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recommend me some contemporary stuff to listen to, currently Listening to 'show of hands' after seeing them live last week, i like their up to date lyrics but with a folky sound, so anything similar would be nice
Fleet Foxes
Band of Horses
Kathryn Tickell?
Coope, Boyes and Simpson?
Chris Newman and Moira Ni Chathasaigh?
Not sure how similar, bur Mrs JA and I love 'em
I've been listening to a bit of American folky type stuff like Gillian Welch recently - very nice.
i tried fleet foxes, just couldn't get into them
Martha Tilston:
Sometimes supports her dad Steve at the Trades Club in Hebden. Well worth catching.
Listen to Mike Harding on radio 2/iplayer. He plays some very good stuff.
Lau (and anything done by it's members)
Karine Polwart
Rachel Unthank
And after Mike Harding, listen to Radcliffe & Maconie, they play an enormously varied range of music: I first heard Fleet foxes and Rachel Unthank on their show
[url=
modern by any stretch but while were on the subject of folk... a classic.[/url]
I like the obvious - Oysterband, Christy Moore, Richard Thompson (can you describe him as folk these days?). John Jones (singer from Oysters) new solo cd is worth a listen for some excellent vocals.
Also Great Big Sea, The Men They Couldn't Hang.
I like Show of Hands, though my wife describes it as easy listening. Suntrap is one of my favourite songs in any genre.
great big sea
flook (instr.)
peat bog fairies (inst.)
Lancashire Hotpots - 21st Century Folk for 21st Century folk!
yeah but they're called the Lancashire Hotpots, Mr S.
No matter how good they are I couldn't buy anything by them because of that excuse for a name.
I did once pick up a cd by the Red Hot Chili Pipers by mistake......
Oh and just remembered I've got a cd by 'Goats Don't Shave', purely for the name. Can't remember how good/bad it is.
[url= http://www.myspace.com/lizgreenmusic ]Liz Green[/url]
[url= http://www.myspace.com/fionnregan ]Fionn Regan[/url]
[url= http://www.myspace.com/princebonniebilly ]Bonnie Prince Billy[/url]
[url= http://www.myspace.com/thisistunng ]Tunng[/url]
mosters of folk , Bright Eye's, Conor Oberst............. all very very very very very good................... ok i like them any way 😀
You seeing them on the tour dave?
[i]Oh and just remembered I've got a cd by 'Goats Don't Shave', purely for the name.[/i]
that deserves a thread all of it's own, i once bought a cd just cause of the quirky looking girl on the front......it was awful
'Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son'. A good mix of styles, storytelling and superb guitar. One of the best albums of the last few years - of any genre.
you should try a bit of Grand Union - they did an excellent album a year or two ago called Through the Green Fuse.
woody
you should try a bit of Grand Union - they did an excellent album a year or two ago called Through the Green Fuse.
woody
+1 on Richard Thomson - only know about him since he did the soundtrack to The Grizzly Man.
Also, if you like a bit of whoopass, down 'n' dirty bluegrass, try Old Crow Medicine Show.
mumford and sons, london band, saw then last week an they were fantastic live
RD you amaze me "SOH" I am impressed we have seen them several times and we like em big time
There best albums are Country life and Witness
try Martyn Joesph
Anything that James Yorkston has ever done.
i am loving "the galway farmer" Andy, especially seeing it played live last week
[img]
[/img]
[url] http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/sets/72157622416301181/ [/url]
review of new album here [url] http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/news/Review-story.asp?nid=3528 [/url]
Also try Jenna "barefoot and egar" she has been helped along by SOH
There is also Seth Lakeman but his songs are very much the same and once you have heard the first track you have heard them all
+1 for Martin Simpson's Prodigal son album, Have heard some good stuff from the new album too. but only on the radio.
Saw Frank Turner at reading too, more pop folk but very good all the same. seems to have a fast growing following at the moment
Another vote for Richard Thompson here, may not be "modern folk" but there's usually a good mix of just about anything
more folky end of things, Kate Rusby and Cara Dillon
Just brilliant! Jakob Dylan (son of bob) "Seeing Things"
No.
Amazon delivered Shooglenifty's new double CD today called Murmichan today
http://www.musicscotland.com/cd/shooglenifty-murmichan-2cd.html
Click the track and watch the clip, they are great live as well 😳
Should I get my coat?
Another big vote for James Yorkston from me. Would recommend catching him live.
Eliza Carthy, Laura Marling both good.
More rootsy / country perhaps, but for oddball collaborations would also recommend Robert Plant & Alison Krauss's Raising Sand album and Ballad of the Broken Seas by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan.
I also really like Seth Lakeman's first album, Kitty Jay. Shall I get my coat now?
Try Flogging Molly. Bit like the early Pogues, but better.
+1 Mumford and Son from me too. Album on continuous repeat. Amazing.
Noah and the Whale are a folk band too (indie-folk according to wikipedia), second album just out it's also great, if a little melancholy. (Written after a break up with Laura Marling who used to be a member^^^^)
A little older and a bit americana perhaps but Midlake good too. Along same lines Bon Iver (easily best album of 2008)
Croft no 5
takes a while to get going but worth it.
Cant believe that only one other person has mentioned Kate Rusby (and she's from Barnsley, chapeaux!), also Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, and Roddy Woomble (yes, the one from Idlewild) has done some good solo stuff. The waifs (Aussie band, now based in the states) are damn good as well - try downloading 'Bridal train' - just beautiful.
Seth Lakeman, Shugglnifty, Chris Woods everyone in The Imagined Village
A slightly sideways rec: Beth Gibbons* & Rustin Man - Out of Season. Not altogether folky, but then my description of folk wouldn't include Band of Horses, and they are a magnificent band.
Has no-one mentioned Iron & Wine? Start at their album The Creek Drank the Cradle.
More americana: Giant Sand (and also Howe Gelb in his own right). These might lead you onto non-folky bands like Smog/Bill Calahan and the Silver Jews.
*Yes, her out of Portishead
Okay here's a bit of a left field suggestion - The Bad Shepherds. A folk outfit frotned by Ade Edmondson (yes him off the telly) that covers punk and new wave standards.
frightened rabbit
king creosote
fence collective
bon iver
+1 James Yorkston, Mumford and Sons
Check out the [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Folk-Not-Four-Letter-Word/dp/B0006ULVRU ]"Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word"[/url] compilations - I really enjoyed them despite being a philistine who associates the genre with tank tops, warm ale and singing sea shanties while sticking your finger in your ear.
Also really like this proto-hip-hop tale of murder and infanticide from Bonnie Dobson, heard on a mix from [url= http://weirdgearnyc.com/Weird_Gear/Weird_Gear.html ]Weird Gear[/url]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk8DdihnlNs
And my friend found this video of an early TV performance by Pentangle, where the drummer is giving that James Brown chappy a run for his money:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q9of8OhkeQ
Chris Drever
Picked up the BBC Folk Awards CD a while back and have to say, there is some very good stuff on there, not that I can remember any names or anything...
Oh, and there's a bonus CD with new/young artists which is really good too.
I was thinking about this thread last night and realised that I hate suggesting folk music to people, not because it's crap, but because it sounds so tame or twee when recorded.
Oysterband are a case in point. My wife think they sound like a Christian, easy listening band on cd, and she thoroughly enjoyed them live this summer. Completely different experience.
I'd love to see The Pogues play in Brixton Acad the week before Xmas but can't make it up there.
If you liked the Croft Number 5 stuff mentioned earlier try Martyn Bennett, or trecherous orchastra.
Iain Morrison is well worth a listen. Folk with a Celtic twist, but I am biased.
http://www.peatfiresmoke.co.uk/
As I'm from north of the border I have a certain empathy for the celtic stuff so I'll recommend Peatbog Faeries, Braebach and Shooglenifty.
Second the Bad Shepherds- bloody good in concert.
The Demon Barbers also good live.
Bit obvious but if you like show of hands, try Steve Knightley's solo stuff, 'tis very good
+1 for Roddy Woomble & Kris Drever & Martin Simpson
I would also very much recommend anything involving John McCusker (especially the Drever, Woomble, McCusker cd "Before The Ruin"
Also worth checking out alela diane, bellowhead, Karine Polwart, Heidi Talbot, The Shee and Bella Hardy all of whom are excellent live
thirded the bad shepherds, saw them at cambridge this year, brilliant live, off to see them again at Pocklington shortly
chris wood is ace. how about vetiver, backed by devendra banhart. even the be-good-tanyas are ace and very praised. monsters of folk album is good. mazzy star! desert folk?!
whats "folk"?
dunno if this stuff is folk:
Mountain Goats (possibly the best act ever)
I am Kloot
Clann Zu
Andrew Bird
Crimea
Tom Mcrae (miserable sod)
and more "celtic" stuff...
Flogging Molly
Gogol bordello
Dropkicks???
Mountain goats are godlike though.
were in london last weekend
didnt go 🙁
Bob Dylan, til he sold out and went electric 👿
The missus keeps telling me she thinks she likes Crosby Stills and Nash...
Julie Fowlis-anything thats she sings.
Kate Rusby-all good if a bit teary at time, great live. (she is from Cawthorne not Barnsley)
John McCusker sems to play onload of other peoples stuff apart his wifes (see above).
Faustus
Malinky
Eddie Reader (ex-fairground attraction) has some really great recordings, Peacetime or Songs of Robert Burns.
Kareen Polwart-Fairest Floo'er is fantastic loud.
A good thing to do is buy a copy of the radio 2 folk music awards when it comes out each year. I often choose new stuff based on whats on it.
Have fun.
mt - Cawthorne is in Barnsley, unless the south yorkshire separatists have really got their s**t together.
Try some English stuff......
Oyster Band as mentioned, Brass Monkey produce stonking stuff when together, best of the lot! could listen to them for hours...
Q
Mitch,I live in Silkstone,and neither Cawthorne nor Silkstone is "in" Barnsley.
Ian
You seeing them on the tour dave?
their only playing London i think so wont catch them on tour this time, but if it was Bright Eyes touring i would sell a kidney to catch them live 🙂
Another vote for Mumford & Sons, really liking them at the moment.
And Flogging Molly, I wouldn't necessarily think of them as a folk band, but brilliant nonetheless!
the Honk Toot Suite
Kris Drever
and what mrmichaelwright said
Another vote for Tunng also Bon Iver
Have a look at the Greenman website http://www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk/ lots of good links from this site also a relly good "folk" festival.
I like Chris Wood Martin Simpson James Yorkston and Tuung.
Also Alasdair Roberts.
Not keen on Bon Ivers...
Some of those mentioned (Bonnie Prince Billy & Gillian Welch) are ace but they are not what I would call folk (although they do have folky elements...)
I would have to say that the newer stuff (Shooglewhatever yer fancy etc) just isn't my kind of folk.
Dont forget the classics like Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy and Davey Graham now though
thejesmonddingo: whether you want to admit or not, both Silkstone and Cawthorne are covered by Barnsley metropolitan borough council - that makes them part of ... now let me think. I'm from Darfield, and very proud to say I come from Barnsley - I'm ready for my insults now please.
Saw Karine Polwart last night, wonderful stuff. Mumford & Sons, Kate Rusby, Kris Delmhorst, who has a wonderful, melifluous voice, Red Bird, a trio that Kris is in along with her husband, Jeffrey Foucault, the Smoke Fairies, Cerys Matthews, Julie Fowlis, Indigo Girls, the Wailin' Jennies, the Great Lakes Swimmers, Erin McEown, Shawn Colvin, Patti Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Shearwater, The Mummers. Oh, and Fairport Convention, along with Sandy Denny, one of the finest singers this country has ever produced. Listen to 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' which Sandy wrote when she was fourteen. Then listen to your average X-Factor contestant.
[url= http://www.strikethecolours.com/ ]Strike the Colours[/url]
. . . mainly 'cos Jenny is my cousin
Eliza Carthy is good, and I think Vashti Bunyan has recorded a new album, Her voice is very marmite though*.
Don't listen to a great deal of folk to be honest though unless you count stuff like The Levellers, The Waterboys and Billy Bragg. Oh and quite a bit of US folk like Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton.
Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch/Pentangle etc are all worth a listen, too.
*Diamond Day of that T-mobile ad is her.
EDIT: [url= http://ninoskika.bandcamp.com/ ]Ninoskika[/url] are pretty good, too. I found them randomly on the interwebs a few days back, and I might well get their album soon.
Cumbria's own [url= http://www.myspace.com/thewitchandtherobot ]The Witch And The Robot[/url]
kennyp - MemberTry Flogging Molly. Bit like the early Pogues, but better.
the musics OK, but the voice? It's like a bad Pogues tribute band, putting on a weird accent. FM were OK live, but not a patch on the Pogues.
Agree with DKM though, and Gogol Bordello. Have scanned the thread but see no contribution from John Hooper, so I'll recommend New Model Army (anything - but the new album is ****in brilliant) and the Justin Sullivan solo album. Try Rev Hammer as well...
Surprised to see no recommendations for Frank Turner... Only man ever to play the Cambridge Folk Festival and the Reading Festival punk stage in the same year
Very upbeat, occasionally a bit acoustic-punk- he used to be the singer/songwriter for the hardcore band Million Dead. The First 3 Years album would be the sensible place to start. This one gets the big 5 gold stars treatment off me, I love it and I can't recommend it too highly.
If you like that, then Joie/Dead Blonde Girlfriend is another good one, New York antifolk at its best, without trying too hard to be wacky like the Moldy Peaches.
Hum, what else. I'm just in from a Colin MacIntyre gig, formerly Mull Historical Society, good choice if you like your folk a little bit indie. If you prefer it a bit more pop, Emmy the Great's album First Love is, I think, absolutely superb. I'm not quite sure how to sum up the Earlies, all I can say is I like 'em.
Think I'll be downloading a lot of stuff from these posts...
If you want contemporary folk have a gander at Bellowhead. Along with the Imagined Village and a few of the others already mentioned they are developing new styles of music based on the folk tradition.
I would also recommend Jim Moray as somebody who is doing some really interesting stuff. If you get a chance to see him and the band live it will be really worth it. The sound is much bigger than the recorded stuff leads you to bieive it will be, then Jim stand on stage alone and signs a cappella. Simply stunning.
To be honest folk is such a broad church that if you dig around you will find something that tickles your fancy. Above everything else these guys really do know how to play.
king creosote
I'll second that and add Pip Dylan "Aint a Classical Piece..." is a great album and HMS Ginafore. Saw all three do a gig together not long ago and they were very good.
http://www.fencerecords.com/artists.php
Oh, and Fairport Convention, along with Sandy Denny, one of the finest singers this country has ever produced. Listen to 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' which Sandy wrote when she was fourteen. Then listen to your average X-Factor contestant.
Agree with you there Xipe 🙂
Am also a fan of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 😳
Saw Steeleye Span yonks ago but just didn't get them.
Toddles off to CG Towers archives to find "Liege and Lief" - what a brilliant (vinyl) album 😀
Would invite you to walk awhile, cg, but it's the wrong album! 🙂
Great Lake Swimmers get my vote. Love Ongiara.
Jackson C. Frank.
Crikey - just read one thread on real ale and now one on Folk music - this place just become more weird by the day!!
Lots of good bands mentioned but no one seems to have mentioned the Levellers - love their agressive/political style.
Pulls on chunky knit jumper, picks up tankard, stick hand over left ear and oooooooowwwwwww I played the wild....!!!
The Roots Union, including Philip Henry - http://www.myspace.com/therootsunion
They just do great music, which happens to be folky...
Here's a good music map.. enter bands you like and it returns similar artists
[url= http://www.liveplasma.com/ ]Live Plasma[/url]
The Decemberists and Mad Dog mc crea....

