Folk 184 Items

In Horror Vacui, Paris-based, Iran-born 9T Antiope use a sparse palette of octave mandolin, violin and octave violin, synthesizer and vocals, to build a dynamic world that seems to exist outside of the bounds of time and place. Cinematic, spare, heavy, gossamer, and informed by the band’s work as sound designers and composers for theatre, film and performance art, Horror Vacui is a concept album that explores what sounds have been, what they’ll become, and the nature of memory, dementia and decay. As 9T Antiope attempt to reconcile different worlds, they create the sound of arriving in a new world all your own.

This - somehow - mythological album from one of Iran’s top sitarist lurches between traditional Eastern forms and more modern Western styles, blending the two into a fascinating fusion of cultures and flavours. Similar to the work of Indian rare groove master Ananda Shankar, the record brings to life the ultimate marriage of funky drums, lush horns, wah-wah guitars and Eastern harmonies. A necessary re-discovery !

Award-winning Toronto songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Abigail Lapell returns with "Anniversary", an evocative collection of original love songs. Produced with Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker, the album was recorded at 200-year-old St Mark’s Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Dekker helped shape the sessions’ spooky, resonant sound and also lent his voice to a couple of spellbinding duets.

Lapell’s deft lyrics jostle with love song tropes, grappling with love’s finitude and the irony of how codependency and longing are revered in popular music. A ghost story is woven through the album: waltzing in the dusty barroom country of “Blue Blaze,” buried in the superstitious lyrical streak of “Rattlesnake” and audible in a wheezing organ as it shuts down at the end of “Footsteps.” Still, "Anniversary" emerges as an earnest celebration of commitment. Earworms like “Anniversary Song” and “Someone Like You” showcase intricately layered harmonies, while closer “Stars” affirms that there’s no place the speaker would rather be than with the one she loves.

Dekker and Lapell assembled a stellar cast of musicians to support Lapell’s powerhouse vocals, piano, harmonica and signature fingerstyle guitar. The core band includes Dan Fortin on bass, Jake Oelrichs on drums, and Tania Gill on the church’s piano, harpsichord and organ. Rounding out the ensemble’s sensitive orchestral arrangements are Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet), Rachael Cardiello (viola), Michael Davidson (marimba and vibraphone) and Joe Lapinsky (pedal steel), who also engineered and mixed the record.

Arisa Nakano is a talented young Japanese actress who recently appeared in Wim Wenders' latest film Perfect Days, which was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. She sings Sachiko Kanenobu's song 'Blue Fish' which is also played in the film, and P-vine have the honour of releasing the cover as a 7" single. Produced by Seiichi Yamamoto, also known as a former member of the Boredoms, her dignified singing voice combined with Yamamoto's sound arrangement creates a musical chemical reaction.

Funky Kromong is a compilation from the multitalented Legendary Betawi artist Benyamin Suaeb. Consisting of 10 tracks from the 70s, this compilation is rich with Benyamin Suaeb’s eccentric vocals with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and walled with funk and psychedelic and traditional sounds. He made is own humorous style of psychedelic music that everyone could relate. We really hope you enjoy this record with beautiful nostalgia in mind. Don’t miss it.

After two LPs and over half a decade spent toiling in the margins of the American Songbook, Bill Orcutt returns to original composition and the blues with his latest LP, Odds Against Tomorrow. Taking its title from Robert Wise 's 1959 film noir, Odds Against Tomorrow retrofits familiar folk/blues forms to the unique sound of Orcutt's guitar and the result crackles with a freshness and authority that nostalgic retreads cannot deliver. Odds Against Tomorrow is more than an expansion of the territory charted by Bill Orcutt, his eponymous 2017 studio electric debut, although it's certainly that. With its nods to existing musics, half-step fluctuations, and near-songwriter-ly manipulations of tension/release, Odds Against Tomorrow is a rock record—almost. Clearly and simply recorded through a clattering Fender Twin in Orcutt's living room and lovingly mixed by Bay Area neighbor and pedal-steel savant Chuck Johnson, no one would mistake it for any era's radio fodder, yet the precision of its technique and the swaying Child-ballad logic of its gentler improvisations comfortably seats it between John Mayall and Richard Thompson in your Ikea Kallax... Odds Against Tomorrow challenges contemporary solo guitar practice in a way that simultaneously nullifies hazy dreams of folk purity and establishes a new high-water mark for blues-rock reconstruction."—Tom Carter

When Nathan Salsburg's daughter was a baby, he often sang her to sleep ina rocking chair. At one point, he remembered a song he had taught himselfas a teenager: "The Evidence" by Lungfish, the Maryland band who coined asingular brand of post-punk in the 90s and 00s. Salsburg realized he could playthe guitar part with one hand, singing while holding Talya in his other arm. Though theoriginal version of "The Evidence" is only five minutes long, it's essentiallya repetitive mantra, so Salsburg could extend it as long...

Brian d’Souza (fka Auntie Flo) teams up with in-demand DJ Or:la, harpist Róisín Berkeley and celebrated artist Jana Nicole for a release celebrating the humble mushroom. Originally commissioned for the Hayes Mycelium Pavilion at Glastonbury Festival 2023, these two pieces represent the artist homage to the unique power of connection within nature - the mychorrizal network that humans could do well from learning from. d’Souza’s piece uses a process of biosonification, picking up electrical impulses from four different mushroom species (Oyster, Reishi, Lion’s Mane and Shiitake) and turning them into musical notes. The 18 min piece is a literal ecological sound walk into the mind of the mushroom. Irish techno artist/DJ Orlagh Dooley aka Or:la debuts with her piece created in collaboration with harpist Róisín Berkeley. Glacial textures and delicious harp glissandos form a mushroom habitat that exists in peace and harmony. The bespoke art work was created by multi-award winning artist Jana Nicole, who used a combination of collage, digital photography and manipulation to put together an art piece that resembles the depth and beauty of the mushroom and its mycelium. The limited edition vinyl will include a scratch and sniff smell component and incorporate UV paint that will only show up in dark light, revealing a different perspective as mushrooms do in the wilds. A State of Flo supports Earth Percent. 10% of the revenue generated from this release will be paid to environmental charities.

Outernational pop group Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek unveil the second and final part of their double album "Dost 1&2". Once again, their subtle and groovy Anatolian psych folk sound matches the powerful quality of the songs often led by Yildirim"s sublime vocals and baglama (Turkish lute). With "Dost 2", the band have broadened their songwriting horizons and refined their idiosyncratic arrangement skills.Most of "Dost 2""s material was composed by the band, with two notable tracks composed by guitarist flautist Antonin Voyant whose melodic work brings the music to an unnostalgic, yet deep and meaningful place. The lyrics were penned by Derya Yildirim in collaboration with Berlin based writer Duygu Agal, adding another string to Grup Simsek"s bow.

Outernational pop group Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek unveil the second and final part of their double album "Dost 1&2". Once again, their subtle and groovy Anatolian psych folk sound matches the powerful quality of the songs often led by Yildirim"s sublime vocals and baglama (Turkish lute). With "Dost 2", the band have broadened their songwriting horizons and refined their idiosyncratic arrangement skills.Most of "Dost 2""s material was composed by the band, with two notable tracks composed by guitarist flautist Antonin Voyant whose melodic work brings the music to an unnostalgic, yet deep and meaningful place. The lyrics were penned by Derya Yildirim in collaboration with Berlin based writer Duygu Agal, adding another string to Grup Simsek"s bow.

Emily Nenni has written a follow-up to 2022’s critically acclaimed record, On The Ranch. Her debut album garnered her much success and introduced her to a devoted audience of music fans who celebrate the traditional side of country music while embracing the modern indie aesthetic that comes with that nod to the past. While writing her latest record, Drive & Cry, Nenni looked in the rearview mirror for inspiration but kept focus on the sound that she has become known for. “This is the first record I have completely written on my own. I spent a good bit of solitary time ruminating on things that had happened over the last year or two. Rethinking what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, who with, even in just the everyday. Change is hard but also such a gift.”

Nenni worked with producer John James Tourville (The Deslondes, Sunny War) to broaden her sound and bring in nuance to the recording. The record was engineered by Jake Davis and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang in Memphis, TN. The resulting recording is a matured country sound that focuses on the fun and the tears that come with all changes in life.

Emily Nenni has written a follow-up to 2022’s critically acclaimed record, On The Ranch. Her debut album garnered her much success and introduced her to a devoted audience of music fans who celebrate the traditional side of country music while embracing the modern indie aesthetic that comes with that nod to the past. While writing her latest record, Drive & Cry, Nenni looked in the rearview mirror for inspiration but kept focus on the sound that she has become known for. “This is the first record I have completely written on my own. I spent a good bit of solitary time ruminating on things that had happened over the last year or two. Rethinking what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, who with, even in just the everyday. Change is hard but also such a gift.”

Nenni worked with producer John James Tourville (The Deslondes, Sunny War) to broaden her sound and bring in nuance to the recording. The record was engineered by Jake Davis and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang in Memphis, TN. The resulting recording is a matured country sound that focuses on the fun and the tears that come with all changes in life.

Singer, actor and musician Farid El Atrache, born on October 19, 1910 in Soueïda, Syria, and died on December 26, 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon, is considered the greatest singer of the Arab world. A virtuoso of the oud, his timeless work, rich in hundreds of compositions, is recognized the world over. The present selection is devoted to the master's early works recorded in the 1930s-1940s.

Happy 20th birthday to Family Album, the third recording of Faun Fables and the first one released on Drag City. These songs belong to sons and daughters, entwined and orphaned, domesticated and feral; to all the family vines unraveling from a ball of yarn. In this family album, runaways graze the wild together, a mother finds her courage playing the piano, dogs become thieves and wolves, and a son is taken too soon. Fourteen-year-old nymphs sit dangerously at the crossroads, a younger brother tries to find his place, packs of girls defeat fear with a march, and the nightly adventures of the household mouse are spied upon.Dawn McCarthy"s creative background was forged in oral tradition amidst a large musical family in Spokane, Washington; studying piano, music theater, rock bands, guitar, folklore and ethnomusicology. Dawn cut her teeth as a singer and performer with various bands and cabarets in Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, most notably as yodeler with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, whom inspired her to want a gypsy life with a kindred spirit someday. Her focus took a pivotal turn in that direction in 1997 with a solo quest through the UK and Ireland and their bardic traditions; singing songs in clubs and homes, all the while undergoing a pastoral, psychological experience with the land. Upon her return to the States, a fateful meeting with Oakland, CA born-and-raised Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) moved McCarthy back to the West to begin a new creative collaboration in the thriving hills and art community of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1999, Faun Fables have released six albums and performed their animist, otherworldly folk music across North America and Europe, with shows in Australia, New Zealand and Israel, as well. Dawn"s writing and voice (described by The New Yorker as "one of the more compelling instruments in contemporary music") opens hearts and minds with a whisper to a rallying battle cry, further animated by Frykdahl"s adventurous musicality and vocals. Da...

Mother Twilight is the second Faun Fables album. It has since been noted by Scottish author R.J. Stewart as a work containing true artifacts of the oral underworld tradition. Dawn and Nils made a hand-assembled first pressing and peddled it to nearly every bar and rural hall across North America from 2001-2003. Drag City reissued the CD in 2004.Things are glowing outside, enough to bring any sun worshiper in for the night. But you must remain outside and begin walking. It"ll prepare you for the night, which otherwise comes as a chilling surprise. If you pay attention this time, maybe you"ll understand why you"re becoming invisible. When your memory began, it wasn"t startling, wasn"t a mistake. It came out of an old, dark and familiar thing, like a storyteller, like Twilight... so save us from fear, mother, and tell your story.Dawn McCarthy"s creative background was forged in oral tradition amidst a large musical family in Spokane, Washington; studying piano, music theater, rock bands, guitar, folklore and ethnomusicology. Dawn cut her teeth as a singer and performer with various bands and cabarets in Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, most notably as yodeler with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, who inspired her to want a gypsy life with a kindred spirit someday. Her focus took a pivotal turn in that direction in 1997 with a solo quest through the UK and Ireland and their bardic traditions; singing songs in clubs and homes, all the while undergoing a pastoral, psychological experience with the land. Upon her return to the States, a fateful meeting with Oakland, CA born-and-raised Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) moved McCarthy back to the West to begin a new creative collaboration in the thriving hills and art community of the San Francisco Bay Area.Since 1999, Faun Fables have released six albums and performed their animist, otherworldly folk music across North America and Europe, with shows in Australia, New Zealand and Israel, as well. Dawn"s writing and voice (described by The...

"This album is written and recorded on a reed organ with two manuals and pedals. The instrument was built by Alfred Cedergren who was a reed organ builder 1870–1925 in Vänge on the island Gotland, Sweden. During this period of time Hulda Veström lived in the same village. When Hulda was 14 years old she left her mother and sisters to travel to her father in Los Angeles. In spring 1912 she boarded the Titanic together with her aunt, who was also named Hulda. There is a picture of the two Huldas in the wooden chapel in Vänge where the Cedergren instruments today are gathered. In 2019 Felicia Sjögren moved to Vänge and the chapel with reed organs became her closest neighbor. Over time she got to know the instruments and stories of the village. When she decided to write music on one of the organs she knew she was going to dedicate it to Hulda, a teenage girl 100 years into space and time of this very place. Hulda is also the name of one of the few women prophets in the Bible, appearing in the Old Testament with warnings of the doomsday. The album is written and recorded in the chapel by Felicia Sjögren."

To record "Ease the Work", Hour traveled via ferry with an entire studio’s worth of equipment to an old off-Broadway theater on Peaks Island in Maine, months before the first tourists would show up. The week-long session started with an island-wide power outage that halted recording on the first day, and ended with twelve songs that walk steadily between longing and contentment, sentimentality and subtlety, the lift of harmony and the compulsion of a melody you wish would play forever.

Hour’s music cuts a broad pathway, and remains hard to classify or compare. Perhaps most at home beside work from Bill Frisell, Eiko Ishibashi, ECM Records, or the Louisville experimental chamber group Rachel’s, Ease the Work shows us life on the boundary of composition and improvisation. It reaches for the sweeping gestures and inspired pacing of classic film scores, Frank Sinatra ballads, and Scott Walker’s pop orchestra. It also retains the arresting intimacy of the band’s early work. Strings swell and harmonize in counterpoint with electric guitar, clarinet, and piano, while drums, synth pads, and field recordings complete the aural world.

Inushiki is back after 13 years absence. The album reflects Yohei Miyake's lifestyle change, which includes a return to nature. It includes the ambient rock anthem “Yama Uta” and the poetry reading style “Kikainokarada.”

In 2017, the group resumed its activities after a nine-year hiatus. In 2022, Inushiki droped its first album in 13 years, “Doubutsu Sengen”. In this era of many disasters, the winds surrounding the music industry are blowing more harshly, but the way of life as a “musician” is being questioned and refined. And then, they will return to the way of life as a “human being. The way of music is also broadening its base. What will Inushiki bring to this age that has already passed the end of the century? The journey from Revolution to Evolution begins.

Johnny Cash was one of the most influential figures in the history of country music. With his unmistakable deep voice and rebellious image, he not only left a lasting mark on the music world, but also on pop culture in general. With over 90 million records sold worldwide, Cash is one of the best-selling artists of all time. His cross-genre music encompassed country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk and gospel. This crossover appeal earned him the rare honor of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. In the 1960s, Johnny Cash began to present himself as the "Man in Black" and to wear only black clothing during his performances. This choice was not only a stylistic statement, but also a political one. It cemented his reputation as an "outlaw" and country music rebel. Johnny Cash's legacy spans generations and genres. His influence ranges from country and rock to punk and alternative. Artists of various styles have cited Cash as a source of inspiration, and numerous tribute albums have been released in honor of his music. SONGBOOK WITH FRIENDS is a collection of his most beautiful songs, some interpreted in extraordinary versions by other artists.