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Folk?

mightykites [Edit] [Delete] 64 replies 19:46 February 5th, 2011

Ok, so, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for folk-y stuff. I've heard a fair bit of the more obvious indie-ish stuff from recent years, fleet foxes, the acorn, bon iver, marissa nadler, tallest man on earth, woods etc.

Recently I've been enjoying Nick Drake and a friend of mine played me Cruel Sister by Pentangle and from there I've had a listen to the first Fairport Convention record which I quite liked. Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone has got any good recommendations of similar stuff.

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Liege & Lief is my favourite Fairport album

mostly because of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1it7BP5PckI
But both them and Pentangle have got several greats in their back catalogue.
Personally, for an intro to similar stuff, I'd recommend this compilation: http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-New-Electric-Muse-Journey/dp/tracks/B001G7G5TG/ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1
And obviously with Nick Drake just get it all.

-dan- | 5 Feb '11, 20:26 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I've been enjoying a fair bit of old English folk stuff recently
  
  Liege and Lief is terrific. Matty Groves might be my favourite, but the version of Tam Lin on there is great, as is Reynardine and the Quiet Joys of Brotherhood bonus track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUSBY23zsOk
  
  I've also listened to Cruel Sister a fair bit on spotify, enjoy that one too.
  
  Other stuff:
  
  I love this Anne Brigs track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6x2S8comEU
  
  Shirley Collins - Barbara Allen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkAvZyjHjzo
  
  Comus are quite unlike any other folk band, or any other band really, but I really like their lunatic take on the genre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJp0rr54OU0
  
  I don't really like much modern indie-folk stuff, but I'm a big fan of folk influenced stuff like Current 93 and Death in June:
  
  C93: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAAyaJBfNpU
  
  Death in June: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7HYeWRMiU
  
  Not to mention James Blackshaw - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3oSEduAxE
  
  ContentToPlayVillain @-dan- | 5 Feb '11, 21:05 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  oneforghost this'd this
  - Fucking love C93
    
    really great for the more 'esoteric' end of the genre... if you like your folk delivered by a gnostic Genesis P-Orridge protege who writes lyrics in ancient Coptic then LOOK NO FURTHER
    
    crashingthrough @ContentToPlayVillain | 6 Feb '11, 20:41 | X | ^ This | Reply
all mississippi john hurt

all the time

codpieceface | 5 Feb '11, 20:31 | X | ^ This | Reply
- 1928 okeh recordings especially
  
  codpieceface @codpieceface | 5 Feb '11, 20:33 | X | ^ This | Reply
john renbourn.

Dave van Ronk.

skellywager | 5 Feb '11, 20:35 | X | ^ This | Reply
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day

Icarus-Smicarus | 5 Feb '11, 21:28 | X | ^ This | Reply

Luis_Carruthers, wewerewerewolvesonce, oneforghost, JaguarPirate, crashingthrough, and Bethany_E this'd this
- you might have to break through the twee ice
  
  but once you do this is AMAZING
  
  crashingthrough @Icarus-Smicarus | 6 Feb '11, 20:27 | X | ^ This | Reply
- The 1964-67 singles & demos collection
  
  'Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind' is really superb as well. I've listened to it more than the debut.
  
  Bethany_E @Icarus-Smicarus | 3 Sep '11, 01:58 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I want a suntan......
  
  basil @Icarus-Smicarus | 13 Jan '12, 16:55 | X | ^ This | Reply
Davey Graham

Yoblonski | 5 Feb '11, 21:52 | X | ^ This | Reply

skellywager this'd this
Wooden Wand - James & The Quiet

Vic Chesnutt - The Salesman & Bernadette
Blue Roses - Blue Roses

pretty_vacant | 5 Feb '11, 22:24 | X | ^ This | Reply
Most recently

Chelsea Wolfe, who's describes her music as 'spiritual realm funeral songs' and has been compared to Marissa Nadler, Soap&Skin and PJ Harvey. -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oZLNxo_HD0

Anais Mitchell, pre hadestown's more ambitious arrangements she made some brilliant modern folk records -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sFtA80XI-s

Sharon Van Etten, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBUea1YEpuc

wewerewerewolvesonce | 5 Feb '11, 22:36 | X | ^ This | Reply
Incredible String Band

Vashti Bunyan
CSNY

Luis_Carruthers | 6 Feb '11, 00:47 | X | ^ This | Reply
first few holy modal rounders albums

been listening to them a lot recently. the first 2 albums are on spotify, which finds them about their most convential, but still pretty weird and silly

prunes | 6 Feb '11, 02:36 | X | ^ This | Reply

ARI_recorder this'd this
- *conventional
  
  prunes @prunes | 6 Feb '11, 02:36 | X | ^ This | Reply
Trembling Bells (earlie musik/psychedelic/vocal gymnastics)

Probably gonna get accused of being in their employ if I bang on about 'em again, but I've properly fallen in love with 'em and if this thread isn't defo another excuse for me to give a deserved shout out then I don't know what is.

http://www.myspace.com/tremblingbells
http://youtu.be/9CL-v0MZoxo / http://youtu.be/_MVzal3ZQsI / http://youtu.be/o_xCsXleLIw

Carbeth album review (Uncut): http://tinyurl.com/dc5gro ."...fractionally closer to the tradition of Sonic Youth than Fairport Convention.".
Abandoned Love album review: http://tinyurl.com/6jtud34
."Trembling Bells still might not be the world's most accessible band, but since when has that been a pre-requisite for enjoyment?".

TheWza | 6 Feb '11, 04:10 | X | ^ This | Reply

madetodisappear this'd this
- Last time I saw TB they were supported by Emily Portman. Her album, The Glamoury, is excellent (it was in MOJO and fROOTS top folk albums of the year, fwiw).
  
  http://www.myspace.com/emilygportman
  
  Also, this thread might be of interest: http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4258755
  
  TheWza @TheWza | 6 Feb '11, 04:12 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I think there's a promo sticker on one of their records where Will Oldham refers to them as "TREMBLING FUCKING BALLS"
  
  I like that.
  
  crashingthrough @TheWza | 6 Feb '11, 20:22 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - :-D
    
    TheWza @crashingthrough | 7 Feb '11, 10:28 | X | ^ This | Reply
natural snow buildings have a new album out. i have not heard it yet, but if it's anything like most of their's it will be wonderful. more dark droney folk, than your fairport convention-type stuff but also possibly some of my favourite people about atm.
they write beautiful little songs like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ByjPVcTWgs and epic powerful drone pieces based around guitar loops and things...isengrind and twinsistermoon are also respective side-projects worth checking.

clang syne
termbling bells (as wza says)
alisdair roberts
black eagle child
donato epiro
mv&ee
the whole ben chasney axis
sean nicholas savage

maybe check out the whole glasgow free-folk thing- richard youngs, alex neilsen (also in trembling bells), david keenan, heather leigh murrary, that lot.
also the finnish; islaja, es, Kemialliset Ystavat, Paavoharju. perhaps not what you're nominally think of as 'folk' but they possibly fit into that category somewhere, albeit in a boundary expanding way.
ditto stuff from the singing knives label/loose collective; chora, pekko kappi etc.
similarly starving weirdoes to some extent.

older stuff i love:
kath bloom 3>
mark fry
catherine ribeiro
morita doji (kind of a crate-digging one, but she's a really amazing Japanese singer-songwriter i've fallen in love with recently)
sybille baier
karen dalton
pelt/jack rose
matt elliot
josephine foster
john fahey
judee sill
shirley collins again
tim buckley (keep going back to all of his records)
diane cluck (been revisiting recently, wonderful american alt-folk or whatever)

(sorry i dont have time to write more but im going to bed)

oneforghost | 6 Feb '11, 05:08 | X | ^ This | Reply
- how could i forget cath & phil tyler.
  
  oneforghost @oneforghost | 6 Feb '11, 05:13 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  codpieceface and M-I-E this'd this
  - I'd also recommend everything oneforghost has said
    
    Except Cath & Pil, as I don't know them. Is "Dump Supper" the album I should check out by them?
    
    Others I'd recommend:
    
    Jackson C Frank
    Victor Jara
    Tim Hardin
    John Martyn
    Richard & Linda Thompson (of Fairport Convention)
    Morio Agata
    Sonny Bono (srsly)
    Harumi
    Bobb Trimble
    David Crosby (also Gene Clark, Dillard & Clark, Gram Parsons, The Byrds, CSN&Y, Flying Burrito Brothers)
    Bobby Brown (not the r&b dude)
    Nico
    Roy Harper
    Joni Mitchell
    Susan Christie
    Buffy Sainte-Marie
    Van Morrison
    
    Astralweeks @oneforghost | 2 Sep '11, 13:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
- black eagle child has a lot of free downloads on his website
  
  if people want a starting-point: http://blackeaglechild.com/downloads.html
  
  oneforghost @oneforghost | 6 Feb '11, 14:51 | X | ^ This | Reply
- There's a good comp on the Fonal label called 'Summer and Smiles of Finland'
  
  that's worth checking out for Kemialliset Ystavat etc.
  
  crashingthrough @oneforghost | 6 Feb '11, 20:25 | X | ^ This | Reply
- dude you know like all music
  
  fuck_this_band @oneforghost | 13 Jan '12, 20:30 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  still_here this'd this
Gosh, loads to go through here.

Thanks everyone.

mightykites | 6 Feb '11, 05:28 | X | ^ This | Reply
jonny kearney and lucy farrell

laura marling's latest album is very good (although very country based)
eric bibb

Eoinl | 6 Feb '11, 11:57 | X | ^ This | Reply
I stumbled upon this tune a while ago.

I'd never heard of Nic Jones before, but this tune is stunning. I've just ordered a couple albums off the back of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olplcsNuqyg

petec | 6 Feb '11, 13:45 | X | ^ This | Reply
Current folk

Current 'traditional sounding' stuff I haven't seen mentioned yet...

Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts
Lucy Ward
Jackie Oates
Hannah James and Sam Sweeney
Jim Moray
Tri (and also solo stuff by Niamh Boadle, their lead singer)
Bellowhead
Rachael McShane
Bella Hardy
4Square

folkfanjimmy | 6 Feb '11, 15:49 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I saw Jackie Oates last night in Walthamstow
  
  Really good pure, honest trad voice.
  
  It's a shame she gets the Radio 2 treatment on record.
  
  willma @folkfanjimmy | 7 Feb '11, 14:26 | X | ^ This | Reply
Smoke Fairies

Folk-country hybrid sung by two very talented and attractive ladies. Nice.

PluggedInBaby | 6 Feb '11, 16:48 | X | ^ This | Reply
Not exactly folk, but you might like Frank Fairfield

http://open.spotify.com/user/gowman/playlist/65G2l7Nt8zN42c6BWf0sO0

If you get the chance to see him live, do it. Quite mesmerizing and suprisingly young.

mymiddlenameaintthor | 6 Feb '11, 17:17 | X | ^ This | Reply
- he's touring again in june
  
  M-I-E @mymiddlenameaintthor | 6 Feb '11, 17:31 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - Are you putting him on?
    
    (if so, that was the subtlest of JAGs)
    
    mymiddlenameaintthor @M-I-E | 6 Feb '11, 17:54 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - haha, it was a hard one not to make it look like a jag.
      
      erm, well I might have it pencilled in but nothing confirmed yet.
      
      If you like him you should love Charlie Parr, who he was touring with last september, I'm putting him on Sacred Trinity on the 23rd Feb with Little Red Rabbit, only £5 a bargain!
      
      http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103750686365792
      
      M-I-E @mymiddlenameaintthor | 6 Feb '11, 18:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
      - I'm doing an open mic that night at the Castle (spoken word stuff) so can't make.
        
        Well keep me posted please (I know you do anyway) as I'd like to see him again, especially in a nice venue. Saw him at End of the Road last year and he was one of the highlights.
        
        mymiddlenameaintthor @M-I-E | 6 Feb '11, 18:05 | X | ^ This | Reply
        
        Also, my rudimentary internet search through up a daytrotter session I've not heard.
        
        mymiddlenameaintthor @mymiddlenameaintthor | 6 Feb '11, 18:05 | X | ^ This | Reply
I'm finding myself getting into folk more and more these days

need to check out ALL of the above.

meowington | 6 Feb '11, 17:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
http://www.truebypass.be/

enjoy

deussoundgarden | 6 Feb '11, 18:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
This is excellent Pentangle/Jansch/Renbourn compilation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentangle_Family

Around the same time and scene these albums and artists are well worth tracking down.

Davey Graham - Folk, Blues & Beyond
Steve Tilston - An Acoustic Confusion
Dave Evans - The Words In Between
Wizz Jones - The Legendary Me
Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch / LA Turnaround
Jackson C Frank - Blues Run The Game (compilation)

Chickenwing | 6 Feb '11, 19:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
- big This
  
  for all things Bert Jansch
  
  sunstroke_house @Chickenwing | 13 Jan '12, 21:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
james yorkston

colon_closed_bracket | 7 Feb '11, 13:35 | X | ^ This | Reply
bump 4 wonton

TheWza | 1 Sep '11, 22:05 | X | ^ This | Reply

wonton this'd this
for a really, really talented folk singer-songwriter

check out Paul Curreri from Virginia.
He's probablyy my favourite guitarist in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NdAoMUW0wg

agile_fragile | 2 Sep '11, 00:36 | X | ^ This | Reply
I'd recommend reading Rob Young's excellent 'Electric Eden'

which was published last year, it's an exploration of British folk music and its themes ranging from the occult to socialist.

I made up a spotify playlist to accompany it and the Folk Britannia programme which was on BBC Four a few years back. The first one is an abridged one whereas the second is psuedo-comprehensive with loads of entire albums:

http://open.spotify.com/user/neillyneil/playlist/72uCZM0Ty9UAMINjJ5jOeM

http://open.spotify.com/user/neillyneil/playlist/5DHNjOACE4N7R3jqssJ4m8

NeillyNeil | 2 Sep '11, 02:07 | X | ^ This | Reply
The Birthday Letters - singer from brighton

http://soundcloud.com/the-birthday-letters

Rabbitskinner | 2 Sep '11, 21:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
Has anyone

got that folk record that Volcanic Tongue went crazy over last week? Calling it album of the year etc?

buzzard55 | 2 Sep '11, 21:55 | X | ^ This | Reply
- This?: "Hey everyone: Village Of Spaces new LP, Alchemy And Trust on Turned Word Records, has already become the single most played release at VT of the year and is hands-down contender for the best album we’ve heard in, well, years. Simply amazing, you c
  
  http://www.volcanictongue.com/artists/browse/Village%2BOf%2BSpaces
  
  "Pretty much eclipses everything else right now as hands-down album of the year. CD edition of 1000 copies. Highest possible recommendation!"
  
  No. But that's some pretty strong praise. Noted.
  
  TheWza @buzzard55 | 2 Sep '11, 23:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - *"Simply amazing, you cannot live without this one."
    
    TheWza @TheWza | 2 Sep '11, 23:03 | X | ^ This | Reply
this is really good !!!

RIP grouchland

codpieceface @grouchland | 13 Jan '12, 21:07 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I'm still here
  
  fuckyeahdubstep @codpieceface | 13 Jan '12, 23:17 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - RIP
    
    codpieceface @fuckyeahdubstep | 14 Jan '12, 12:48 | X | ^ This | Reply
Nizlopi- some his stuff is insanely beautiful!

Skayna | 13 Jan '12, 14:17 | X | ^ This | Reply
Jackson C Frank, also Linda Perhacs

(discovered both via Daft Punk's Electroma soundtrack haha. But yes, great)

Cementimental | 13 Jan '12, 14:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
Andy Votel made two nice folk compilations as well:
http://mesmirization.blogspot.com/2010/01/folk-is-not-four-letter-word-various.html

nononolimits | 13 Jan '12, 15:48 | X | ^ This | Reply
Rural alberta advantage

Are aces if you're into punky folk
And this guy, jamie thorn is promising http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayIS-jTY5

mailorder_dj | 13 Jan '12, 20:57 | X | ^ This | Reply

mailorder_dj this'd this
Bad link, here you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayIS-jTY5so

mailorder_dj | 13 Jan '12, 21:00 | X | ^ This | Reply
Incredible that nobody has mentioned Meg Baird yet

Her "Dear Companion" is pretty essential

blisters | 13 Jan '12, 22:26 | X | ^ This | Reply

karl this'd this
Can I recommend Richard Dawson again

His album 'The Magic Bridge' was my favourite one of 2011, and I don't listen to much folk! I don't know if that's good or bad. It's powerful stuff anyway!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDeq3pXFkoE

mug_mug_mug | 13 Jan '12, 23:27 | X | ^ This | Reply

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