc37b8787_m.jpg


Robbie Basho - Seal Of The Blue Lotus

http://rapidshare.de/files/13677633/SOTBL.rar.html

password: riffingeddie.blogspot.com

from: http://riffingeddie.blogspot.com
 
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muser

Well-known member
I've been going through a bit of a late 60's- 70's psych/folk phase, great rainy winter music I think. Is it still trendy in the US? I know there's alot of revival bands around doing some actual not too bad stuff.







 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Personally I reckon the Hope Sandoval 'Bavarian fruit bread' was pretty much the blue-print contemporary album for this new-wave

glad to see this mentioned - one of my very favourite albums, but barely ever gets props, afaik. And Linda Perhacs too.
 

blacktulip

Pregnant with mandrakes
This thread reminded me of my best band-title-conjunction joke ever (can't take all the credit: my friend Dan helped a little somehow):

Sunburned Neck of the Motherfucker

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you.
 
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