#avant-folk

France, USA / 2002 / Avant-Folk, Freak Folk 12 tracks on this split, the first seven belonging to the French anti-folk band Herman Dune, the last five played by experimental folk collective Cerberus Shoal hailing from the USA. Herman Dune inserts silly little acoustic aside breakdowns of harmonicas and bells among their four longer “proper” songs, separating the sparse introspections. They do…

Japan / 1980 / Avant-Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Contemporary Folk Upon the occasion of this specific response to the album, I was sitting in my listening room playing this album when my house guest came in to sit with me and listen, and I was glad he did, not only because he is my friend but because he’s Japanese and could give me his insider perspective on the music. I have a better than normal…

Lebanon / 2020 / Sound Collage, Avant-Folk Imagine being from a colonized culture. Imagine your culture’s music being picked apart and fawned over by foreign musicologists who, for various intentions both curious and mercenary, eagerly record, sell, and disseminate it to Western (“real”) audiences. You have so many of those records from the 50s through the 80s in your personal collection, and…

Norway / 2024 / Avant-Folk, Dark Folk A folk interpretation of some Shakespearean poetry and plays, delving into the harsh reality of our shared mortality, the evil of which being mitigated by the consolation of memory. It’s right there in the title of the album, that archetypal hope that lives within each human heart. And if it lives not there, one might question one’s humanity. The wonderful…

Russia / 2024 / Free Improvisation, Avant-Folk As three-part vocal experiment, starting off with clarinet accompaniment, then moving to drums and double bass, and finally finishing off with homemade instrumentation, this collection of recordings is a dive into the extremity of vocal expression, be it for hunting, for warfare, or for lamentation for all the lost rivers of the world. Though Lost…

France / 2023 / Avant-Folk, Occitan Folk A double vinyl album made by a duo of musicians, on two paths that converge, sometimes in the day, sometimes in the night, but always at the heart of folk music. And in the tradition of the best folk music out there, this is a testament to the places these musicians have seen, the experiences they’ve had, the roads they’ve trodden. Because this music is…