anti-folk music and Regina Spektor

Poststructural Pub
1

Today a friend send me the video by Regina Spektor called “Fidelity” which has an absolutely insane video that I love. (It can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTDRztaCCw )

Anyway, I wanted to find out more about her. So I went to Wikipedia and found her page ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Spektor ). Wikipedia says her music is associated with the anti-folk scene.

I’ve read Wikipedia’s page on anti-folk music ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-folk ), but I’m still not sure I understand what is and what is not anti-folk. I’d never heard that term before…although a lot of the music I listen to is anti-folk, I think.

I don’t have a direct question other than "Can somebody else explain the concept of ‘anti-folk’ and to throw Regina Spektor and the concent of ‘anti-folk’ out there for discussion, generally.

2

Regina Spektor is hot.
Can we include that in the discussion?

3

Well…I guess you’ll have to ask Dale about that.

4

Folk music is a fairly hazy definition in itself. Some people say folk music and mean acoustic music. Some intend it to take its original meaning, which would be something traditional, i.e. of the folk. Anti-folk is supposed to be a combination of raucous punk politics added to the acoustic sound of folk music. This example of Regina Spektor is more pop-based. It certainly isn’t acoustic. I’m not familiar with her stuff, so I don’t know if the rest of it is more folk-based.

She’s all yours. Show her your trick with the block of cheese. Maybe she’ll write a song anout it. :smiley:

djm

5

I have to admit that I know nothing about the topic at hand, and while I’m not wanting to hijack this thread I do have to tell you, Cran, that this new avatar is one that I actually do not like at all. Queen Elizabeth (aside from her behavior in general) was a ghastly woman :stuck_out_tongue:

Not that it matters…I’m just feeling a need to express myself today :wink:

6

That always gets the ladies… :smiley:

7

I guess I’m getting old enough that everything is coming back. I saw this in the Wki article

By a loose definition, Anti-folk combines the raw, abrasive, and frequently politically charged attitudes of the punk scene with the sounds of American folk tradition.

45 yrs ago we were discovering the raw, abrasive, and frequently politically charged attitudes of the folk music that merged with the sounds of American pop/rock scene.

The song was okay, as well as the singer. I’m always baffled at the huge success of breathy, thin-voiced girl singers. She doesn’t quite fall into that catagory, but it’s close.

8

there is no place in folk music for politics!

WOT?

9

regina spektor scares me. her sound is a bit off for my taste.

I do enjoy some Sia though…man, that girl can sing!

and if you want some good anti-folk with some serious class, check out Joanna Newsom…shes a great singer and musician!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsz6krAp1Xo&mode=related&search=

Plus, I grew up with her…just a little plug from me…

10

dwinterfield, do you have something against thin-voiced breathy girl singers? Thin-voiced breathy girl singers are the equivalent is the untweaked Clark original…

11

No, they’re the equivalent of a Clarke original with the scotch-tape mute.

12

My singing voice is breathy…sometimes we just can’t help it (and I’m not even a girl). You make me cry. :wink:

Oh, and my grammar suck. I always notice that when people quotes me.

13

The term “folk music,” to me, is a product of the late 50s and early 60s by mostly Eastern urban college-educated types. I think it represented an attempt to “save” what was being lost as the US made the transition as a mostly rural to an urban or suburban culture. Jazz had gotten pretty sophisticated, blues was there, but very marginalized. Rock was what it was. Big band had devolved into novelty almost… Young intellectuals wanted something to latch onto and they found it in American country, but NOT country-western, music.

Although I recoil a bit at the folk music stars, mostly because of their association with Socialism and Communism, red-diaper babies and such, they did a lot to define and resurrect dying musical art forms. In the process, they created their own style, which is probably what I like the least. I am not a Bob Dylan fan, nor do I care for Peter, Paul and Mary etc… But, they are also very much associated with the civil rights movement, which their already-radical politics led them into. To me, they are usually so urban that they make me feel like I am more of an authentic country person, because I come from California and have been on ranches and stuff, not Greenwich Village or a Midwestern city. But really, if we are performing music that is 150 years old, I am not sure if it really matters who is more “qualified.” To my ears, they often sound kind of stilted, especially the Kingston Trio type of groups, that are very cleaned up yet try and sing in sort of a country accent…

I regularly perform historical music of California as well as sea shanteys. Probably thanks to the folk music movement, I don’t have to use the term “folk” to describe what I am doing. And were it not for the vigor of that movement, it might have been hard to even find the music to perform. So I owe them a debt, even while I distance myself from them.

I wouldn’t doubt that the “anti-folk movement” is based on similar conflicted feelings, maybe without the appreciation…punks and young people like to hate everything that has been anyway, so it wouldn’t suprise me that they would take something they couldn’t relate to and want to finish it off.

Which bring me back to Bluto Blutarsky and the scene with the folksinger…“I gave my love a cherry…”

14

Not sure this fits into the present context but I was listening earlier today to Joanna Newsome.

Video.

Any thoughts? :wink:

15

Take away the video and you have a nice little song.

I have heard thousands of those nice little songs over the years. Some in folk clubs, some at partys, more at singalong sessions.

Anti-folk is just another label that the record companies use to try and define a market, a bunch of people to exploit.

If a kid was brought up in a “Folky” home and wanted to rebel against all of that then why not go Anti-folk.

Same songs, same singers, same old stuff but the record companies have spotted a niche, and they sell “units”..and laugh all the way to the bank.

It’s a brand, not a style.

Slan,
D. :frowning:

16

I like that brand, then. :slight_smile:

17

Actually, Dub - my kids were probably brought up as “folky’s” and if they decided to rebel, they’d be listening to gansta rap (which, thankfully, they aren’t).

To me (and this is just my opinion, not to be given any credit at all) folk music is music that is “passed” on. If I can say “I got this song from …” it’s folk music. It might also be classified as Old time, or it may be a Negro Spiritual or a Child’s ballad. It may be have been composed by Woody or Arlo Guthrie or any number of “no names”. It usually has accoustic instruments as the basis for it - but it could also have some strange additions such as slide whistles and nose flutes. I could have first heard my dad play it - or my kids could discover it.
What it mostly has in common, if it has anything at all in common, is it won’t be played on “commercial” radio, you probably won’t find it at the Grammy’s, you won’t find the CD for sale at the big box stores, and you probably don’t have to pay a huge amount to see it performed.

18

I’m still trying to determine if Newsome is mentally challenged, or if she just puts on an act as part of her sound/brand.

djm

19

Fair comments.

Dunno about not having to pay a lot of money to see it ..

Two tickets, and the coach, to see Bob in April recently set me back nearly £250.00…and he doesn’t even play his acoustic anymore.

Slan,
D. :laughing:

20

LOL…I promise you she isn’t…that is how she sounds when she talks though…

Living in Nevada County and being 15 minutes from Nevada City, you get to know musically talented people here. I admit…her singing takes some getting used to…but, shes a pure heart. Amazing performer for only being 25.