Gaming World Forums
General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: ThugTears666 on July 31, 2008, 06:20:30 am
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FOLK MUSIC
I feel like I haven't made a topic in a little while so I thought I'd open up a discussion about Folk music.
For some reason music which is influenced by nature has always been quite interesting to me, I really like the sound in terms of instrument usage, lyrical content and just the overall atmosphere. However, I don't enjoy much VIKING/FOLK METAL though because it's kinda different imo and more similar to power metal than anything (so cheesy).
Foreign language stuff is also quite cool, particially Swedish or European in general. I don't know quite why but the whole paganistic heritage is awesome imo. Like the other night when I was interviewing Lars I spent like three hours afterward just looking up Icelandic people who believed Trolls and Goblins are real heh.
I'm by no means a professional on this genre, in fact I'm realitively new to it. So feel free to post your own recommendations as I only have a few!
Anyway
Here are just a few of my favorite Folkish Bands.
Of course there is Indie folkish stuff like Iron and Wine/Surfjan
This is a beautiful song.
Agalloch
Pretty cool American band I have just started listening to a bit, although not a traditional folk band they do have folk influences/themes.
He is striking the skull of a deer to make that noise. So Atmospheric.
This song isn't very Folk sounding but I really like the acoustic solo midway.
Otyg
This is one of my favourite vocalists first bands, he plays prog metal now but when he was younger he made two pretty cool Folk music albums with this band and some demos.
All of the stuff is pretty bad quality and kinda hard to get into but I like it :)
(I don't know what the fuck that noise is at the end)
Here is an unreleased song: (a bit more rock sounding)
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hey my dad is actually a touring folk musician so he is very in tune with a lot of the folk scene in america. a lot of it is boring but there is some really good shit out there. also a number of these musicians i have met so that is kind of cool!
Jack Williams
Antje Duvekot
Devon Sproule
John Elliott (also known as The Hereafter)
Steve Gillette
idk there is loads more but a lot of the musicians i know are completely absent from youtube
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Show us your dad!
The stuff I like it a bit less country than this singer/songwriter type stuff but it is still interesting.
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oh hahaha YEAH I GUESS I COULD DO THAT
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Reminds me alot of James Taylor. :)!
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The stuff I like it a bit less country than this singer/songwriter type stuff but it is still interesting.
i cannot say i heard country at all in ANYONE except maybe my dad so this is interesting!
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Dude ask your dad how one becomes a touring folk musician. Do an interview with him for the mainsite ahahahahha.
<edit> yeah also Iron Wine is really really good. He is such a good lyricist and his harmonies are very nice I'm a huge fan. Also of Sufjan for same reasons plus very nice arrangements and instrumentation.
Kimya Dawson is kinda folk.
And then Joanna Newsom. But they are more both "anti folk" or whatever, I think, than actual traditional folk.
and AH DAMN i am trying to get videos but youtube is not agreeing with my computer.
Johnny Cash is also very nice and I know i KNOW everybody has heard of him, but if you've never checked out albums, I encourage you to do so because his albums are very nice.
You guys are gonna say I'm a gay, but Bright Eyes has some nice stuff although I'm not as big of a fan as I used to be by any stretch. But its folk and he is pretty good.
Fields are folk INFLUENCED but they are more rock. And yeah also Murder By Death. MURDER BY DEATH (particularly last two albums, In Bocca Al Lupo and RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW that is a really good one)! They are folk influenced but are still heavier than really being folk.
The Avit Brothers are really good although I havent checked them out that thoroughly but their harmonies are awesome as fuck and they are worth a listen.
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The closest I have to Folk music is Nelly Furtado's Folklore...but she's considered a pop artist so I don't know if that counts or not. Still, it was a very good album.
My favorites from it where Island of Wonder and One Trick Pony.
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I really like a lot of the stuff that’s been posted here (especially Antje Duvekot and the first Agalloch video), but I still can’t get into Iron & Wine at all. I dunno, I've heard a lot about them, but something about the vocals turns me off completely… Just too weak and anemic-sounding for me. I’m not saying he should sound like Henry Rollins or whoever, but I just really prefer singers with a little more grit in their vocals, which is probably why I kinda go for the more country side of things.
Anyway,
Mary Gauthier:
Richard Thompson:
Also I'm not sure whether they're a pop band or a folk band or what, but I got Fisherman's Blues by the Waterboys a while ago and I really like it:
Also, to any folk music guys, is it worth looking for the Anthology Of American Folk Music? It's a compilation of all these really old traditional folk and bluegrass dudes and it's namechecked by pretty much every folk band ever, so I'm just wondering if it's worth tracking down if you only have a passing interest in folk.
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heh I would actually consider myself fairly into folk music, I'm not going to namedrop too bad, all these folks are familiar, but I cant say I really disagree with in this topic, though its fairly narrow as far as the definition of folk is concerned, I mean I consider stuff such as Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley, Mark Knopfler to be folk (though they all have quite a bit of electric shit in their music as compared to a lot of the people already mentioned and all kinda do some really... notfolk stuff from time to time)
I was raised on a lot of Van Morrison and Lyle Lovett who can be pretty folksy, and then some of the artists my dad listened to when I got a little older have really been the focal point of my interest in folk music, but I am branching out in that genre right now especially, though I tend towards more rock and jazz oriented artists than pure folksy guys like Lenoard Cohen and Bob Dylan, both of whom I like, just not as much as say Crosby, Stills and Nash and all the derivative bands (cant stand Neil Young, he is to the rest of the guys in the group what Carly Simon is to Joni Mitchell and mostly just makes sad in general cause he is pretty much a douche and honestly the only interesting thing he ever did was the whacky ass trippy as fuck soundtrack he did to that Johnny Depp movie, Dead Man). Stephen Stills in particular is a pretty folksy guy when he isnt with CSN... he can still rock but he also collaborated frequently with bluegrass, folk and latin musicians in the 70s soooo.. A+ for me.
so yeah throw some recommendations for really out there shit at me cause I want to hear it
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so is this basically about neo folk or folk music?
'cause i have some norwegian folk music that was recorded in the 60s that's mostly fiddles and harmonicas and songs about trolls
but if you mean these HEH ROCK/FOLK bands then im completely clueless (mostly because i cant stand that kind of music)
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I like folk music, but I don't have any at all, but these guys are pretty cool. They're from Mongolia or Siberia or something and they do throat singing and stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVkJ1Bf-QzU
Also Bert Jansch is aweome, but I wasn't familiar with any of the songs on youtube.
I also have a Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys album which is pretty fun when I'm in the mood.
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i'm seeing crosby stills and nash today in concert! they're pretty good folk from the 60s sooooooo
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Bright Eyes' newest album (I think its his newest), Cassadaga, is really good. I just saw couch mention bright eyes so I thought i'd mention a specific album.
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Nick Drake dude. Seriously, pretty much the best singer-songwriter and folk artist I know.
Other than that, I do enjoy quite a lot of folk although how much of it is PURE FOLK I dunno. Like Afura, I am not into folk/viking metal at all but Agalloch is unique and pretty awesome, though I'm not too much into their oldest stuff. Their newest release The White EP is actually not very metally and quite good so I can recommend that to anyone who likes some folk tunes.
I would also recommend Tenhi, they are this great Finnish folk/neofolk band. They sing in Finnish so if foreign vocals bother you it might not be your cup of tea but the vocalist is good and the vocals can be pretty sparse sometimes. Here is a song:
Another recommendation would be a band called Espers, they play folk with psychedelia mixed in. Their stuff probably isn't as instantaneously catchy as most folk is but it's really nice! I would definitely recommend them if you are into stuff like Six Organs of Admittance, which is another great psychedelic folk band. I couldn't find a youtube video of any song off Espers II but all their albums are good and this a very good track too:
Iron & Wine is great too, both the lo-fi records and his newer stuff. I have fairly many artists in the vein of Iron & Wine or Sun Kil Moon although I don't really listen to them too regularly. Anyway, there's plenty of folkish stuff I listen to (some not so often though) but those are the best ones which I can think of right now but I can post more later.
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Nick Drake, Sun Kil Moon, Iron & Wine
can't get much better than these guys!
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castanets
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Pre-Lorca Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen are all some good 60's era folk musicians.
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oh i am sure some of you guys have heard Steve Forbert
or The Be Good Tanyas (kinda gay)
also washcycle:
still on the hill
some bill ward (NOT THE DRUMMER FOR BLACK SABBATH)
richard berman
t.r. ritchie
small potatoes
sorry we're not esoteric enough for you!
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Slavic pride! Slavic pride! Slava! The power of Slavs! Slavs will soon rule! Slavic pride!
Actually folk metal is garbage. I know everyone knows Elliott Smith and I know he did more than strictly folk music, but he is my favorite musician in the world and I'm pretty surprised he hasn't been mentioned yet in the topic.
St. Ides Heaven is one of my favorite songs by him. I think my favorite album of his is From a Basement on the Hill, which is his least-folky album, although he never released anything that I didn't like. In fact, I think he's probably the only guy who's never released anything I didn't like!
I'm also really into Andean folk music. My favorite Andean folk group is Urubamba. I can't find any of their songs on Youtube so I'll upload some. Check them out, it's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard and it's definitely worth listening to!
Caballo de Madera (http://chef.avalanchestudios.net/06-caballo%20de%20madera.mp3)
Urubamba (http://chef.avalanchestudios.net/05-urubamba.mp3)
Another Peruvian folk band I've been into lately is Los Jaivas. They blend rock with Andean folk music and it's pretty cool.
A great song and an equally great video.
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I'm checking out every band in this thread, I'm getting into alot of folk stuff right now like Bright Eyes, re-checking out Elliott Smith, and Sufjan Stevens and they are incredible.
I can see why everyone wouldn't like Bright Eyes though, some of those songs are politically charged and I don't really want to hear FUCK THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION while I'm listening to my folk music.
Still think they're pretty damn good though. I really love "At The Bottom of Everything" "Four Winds" and "Hot Knives" I think my favorite is "Landlocked Blues".
I'll second Fields, Nick Drake, Elliott (derrrr) and Bright Eyes because they're probably the only ones I've listened to thoroughly enough to comment on.
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Oh yeah, Fields man, I didn't even see that they were mentioned. I'm pretty sure I made a topic about them (or uploaded them) a long time ago but they are pretty swell.
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bright eyes isn't folk, what are you talking about
I think you guys are pretty confused on what folk is. It isn't just acoustic geetar and soft music.
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or how about: folk, and music influenced by folk?
I think you're pretty confused on what this topic is. It isn't just straight folk.
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or how about: folk, and music influenced by folk?
I think you're pretty confused on what this topic is. It isn't just straight folk.
bright eyes is still not folk
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so is this basically about neo folk or folk music?
'cause i have some norwegian folk music that was recorded in the 60s that's mostly fiddles and harmonicas and songs about trolls
I WANT THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ill upload it once i get back home (actually a bit later. we get internet august 18th so i cant up until then)
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Awesome, I am also clicking every link in this topic. Particially the neofolk stuff. Tenhi was kinda the stuff I had in mind when I made this topic.
Man some of this music is sooo good, I liked Richard Thompson thecatamites that is a pretty moving song!. I fully understand what you mean about Iron and Wine as well, it took me a while to appreciate the vocals.
*This topic is one of my favourites already.
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also washcycle:
still on the hill
some bill ward (NOT THE DRUMMER FOR BLACK SABBATH)
richard berman
t.r. ritchie
small potatoes
sorry we're not esoteric enough for you!
hey man its cool, I wasnt tryin to knock you guys or anything, thanks for the recommendations, pandora and lastfm should give me some good clips. Hopefully this ends up being a pretty sweet topic, folk music is pretty great (of course I listen to a lot of middle eastern and central asian folk music too so I could make an entire topic on that but probably no one would reply so yeah)
so what does everyone think of folk music as far as like appalachia and ireland and such are concered? Anyone into that?
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I will whore out Tim Buckley forever.
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I've heard some really good Irish Stuff Wash Cycle, spoil us and post some yeah?
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I've been looking for irish GAELIC folk music (mostly gaelic) for a long time now but all I can find isn't what I want. name any irish/gaelic that isn't rock or punk (I have all of these unless they're obscure)
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Joni Mitchell is one of my favorites. I love her voice. I think most people here would think she is annoying, but I like it!
I also like all that neofolk shit like Forseti, Of the Wand and the Moon, and Sonne Hagal...etc
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i don't know if he is completely folk but Townes Van Zandt is completely amazing
John Prine
Steve Goodman
Guy Clark
all classics!
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Man thecatamites I've listened to that Richard Thompson song so much today. This is like my sixth rotation. I definitely have to get some of his other songs.
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I've been looking for irish GAELIC folk music (mostly gaelic) for a long time now but all I can find isn't what I want. name any irish/gaelic that isn't rock or punk (I have all of these unless they're obscure)
I've got an album by a group called Oisin that I can upload for you.
Geordie (http://chef.avalanchestudios.net/02%20-%20geordie.mp3)
A lot of the songs on the album seem really melancholy like the one I posted. Even the jumpy and fun songs seem kind of melancholy and it kind of reminds me of the kind of music people would listen to in the BRONZE AGE or something. It's really neat stuff, I'd be glad to upload it for you if you wanted.
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i thought neofolk was a word doktormartini made up but I GUESS NOT
im gonna check some of these guys out thanks!
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Man thecatamites I've listened to that Richard Thompson song so much today. This is like my sixth rotation. I definitely have to get some of his other songs.
Yeah, I like Richard Thompsons stuff a lot. I can't recommend an album, though, since I only have a best-of compilation thing at the moment, but he's definitely worth looking up...
Also idiot kid, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt are amazing... You probably know it already, but there's this documentary thing called 'Heartworn Highways' I saw a while ago which has a bunch of live footage of Guy, Townes, Steve Young, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, and a load more of those guys, so yeah, watch that if you haven't already! The soundtrack album is pretty great too.
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god damnit John Prine is sweet
yeah as far as Irish music is concerned, I dont really know any specific artists too well, but I do listen to Toss the Feathers on NPR at work on saturday afternoons so I get a solid hour block of irish music every week pretty much lol. I'm sure they have a stream on the internet that you can tune into, just check out npr.org heheh
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Leonard Cohen = Virginity Losing Music
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I've been looking for irish GAELIC folk music (mostly gaelic) for a long time now but all I can find isn't what I want. name any irish/gaelic that isn't rock or punk (I have all of these unless they're obscure)
If you want some of this I can get you my uncle's Irish folk project. It's actually very good! (he's genuinely from Ireland and his partner on the project is from Scotland so it is the most Gaelic experience you can get!)
EDIT: Dug up their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/kinfolksongs
I have the whole CD so I can get this to you pretty easy if you want it.
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Also idiot kid, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt are amazing... You probably know it already, but there's this documentary thing called 'Heartworn Highways' I saw a while ago which has a bunch of live footage of Guy, Townes, Steve Young, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, and a load more of those guys, so yeah, watch that if you haven't already! The soundtrack album is pretty great too.
i have not seen this! those guys all rule though.
oh as far as irish music check out Silly Wizard if you haven't already
oh btw washcycle appalachian folk can be very awesome! i have heard a lot of it but many of the recordings are SOME GUY ON HIS FRONT PORCH so i do not know any names to recommend or anything. if you could that would be dope.
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I've got an album by a group called Oisin that I can upload for you.
Geordie (http://chef.avalanchestudios.net/02%20-%20geordie.mp3)
A lot of the songs on the album seem really melancholy like the one I posted. Even the jumpy and fun songs seem kind of melancholy and it kind of reminds me of the kind of music people would listen to in the BRONZE AGE or something. It's really neat stuff, I'd be glad to upload it for you if you wanted.
I'll take it!!!
sounds good and I wanna see what old-fashioned happiness is like too
If you want some of this I can get you my uncle's Irish folk project. It's actually very good! (he's genuinely from Ireland and his partner on the project is from Scotland so it is the most Gaelic experience you can get!)
EDIT: Dug up their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/kinfolksongs
I have the whole CD so I can get this to you pretty easy if you want it.
offering to pirate your family's music for a GWer...what a guy
I'll try it, go ahead and upload it unless you want me to buy it !
I'm still really looking for something in the gaelic language though. the only thing I could find is this synth stuff that I didn't really like, and everyone else speaks english
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offering to pirate your family's music for a GWer...what a guy
I'll try it, go ahead and upload it unless you want me to buy it !
hahahaha, it's not quite like that. because he's naturally a jazz player he's trying to distance himself from it a bit, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all! if you really like it though I'd recommend buying it (that's that bit out the way)
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My favorites are:
Iron & Wine
Sufjan Stevens
Nick Drake
Bob Dylan
Bright Eyes [Whether ][/Whether]
William Fitzsimmons
Oh yeah and if you haven't heard City and Colour, you're missing out.
It's Dallas Green from Alexisonfire's side project.
His new album Bring Me Your Love has a very folk-ish Dylanlike feel to it.
Amazing vocalist.
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i know this thread is pretty old, but i figured I'd just post here instead of make a new thread
i recently just found out about the anthology of american folk music. its a six disc set that was compiled by some movie director in the 30's or 40's or something. i only really know all the songs on the first cd but they are all pretty great. the collection is split into 3 different parts but i forget what they are so ill just post the wiki of it and look for some videos on youtube or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_of_American_Folk_Music)
Clarence 'Tom' Ashley - Coo Coo Bird (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlOOUBZ77tA)
Bill and Belle Reed - Old Lady and the Devil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poxwJz7zTFU)
Coley Jones - Drunkard's Special (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cGt63hgxEg)
i could probably find a ton more since i think most of them are either public domain or just no one cares but three sounds good. (fun fact: a week or so after i got this, i got smashed and sang that last song to my girlfriend for about an hour straight)
the other thing i just recently got is the library of congress recordings of woody guthrie which are pretty neat because it has him playing music but in between every song he talks to this historian guy about his life and the music and whatever else. ive only heard the first cd of that too but it's really interesting
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Oh yeah and if you haven't heard City and Colour, you're missing out.
It's Dallas Green from Alexisonfire's side project.
His new album Bring Me Your Love has a very folk-ish Dylanlike feel to it.
Amazing vocalist.
definitely not missing out