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Danny Barnes Folktronics Newsletter
Regarding folktronic art...
March 20, 2008 - 6:53pm — soundwavejunkie
Since the inception of this forum I have been thinking about this term “folktronic”.
Exactly what are its boundaries? How far outside of the norm does something have to be to be considered folktronic.
Danny Barnes’ Barnyard Electronics is certainly different enough….and a darn good album, to boot. I have to admit, it took a couple of listens before I really started enjoying it, which is common among my favorite music…almost as though its initial inaccessibility makes me like it more. I wonder if it’s because it’s new and fresh, or is it because I have what psychologists term a “sunk cost” investment, so therefore I must like it to avoid cognitive disonance?
Either way, I’m still wondering about this “folktronic” thingee. For instance, another banjo player comes to mind (and will probably make many readers here cringe, but I must bring this up to gain clarity) that could perhaps be considered folktronic- Bela Fleck. He certainly pushes the traditional boundaries of the banjo, and often there are electronics involved.
Or is what Bela is doing something else entirely? I cannot think of another genre for his music, but honestly, I really don’t know what he’s been doing as of late. Last time I heard Bela, it seemed he was moving into more of an jamband jazz direction. But then again, I don’t really understand labels and categorization so well.
In another example, I was listening to Mark Linkous(sparklehorse) today, and some of the recordings mixed into the music reminded me of some of the Livers Blood & Mood stuff, or even DB’s Oft-Mended Raiment. Is that folktronic?
Just some late-night ramblings I’ve been pondering. PEACE.OUT.
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thank you for caring enough
thank you for caring enough to think and to write.
i came up with the term folktronics in all good humor. a cool place to start might be the anthology noise and electronic music vol. 1. it’s on itunes.
the period of the teens and twenties produced some really amazing art. sometimes i think those guys, on that paris -NY axis birthed the modern world right there in terms of art, poetry, music, architechture and related contexts. so some of those experimental ideas predated what we call bluegrass today. in a sense, some of those concepts might be more traditional than what we think of as traditional music!
i heard the soundwavejunkie use the phrase “lo fi americana” that might relate. i just came up with the term folktronics to describe this music that i hear in my head and that i’m trying to bring into the world. you can hear the ideas on blood and mood and oft mended raiment and also barnyard electronics. to me, there is a way that edgard varese, ornette, blind willie johnson, and ralph stanley kind of converge. with poetry and post modern art. and contemporary composed music and john milton’s paradise lost. i feel that that is my purpose on earth in this current life, to bring these connections to fruition. it seems like once you figure out what your dharma is, things get a lot easier. not easier in the sense that the work stops, but you stop wasting time trying to figure out what the work is in the first place. there is a sense of finally getting the chance to go to work. what a relief that is.
as far as how what i do relates to bela, you guys would be better commentators on that. common-taters. for me, the similarities are that we both play the banjo and try to do as well as we can in music. i feel like our orientation, foundation, focus, aesthetic values and well…..dharma, couldn’t be more different otherwise. there is not much time devoted, on my end, into pondering this, as there is much to do and learn. my feeling is that even if i solved that particular duality, it would not benefit the world. my job is to make music that is important and ahead of the curve, to turn a phrase. so i shall forge ahead forthwith.