Folk

  • Illustration by Laura Gomez By fits and starts I struggled, for some reason, to create this latest mix for NTS. I had so many ideas. Scrapping them one by one, until I settled on something. “Fire”, this element could mean so many things. I wanted it to mean one thing: breath.

  • Subliminal Calm

    Whenever I put on Subliminal Calm’s first and only release I immediately think of spring. Featuring a sublime mix of country, dub, folk and soul music, Subliminal Calm could only have been created by the inspirational minds behind it. Appropriately titled, there’s something quite delicate and beautiful in this set of music from minds that…

  • imply, phenomenal, a landmark release of Spanish music. The more I hear Eliseo Parra y MOSAICO’s Homenaje A Agapito Marazuela, the more I am convinced of my declaration. This album, a musical homage to the massively influential and important Castilian folklorist, musician, and dulzaina master Agapito Marazuela, does so many things right. Released a year…

  • Looking back at recent history, one wonders why certain wounds seem to take so long to heal. We already saw a huge wound open up, yet again, for reasons that defy easy explanation. The rise of neo-fascism and alt-know-nothings has to be a reaction to something. Just this past week another reminder of a seemingly…

  • Jackson C. Frank History is littered with characters like Jackson C. Frank. As equally immensely talented as he was troubled emotionally/physically, the few musical statements he released before the personal side overtook the talent, were immensely influential. As I course through trying to provide some kind of concise history of the rise of neo-folk traditions…

  • Shirley Collins and Davy Graham Today’s track of the day “Love is Pleasin’” from Davy Graham and Shirley Collins, provides another column from which future English folk and folk rock would raise itself up from. In America, folk artists were moving into the realm of blues and country music to create a new type of…

  • Anne Briggs – 1963 Now this is where the shift begins. I’ve always wanted to delineate the kind of transformation that England’s folk music went through from its early folk phase to its sorta modern iteration. There’s something utterly fascinating about a bunch of those groups and a lot of that sound. The question is:…

  • David Axelrod – 1969 Where’s my mind right now? Right now its shifting towards more pastoral, and organic music. What does this mean? it means, that its the time of the season when I indulge a bit in my love of folk music. That’s not to say that its entirely just strum and wailing kind…

  • Terry Callier Now for today’s album of the month…I kid, I kid, well a little bit, there’s something special about Chicago’s own Terry Callier. No other artist quite sounds like him and in all honesty deserves his own time in my spotlight. Since 1964 he has combine soul, jazz, folk, and funk so effortlessly that…

  • 200 years after America’s independence, Burnier & Cartier released this jaw dropping brilliant piece of Brazilian acoustic guitar-based music. “Fotos Para a Capa Do” which translates to “Photos for the Cover” is such a nondescript title for such a massively intricate and dreamy album. This could be said was the first child of Clube da…

ambient art pop art rock balearic brazilian electro-acoustic england environmental music experimental fourth world Funk fusion japan jazz minimalist mpb neo-folk neoclassical new age walearic