Posts tagged with folk music
September 19, 2009 | New Music | 
by Gerry Mak |
As autumn creeps in, the temperatures drop, and the days get shorter, I’m finding myself listening to more morose and introspective music. Tiny Vipers, a one-woman band from Seattle, has been doing it for me lately with her luminous, bittersweet folk.
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August 28, 2009 | New Music | by Casper Johansson 
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Langhorne Slim’s forthcoming release is called Be Set Free and will be out in late September. This track off it, I Love You, But Goodbye, is beautiful, cinematic and cohesive, with gut-wrenching lyrics and a simple but sweet melody. We have it available for free download via the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor.
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January 30, 2009 | New Music | by Casper Johansson |
A former bare-knuckle boxer from Yorkshire, England (for real), Findlay Brown was heralded by many as the UK’s answer to Jose Gonzales when his debut album, Separated By The Sea, was released on Peacefrog Records in 2007. Love Will Find You moves beyond his earlier folk sound to a more ambitious — and soulful — place. Produced by Bernard Butler (Suede), the album features songs that are lush and intimate, influenced as much by Phil Spector and Ennio Morricone as by Roy Orbison or The Beatles. The album came together while Brown was stuck on his sister’s couch nursing a broken leg, having been run over by a cab driver: ‘I’d already started going back and listening to a lot of records I’d grown up on, like Elvis Presley, soul music, doo wop, Phil Spector, The Righteous Brothers and the like. I had an idea about making a modern record influenced by the songwriting of the late 50s and early 60s. I just started writing, trying to work out what made a universally great song, like Stand By Me. These new songs are the first part of that process’. You can download his new single, Holding Back The Night, for free in our Music Download section.
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January 19, 2009 | New Music | by Francis Andrews |
The man who brought us the masterpiece, For Emma, Forever Ago, is soon to release the follow-up EP, Blood Bank. Given the staggering acclaim For Emma received, his approach to the release must have been a nervous one, weighed down by the expectations of an entire music industry and its league of followers. Blood Bank is no disappointment, though: he calls it a ‘palette cleanser’ after For Emma, and it continues its themes of wintery isolation and introspection. The harmonies on tracks like Beach Baby are beautiful, and the production equally exquisite.
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January 6, 2009 | New Music | by Francis Andrews |
Tallest Man on Earth, the rasping Swedish folk singer-songwriter and one of the unsung heroes of 2008, recently recorded the beautiful song A Field of Birds, a nice adjunct to his summer album release, Shallow Grave. His sound is so loose and unmanicured, and carries a poignancy reminiscent of the rusty, early Bob Dylan.
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December 30, 2008 | New Music | by Gerry Mak |
Yat-Kha are a stunning Tuvan band that combines throatsinging and traditional folk music with straight-up rock. Their album ReCovers is an awesome collection of covers of songs by Led Zeppelin, Joy Division, and Motörhead among many others, reflecting their general approach to music on the rest of their impressive catalog. Despite the modern elements, the Moscow-based group still conjures the vast steppes and endless skies of the small Russian republic in southern Siberia.
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December 29, 2008 | New Events | by Gerry Mak |
I got a chance to see yet another fantastic Tuvan folk group, Alash, the other night at Barbès in New York’s Park Slope. The tiny performance area was jammed to the point where we had to wait until people left to go to the bathroom to squeeze ourselves in (the show was mentioned on NPR earlier in the day), but it was worth braving the sweltering room and precariously full beer glasses. I appreciated the fact that the band was truly acoustic, not even using microphones, so I could really hear what was going on without the distortion of amplification. The overtones of the throatsinging were quiet, but audible, and one of the igil (horse-head fiddle) players’ kargyraa (deep bass drone produced in the vestibular folds of the singer’s vocal chords) was so incredibly low, people in the room gasped in amazement.
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November 7, 2008 | New Music | by Francis Andrews |
Pink Mountaintops — a wry Canadian duo — are getting some pretty steady exposure on my stereo at the moment, and lots of others judging by their steady rise up the rock echelons. They’ve got that skaggy swagger and well-worked male/female vocal arrangements, particularly on Tourist in my Town, that drew so many people to Velvet Undergound and the other psych-stoner rock bands of that era, and the production is similarly lo-fi. Their 2004 eponymous debut album barely sold until frontman Stephen McBean released the debut album of his other band, Black Mountain, and news filtered out of this little gem. Listen to the song, Rock and Roll Fantasy.
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September 22, 2008 | New Music | by Blurt |
You may have already heard composer Nico Muhly this year on All Is Well, Samamidon’s lovely reimaginings of immigrant folk songs. (If you haven’t, you should). Mothertongue, Muhly’s second album and first for Brassland (run by members of the National), is divided into three acts. Read more
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September 20, 2008 | New Music | by Derrick Stembridge |
It’s only fitting a band of Canadian rootsters like this would tap a mythical figure of folklore for their namesake. Indeed, Ottawa’s The John Henrys understand the power of the familiar. Read more
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September 14, 2008 | Video | 
by Francis Andrews |
Over the last year or two I’ve been clandestinely concocting a list of ‘morning songs’ — those tracks that coax the sun through the curtains as you stretch your way into the day. They are the songs that will suddenly, and unexplainably, make you irresistible to the person lying next to you, just like high grade pheromones or a snatch lottery win. They’re ethereal, perhaps slightly melancholic, but also with the slightest hint of euphoria to accompany the supernatural brightening of the room. So far, though, I’ve only got three: Maria Callas and the Marriage of Figarro; Nick Drake’s classic, Cello Song, and this little gem of a piece, Como la Cigarra by Mercedes Sosa. Add as you wish, and let’s see if this baby works it’s magic.
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August 29, 2008 | New Music | by Zolton |
We love the music of Oakdale, California singer-songwriter Brett Dennen, who has one of the finest voices in contemporary pop-folk. He’s touring Australia in September with shows in Brisbane (9th), Sydney (16th) and Melbourne (17th), in support of his beautiful new album, So Much More. With that in mind, we checked in with him to get his Secret Playlist — a rundown on what music he’s listening to right now: This Time Tomorrow by The Kinks. ‘I like this song because it inspires me to wonder what the future may bring. We never know who we will become. All we have is hope and dreams. It also makes me nostalgic for the past. It makes me feel sentimental’. Read more
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June 18, 2008 | New Music | by Francis Andrews |
Bill Callahan’s Woke on a Whaleheart is a little trip I take myself on every now and then when I’m looking to really sink myself into a piece of music. Read more
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April 19, 2008 | New Music | by Gerry Mak |
When you first hear William Elliot Whitmore’s voice, it’s hard to believe he isn’t a grizzled old man. The baritone-voiced one-man-band does rousing bar room ballads on the banjo and guitar that are sure to send shivers down your spine. On closer listen, Whitmore’s voice does seem slightly affected. But like Tom Waits before him, his voice is likely to age like a good scotch.
Listen to the William Wlliot Whitemore track, Dry.
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April 18, 2008 | New Music | by Gerry Mak |
Cellist Ben Sollee is like Andrew Bird with a little more soul, or Arthur Russell with a bit more bounce. Read more
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We asked photographer Angela Boatwright if her energetic photographs were a reflection of her personality, what happens on set, or both: ‘Hahaha! I’m guessing it’s a reflection of my personality, although who knows. I’m definitely not a mellow person, that’s for sure. I try and have as much fun as humanly possible when I’m shooting’.
Major Stars are another throwback ’70s rock band, playing Sabbath-flavored, guitar-driven psych tunes. But what sets them apart from the horde of Zeppelin-worshipping clones is vocalist Sandra Clarkson, whose voice is clean and feminine, but loud and aggressive — she doesn’t try to affect a Janis Joplin rasp. The band’s music also skews heavily towards the Acid Mothers Temple end of the ’70s revival thing rather than the Wolfmother side, another plus. Nope, rock still isn’t dead.
I love the bold watercolors of California artist Erin Althea, with their esoteric imagery and experimentation. Yup, I’m just a sucker for the folksy stuff.
I love Copenhagen’s Meyers Deli. I don’t know if it’s the giant plates of organic food or the super cool and warm environment. Read more
Oh man! If I was twenty again, a jumble of nerves and a well of electric energy, I’d be in the front row for every damn MGMT gig. Read more
Loomstate has been a casual eco-friendly clothing design alum since 2001, and a beacon for eco-fashionistas who love to lounge and look lovely. So it’s no surprise that this spring, Loomstate is partnering with Target to bring 100 percent organic cotton and sustainable silk blends to the masses. The line, which has a starting price at around fifteen dollars, drops April 19, just in time for Earth Day.
Some might argue that the team behind People of Walmart are elitist snobs poking fun at the working masses, but is there really an economic rationale behind an ‘I Hate Queers’ t-shirt? Read more
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Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
These Prosperity earrings by Australian designer Karina Jean are cast in sterling silver, finished by hand and swing on hand-formed silver ear hooks. They are available for purchase through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
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