Freak folk

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Freak folk is a genre of folk music associated with contemporary artists, like Davenport, Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective, Cocorosie, Panda Bear, Kelli Ali, Joanna Newsom, Greg Weeks, Hecuba, Akron/Family, Rio en Medio, Sufjan Stevens, Bigger Princess, Sean Hayes, The Dodos, Little Teeth and with '60s artists like the Holy Modal Rounders, The Incredible String Band, Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Godz and The Fugs.

Musically, it consists of mainly acoustic instruments, mostly guitar and occasionally violin or flute, accompanied by percussion instruments such as bongos. The guitar often uses alternate tunings. The drone is a component of the style.

Terminology

"If you were to ask me how I feel about the term freak-folk," said Banhart to The New York Times, "it's cool - you have to call it something - but we didn't name it. We've been thinking about what to call it, and we just call it the Family."

After further connotations were connected to the term "freak folk", Devendra Banhart proposed the alternate term "Naturalismo." From a 2006 interview with Devendra Banhart:^[1]

“My hero, my favorite musician, is Caetano Veloso. That's my number one,” enthuses Devendra. “What gets me through a tour is listening to Caetano (slight pause) or Jorge Ben, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, and all that. That’s what gets me through my life. Tropicalismo becomes this big part of my life and this big inspiration, so I started thinking about Naturalismo. That’s what we do – naturalism. I started talking to Andy (Cabic) from Vetiver about this. ‘What do you think about this? Naturalism is a good one, right?’ If we give them some alternatives then maybe people will start taking this seriously. It’s not going to happen with these humiliating, embarrassing, cheesy, tacky phrases like ‘freak folk.’ Then he says, ‘We don’t want to be anti-artifice. We don’t want to be against anything or elitist in any way.’ I agreed.” “Then I started thinking about something I’ve said in every interview, which is that everything is a derivative of nature. Everything. Even the most plastic, most synthetic things are derived from nature. The source of them is found in nature at some point. Naturalismo becomes a completely all-inclusive thing. If there’s one thing we can take from Tropicalismo, it’s this anthropophagic attitude towards the world.”

Naturalismo is also mentioned in a 2006 Phoenix magazine article written about Arthur founder Jay Babcock:^[2]

"Arthur has saturated itself in the '60s, via features on the Weather Underground, the MC5, the 1967 March on the Pentagon, and also in the post-psychedelic slant of the music coverage. But there’s nothing regressive here. From the freaky folkers to the acid rockers, Arthur bands have their eyes on the advancing historical horizon: the same rumble of tribal disturbance is heard beneath the dragon-groan of SunnO))) and the fey, brilliant stylings of harpist/singer Joanna Newsom. A tastemaker and an advocate, Babcock has probably done more to promote and consolidate this intangible consensus than anybody else. He calls it 'naturalismo'."

Banhart would eventually become fed-up with the term "Freak Folk", saying in a 2007 Rolling Stone interview "the term is fucking lame! I just play rock 'n' roll." Many people, including those who have been labeled freak folk, have criticized the label. Greg Vandy, of KEXP, wrote on its blog, "The press have labeled it Freak Folk. Which pisses off all the artists described as such." Ed Droste, of Grizzly Bear, has said, "Freak-folk comes with an image attached: You have to have a beard and be Jesusy, if you know what I mean.... You have to have a really extreme voice, and be really divisive."^[3]

Vashti Bunyan is considered by some to be "The Godmother of Freak Folk."^[4]

See also

• Anti-folk
• Neofolk
• Ptolemaic Terrascope - a psychedelic folk & rock magazine

References

External links

• Freak Folk Flies High by Derek Richardson at SFGate.com
• Hermes, Will (2006-06-18). "Summer of Love Redux". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/arts/music/18herm.html?pagewanted=all. 
• Blog covering the Naturalismo movement
• A Festival Of Naturalismo - Arthur Fest