Psych-Folk Thread
 

aka Freak Folk aka Acid-Folk, coolest genre names ever right?

Psych-folk roots are in folk rock bands like The Pentangle and the Fairport Convention but the genre more fell into its own in the 1970s with artists like Syd Barrett and Vashti Bunyan. Like folk Psych-folk is mostly acoustic based but often incorporates woodwinds, chanting and of course psychedelic rock influences but in a much more atmospheric manner.

In the early 90s hints of a psych-folk revival were beginning to occur mostly with Elephant Six and Neutral Milk Hotel. By the 2000s it was slowly building to a full-fledged movement dubbed "New Weird America" with artists like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, CocoRosie, Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance and it continues to grow. Even former ambient band Sigur Ros have gone that way with their new single (which is excellent by the way) Gobbledigook.

Early psych-folk suggestions:
Syd Barrett "The Madcap Laughs"
Vashti Bunyan "Just Another Diamond Day"
Linda Perhacs "Parallelograms"
Syd Barrett "Barrett"

Later psych-folk suggestions:
Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
Joanna Newsom "Ys"
Six Organs of Admittance "Dark Noontide"
Panda Bear "Young Prayer"
Devendra Banhart "Cripple Crow"

Lou Barlow`s Sentridoh recordings have some psych folk moments

Diane Cluck is someone to check out

Ah, so that's what NMH is.

Why is boo boo's name bolded? Anyway Avery Island is more psych-Folk than Aeroplane. There's more just plain Folk songs on Aeroplane, while Avery has a really fuzzy feel.

um...it being more lo-fi doesn't make it more psych-folk...In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a fine example of psych-folk and it's more psych-folk than On Avery Island because On Avery Island has much more going on than Aeroplane and most of it isn't psych-folk it's just experimental stuff.

I wouldn't really call most of Aeroplane 'plain folk songs' either, they sound nothing like Guthrie or Seeger. The vocal delivery, atmosphere and just general aesthetic is completely psych-folk.

Wouldn't The Microphones be classified as psych-folk? Specifically The Glow, Pt. 2.

I have got to check out some Joanna Newsom. What I have heard I liked. I am not big on Neutral Milk Hotel at all but the early suggestions are all excellent.

I think they'd count at times but for the most part they're good old fuzz-folk. Great thread by the way.

Yeah but I don't really care what you think or about your glam rock wikipedia.

I hadn't thought of Ys before as being psych-folk, but now that you mention it, it actually makes quite a lot of sense.

When did you get into Ys btw? I seem to remember you indicating quite a bit of dislike for it at some point?

I think The Milk-Eyed Mender is a much better cd by Joanna Newsom. I've listened to Ys a good 3 or 4 times and it hasn't really sunk in. Maybe if I give it a few more I'll start to catch on, but for first time Newsom listeners, I highly suggest The Milk-Eyed Mender over Ys, Imo.

No way, Ys is incredible, The Milk-Eyed Mender is very good but pales in comparison. I'm pretty sure she's not acid folk anyways.

I like Psych-Folk a lot, but I'm much more of a fan of the early purveyors such as Holy Modal Rounders, Vashti Bunyan, The Fugs, the Godz, Spyrogira, Trees, Fuschia etc. Some of that stuff is seriously strange.

Psych-Folk is a pretty sweet genre. One of my favorite Psych-Folk bands out at the moment are the Espers. Anyone listen to them?

Yes! I really enjoy Espers. Their song "Black Is the Color" is a current addiction of mine, actually! A couple freak-folk / psych-folk / etc. that I've been enjoying as of late:

CocoRosie


Metallic Falcons


Xiu Xiu


Beirut

pysch-folk and freak folk are basically the same thing (well sorta) except freak-folk has a wider array of possibilities, pych-folk has more of a general feel to it, trying to make folk music more psychedelic, while freak folk is just a term meaning "experimental folk".

but again to most people they're pretty much the same

these genres are generally classified as the off-folk genres: Freak Folk, Psych Folk, Neofolk, Anti-folk, and Folktronica

Thanks for opening up a sub-genre that I didn`t know existed!
My candidate for inclusion here would be John Martyn, who died in 2009 after a lifetime of music making.
IMO, he got the recipe just right on his 1973 album, Solid Air; with just a handful of simple ingredients he cooks up an album of great charm. Using deliberately slurred vocals and electrically modifying his accoustic guitar, he created a light, spooky sound that no other singer/songwriter imagined at the time, and yet the songs in themselves retain the simplicity of his early folk roots.

" Won`t be fancy, but I will be free.
You know I love ya,
You can really talk to me
And we can go down easy."
-JM, Go Down Easy

PS I really liked the Cocorosie clip !

Beirut, Devendra Banhart. Very nice.
Never knew this was 'psych folk'.
I've always hated coco rosie though, but they seem do be doing something right.
I get really agressive by listening to it, so I won't ;).

Need more love:

I don't really nitpick over genre names, but I love Joanna Newsom. Ys is still one of the most strangely wonderful albums I've ever heard. Psych-folk? Ok.

I like what I've heard of previews in iTunes. Might have to spring for the album. Thanks Lisnaholic. :wave:

^ No, thanks to you, fazstp, for digging up one of my very first MB posts ! I`d be very interested to see what you make of Solid Air - I don`t think you`ll be disappointed. John Martyn is a unique artist who is rather overlooked on MB -with the exception of some enthusiastic posts by Jackhammer, who is also a big admirer.

As you seem to be quite an expert on singer/ songwriters, I wonder if you`ve come across this thread that Veganelica started a while ago:-

http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...ngwriters.html

Seriously strange is the word all right! But you know what? Some of the most collectible and in demand lp's from the 60's psych collectors are grouped in here.

Third Testament-Godz (ESP-1077) If you want strange check out THIS lp, especially the last few songs on side 2. Whew!

Then again ESP Records wasn't exactly your basic chart hit record label. But they lasted longer than the a lot of music industry people thought. And they weren't all folk/psych. Some interesting lp's regarding jazz music was released by ESP, one that I like is "Explosions" by Bob James. James later released some material on CTI, then Columbia.

The Fugs earliest releases were on ESP and are quite collectible.
The lp's by Sun Ra are worth seeking out as well.