This is a movement seeking solace in older, quite places, far from the din of urban paranoia, media hysteria, government idiocy and the bombastic, corporate angst-rock and hip hop that accompanies it. Call it "new weird folk" and localize it mainly in the U.K.

Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newson, Vetiver, Josephine Foster, White Magic, Entrance, CocoRosie, etc., are neither streetbuskers nor protest singers, neither third generation CSNY sops nor smug anti-folkers.


Folk Art: a sort of Happy '68 Revival

Their aesthetic derived partially from the artists at the more 'outré' ends of '60s, US and British folk - as well as Nick Drake, Amazing Blondel, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, Pentangle, Neil Young, The Incredible String Band... and surely also Willie Oldham and Cat Power's Chan Marshall.


Some of their works

* Johanna Newsom: The Milk-Eyed Mender
Delicacy, poice, lovely melodies, and an unforgettable ancient-school-girl voice from a 22-year-old, 46-string harpist raised in a California Gold Rush town.


Joanna Newsom

* Six Organs of Admittance: Compathia
Masterful finger-picking guitar-worg and harrowing, darkly melodic vocals by America's psychedelic folk lord, Ben Chasny.

* Espers: Espers
Debut album of gorgeously mounted, drumless mountain-side acid-folk in the tradition of Pentangle, Incredible String Band and Ghost by a dual-sex Philadelphia chamber trio.

* White Magic: Through the Sun Door
Chillingly beautiful vocals, dreamy pianos, steady beats, and a perfect strings assortment: this record has it all!

* Various: Golden Apples Of The Sun
The essential 20-artist limited-edition sampler of the contemporary weird folk scene, lovingly selected.


Animal Collective

* Animal Collective: Sung Tongs
"Where other groups get their fame from combining the likes of their influences and forever living within an inescapable shadow, Animal Collective manifests those into a flawless musical deity."


Samples

Track 1 - CocoRosie - "Terrible Angels" (.ram)
Track 2 - Animal Collective - "Who could win a rabbit" (.ram)
Track 3 - Devendra Banhart - "Poughkeepsie" (.ram)