Folktronics

Laundry Room:

The laptop electronics club has become more and more overcrowded nowadays and the so-named Folktronica...mmm well,...reviewer, Bryan Berge, states in much better words what I feel about this genre's euphemism: "the increasingly empty label "folktronica" will soon be buried at the bottom of one. Folktronica is identified with circular guitar melodies, hushed vocals burdened with cliched rural lyrics, and the occasional banjo and mandolin flourish, all backed by with electro-pop production. Unfortunately, the folk aspects of folktronica so often sound like tired imitations desperately striving for authenticity (...) I blame much of this stagnation on the label itself, a clunky portmanteau that suggests the collision rather than integration of folk and electronic music. Since the two labels are presented as juxtaposed yet irreconcilable, a dialectic relationship emerges in the minds of artists, and the resultant music sounds like two songs played at the same time-one and old folk ditty, the other an IDM burner. Since music is all about synthesis, musicians are already bursting the boundaries of the genre. So the term will die naturally."
I must point out that the origin of the "folktronica" label remains unclear and it seems to have originated on the british press. That's all we know...emblematic musicians on the label include Kieran Hebden under his Four tet moniker or as a member of (postrocktronic trio, wtf!?) Fridge, as well as, Greg Davis and The Books. Some people believe that Mum and Efterklang are folktronic, but this illustrate how useless this label is , how many people out there are playing with laptops and acoustic guitars, are they all folktronics?

Well, this post has gotten a bit long, so I'll keep it simple from now on. The Books "Safe and Lost", is one of the most exciting releases I've heard this year and the best one from the outfit in my opinion. I'd give away the whole stuff here as a zip but I really want you to go out there and hunt it, I'm uploading two random tracks from the record: "Be good to them always" and....let's see..."it never changes to stop", if you'd like another song go to everythingisfire and seek it. Mmm....Stylus Magazine gave this record a "B" and overrated Pitchfork gave it an insulting "7.0". Go to almostcool, where this album got a well deserved 9 rating (hooray!).
I'm including a Tunng song from their site. Also you'll see down here "softness of senses" from Xela's album "Tangled wool", , Ah yes....I'm also including a Fridge track hosted directly from brainwashed , go there for more mp3's by fridge.

The Books - be good to them always
The Books - it never changes to stop
Tunng - tale from black
Xela - softness of senses
Fridge - cut up piano and xylophone

Image comes from the Adrian Johnson site.