Great video and absolutely agreed about Exuma. The obeah man! Its a shame the first record had never been re-pressed. I dropped a pretty penny on it recently and do not regret it. The history around the project and its relation to Bahamian spiritual practice and black power is worth diggin into. Not to mention Nina Simoné's cover of Dambala. Somehow for me Exuma runs a cool parallel to the most spiritual side of Neo-Folk Waldteuful and Kinit-Her and Romove Rokoito come to mind. Regarding D.E.E. check the liner notes on a few early woven hand records the denver sound is closely related to Big Bad Bob's Absinthe Studio. Tangentally check out Antony and The Johnsons have connections to Backworld C93 and Lou Reed.
One of the best descriptions of Tibet's singing I ever read was that he sounded like an excited old antiques dealer, showing uou around his treasures 😄
Oh shit a neofolk video. Bro your taste is amazing, so glad I found this channel. Some honorable mentions that come to mind would be The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud for "classic" neofolk and King Dude for modern neofolk. Great video as always.
Its cool to see you talking about Neofolk again, you are probably one of the only UA-camrs I know of besides Russian speaking ones that talks about neofolk at all. It would be interesting to see you do a "Death in June Explained" type video or of the other neofolk projects like Of The Wand And The Moon or Current 93. If for nothing else than to give a very slept on genre some more exposure.
You never mentioned The Moon lay hidden beneath a Cloud! To me, that was the ultimate neo folk band, that drew inspiration from the medieval times.... However, probably the best presentation on neofolk on You Tube! Thanks! Really enjoyed your video! (Subscribed....)
This is a great video and a great contribution. I suggest that you should have included Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, Born Again by Blood Axis, Sonne Hagal, Sixth Comm, Spiritual Front, Ordo Equitum Solis, Ataraxia, Seven Pines, and others. Der Blutsarch should have been included. The omission of FIre + Ice is definitely an issue, though. Birdking was absolutely definitive, and drew on the group you mentioned earlier.
Great video. Totally agree on Nature and Organisation. One of my favourite albums. Completely unique. When it comes to US neofolk I really like Harvest Rain. And the Drainland album by M. Gira is great. Another one of my go to's are Naevus - Relatively close to the sea and Spritual Front's Armageddon gigolo.
The inclusion of ‘Wicker Man’ OST (performed by the session band Magnet, fronted by composer Paul Giovanni) was spot on, not at all a weird choice. In fact, (if you haven’t already) you should check out ‘Looking for Europe: The Neofolk Compendium’ - the inclusion of ‘Willow’s Song’ is completey viable & fitting. And, with the mention of this compilation, I would be remiss to neglect mentioning Changes and Phase II. Highly recommended and, as you can tell from the timeline they fall in (1969/1979, Changes was reactivated in the 2000s), highly influential to the neofolk / apocalyptic folk genres as they were tapping into an almost-progressive, yet very haunting sound. Go look for the Changes collection, ‘Fire of Life’. Absolutely essential for this family tree/bloodline of sonic output.
I think comments that emphasise the rootedness of neo-folk in neo-right ideology have a point. I'm not primarily concerned here with anti-fascist activism. So it's not so important whether the musicians in question have only read Evola and Codreanu or are actually active in such political contexts. I think this point is important to distinguish neo-folk from 60s psychedelic folk, indie folk and other experimental interpretations of this style. A romanticised view of pre-industrial life is a central trope of most folk styles. Neofolk, however, goes far beyond this, asserting a unity between the biological world of race and the spiritual world of the soul that has been destroyed by modernity. Calls for re-enchantment and re-wilding are then no longer just expressions of anti-modernism. They are directly rooted in the traditions of the racial doctrine of the völkisch movement.
I think “race” is the wrong word though as it’s something that only really became part of public consciousness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The much older notion is the attachment of cultural identity to natural geography. The problem with the modern world that evokes such strong nostalgia is the fact that people can no longer identify with a geographic “home”. In the modern world everyone is constantly on the move and we are not rooted at all to the land we live on. I don’t see this as inherently right wing or political.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820 These are very important aspects. Landscape as nature, which becomes a human home through culture, is a central trope of folklore and the existential arc of agrarian society. An idea that is the root of all evil for primitivist followers of hunter-gatherer societies. "Landscape that / invented me" is a saying by the German-speaking Jewish-Bukovinian poet Rose Ausländer. Foreigner in the sense of living in exile, being exiled, incidentally comes from the Middle High German ellende, to come from abroad, not to be at home, which in turn provides the root for Elend, misery. In the German cultural imagination foreigners / aliens are therefore miserable people. Of course, this is not yet scientific racism, nor is it inherently right-wing. What homeland or homelessness mean, however, are central political problems.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820This is mainly the case in the west and more developed countries. There are plenty of people in the world who still have an organic attachment to their geography, and have had that attachment for hundreds of years. It’s the alienation of modernity and Capitalism that really alienates the white / western affectivity. “Sons of the East guards well trained”
@@Octavian2 But modern nationalism is different. I don’t think there was such a thing as Norse nationalism, because Norse culture was all people knew. It was the entire world to them before other empires came. People had way more local allegiances.
Really great video, really good stuff and most of my favorites are there. I think it's important to note Ulver as well (when talking about Agalloch too) since they were one of the pioneers imo. Some of my biggest influences are Tenhi & Vali and older folk artists like Bert Jansch for sure.
i've always considered Neoclassical Darkwave and Neofolk to be pretty adjacent genres, maybe not so much in the musicians and influences, but in sound, and i bet there is a lot of overlap in fans
@@MRSludgedude I like days of the new and all, but not every dark acoustic guitar music is automatically neofolk. In that case Nick Cave, whom I also love, would be mentioned too
Good video. You have, as usual, the most interesting content about “metal-related” music on UA-cam. May I suggest, as an addition to the bands / acts you mentioned, Neurosis as yet another band that have flirted with apocalyptic folk / neofolk several times during their career? Some of their records match both the aesthetic and the philosophy of certain neofolk acts (mainly those from the late 80s / early 90s) as well as the overall atmosphere and, on top of that, Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly’s respective solo projects have often offered a quite experimental take on folk and country infusing them with an evident sense of apocalyptic doom end despair. Last but not least I would also add Michael Gira’s side project Angels Of Light with its blend of folk instrumentation and existential / apocalyptic lyrics. My two cents.
I discovered Beauty Reaps The Blood Of Solitude through your other video about neofolk, and now it is one of my favourite albums. Great work, as usual! "The sorrow of things how lovely, how sad"
I would mention FORSETI alongside :of the wand and the moon: amongst the most accessible dark folk projects around the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately Forseti is not available on Spotify, but their/his albums Erde and Windzeit which can be found on UA-cam are just the most beautiful and accessible folk music you can find
Thanks for another quality content. You could also mention bands like Fire + Ice, Hexvessel, Tenhi, In Gowan Ring, Spiritual Front and many more but I understand that the video would be too long. Concerning predecessors of neofolk and dark folk, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Nico, Pentangle, Spirogyra, Strawbs and Changes are also worth mentioning. By the way, are you familiar with the krautrock band Sand? Current 93 covered one of the songs from their only album Golem (released in 1974). Some of the vocals on that record sound very similar to those of David Tibet.
Nice topic. An absolute must is the compilation Looking for Europe: The Neofolk Compendium from 2005 which has most of the band you mentioned here and more, an amazing starter for new listeners
Hmm - great work and description.. the moon lay hidden beneath a cloud then der Blutharsch would be worth mentioning… Albin played also as part of DIJ and a lot of the bands you described where in the same label… take care
Fantastic video! Please continue making these! Was waiting to see if anyone would mention Cromagnon. Some early examples of this style appear on their one and only album, specifically on tracks such as 'Caledonia'. Oddly enough, I'd also recommend Sonny Sharrock's 'Black Woman' album recorded and released about the same time in the late 60's. I believe anyone who checks those out will see some correlation in what would later appear in the 'Neo Folk' sound.
An underrated component, I would say, is Charlie Manson's "LIE" album and the Family Jam's album, which only came out in 1986-87 but was published by Genesis P-Orridge, a collaborator of David Tibet. IMO, 'Swastikas for Noddy' has some Family Jams elements on it, and Tibet extensively references the Manson Family. Charlie's music is definitely 'apocalyptic'.
I'm a fan from China and I really love this video! I was wondering if it'd be cool to translate it into Chinese and share it on "Bilibili"? I’ll definitely credit you and link back to the original video. It's just so well made!🥰
Hey man just wanted to say that i love the vibes of these videos. I find it extremely jarring when music channels constantly cut in clips of songs, whereas your vids are like having a cool uninterrupted discussion (albeit a one sided one, obviously haha). Plus, you don't go over the top with the "hEy ThErE gUyS!!" fake persona. Keep up the chill energy and interesting topics man. Hails! 🤘🏻🍻
Great video man! I've been listening to this music for about 30 years. Never bothered to really dig too deep in its history though, so this video really helps me put the puzzle together. There are a few bands you mentioned that I may not have heard, so I'm going to spend some time checking them out. I am so glad you mentioned Heilung and Wardruna at the end. While they don't seem at first like neofolk/A.F., they are definitely adjacent to it and are very influential.
I wanna take this oportunity to share what brought me into this genre: Uaral, a short lived band from Chile. Very strongly tied to our folk roots with dark atmosphere and gut-wrenching vocals.
I live with one of the incredible string band adjacents believe it or not, and get hash off of one of the old guitarists too lol :p. Exuma is a great little shout, I listen to Baal pretty much every week and have done for yonks
I love Of The Wand & The Moon..... I've been listening to them since I was 15 years old, now 38. I never got into any other Neofolk really, other than the very album you put on screen. Lost In Emptiness is just such a great song for an impressionable young mind. Or maybe not, but it felt that way for me!
A few years back, I found a copy of Current 93's "Dogs Blood Rising" for sale on Discogs. Turned out it was a record store about a 20 minute drive from where I live, so I went to pick it up, I'm always up for a visit to a decent record store. While I'm standing at the cash register talking to the guy behind it, there's this older dude, early 50's I guess, and he sees what I had on the counter, and he starts talking about all the similar stuff he has, the rare stuff in his collection, and so on. Now, I don't mind someone talking about his interests and I love hearing about what someone else has in his collection, but this dude was just out to brag. At one point he asks me if I happened to know (you're gonna have to make up your own obscure name here, because I forgot what he said), adding that they were 'very experimental', and because of that, very obscure and hard to find, but he had it at home. I asked him back if said act was 'experimental experimental' or more in the category of 'so bad we'll just call it experimental'. The guy behind the counter bit his lip and became very interested in a piece of paper on the counter, while 'experimental music guy' pulled a face as if I just pissed all over his shoes. If looks could've killed, my insides would've been splattered all over the drum 'n' bass section of the record store, hehe. Anyways, another good one as always! Keep it up, my man!
Here's another way of interpreting your interaction....part of the enjoyment of collecting things is talking to people with similar interests about what you each have and that he decided to do that with you was his way of complimenting you for your good taste in music.
The material on 'Fire of Life' by Changes was written between 1969 and 1973, so I feel they need to be mentioned, not only for historical significance as far as the origins of neo folk goes, but also for the sheer quality of the songwriting. My personal neo folk favorite though, is definitely the Ostara album 'Secret Homeland'; an absolute gorgeously beautiful release. For a more experimental approach, I have always loved the Scivias album '..And You Will Fear Death Not'; a truly unique neo folk masterpiece of a concept album.
Wyatt, I don't know if you've ever heard of the man, but Simon Finn is quite literally one of the most unique figures within Psych Folk and especially Freak Folk I've ever encountered and his album 'Pass the Distance' is one of the most odd, beautiful and mesmerizing works of the genre I've ever heard. Please give a listen to his work. Absolutely loved the video.
Awesome a video I neofolk from you! I remember when I started venturing for the first time in 2010 👀 it's been an adventure ever since and I uploaded Espers 1st album onto UA-cam
Truly a good overview of the history. I remember listening to Nature Unveiled ages ago eventually I Have A Special Plan. Had to actually stop a ways into them and take it in chunks until I got over how freaky they are. When Tibet isn't doing Neofolk, he's usually on a power trip from the depths of Hell. Utilizing every and any strange and uneasy soundscape known to civilization
very good and informative video as always. you introduced me to this style of music a few years back and i have become very intrigued by it as well. i look forward to checking out some of the artists you mentioned such as Comus, Exuma, Backworld, and Holy Locust. I also agree with you about Derniere Volonte being categorized as neofolk, as it doesn’t seem that fitting to me either. i guess it makes sense with his past with martial industrial which is linked with neofolk to an extent and his more “folky” instrumentation on his later records. thanks for another great video. its always good to learn more about things such as these
Bonne video Mes groupes préférés son Apres certains classiques de c93/dij/sol invictus / Fire +ice, blood axis, camerata mediolanence,forseti, der blutharsch, von thronsthal, The moon lay hidden beneath a cloud . Le groupe métal empyrium tres bon aussi
great opening course to the genre. would be cool to see you do a deep dive on themes and intentions of the bands, and especially the mindset in the 80s of the originator's of the genre.
I got into Neofolk late, in the 2000’s mostly through DJ Merrick’s Aural Apocalypse podcast. Does anyone have a link for all of those? I can only find links for about four of them. But this has to be my favorite of your shows!
I was really amazed to see this in my feed since I listen to Neofolk all the time lately, switched from BM. It is just a phase. Got some recommendations to listen after. Thx.
great video! lots of new albums to listen to. thee oh sees did freak folk stuff at first, not exactly essential, but sucks blood and memory of a cut off head are two lovely folk albums
I found this video really interesting from my own perspective because I have only ever associated groups like Heilung and Wardruna with the neofolk genre. I'm not a huge fan of either one, but I'm a huge folk metal fan so they're always on the periphery of the genre and the subculture I associate with. I wouldn't have classified any of the other groups as neofolk or even considered that neofolk was a label that could be applied to any of them. My complete experience with the neofolk label began and ended with Germanic neopagan dark folk music projects, the only one of which I really like is Garmarna. Happy to learn more accurate knowledge though! I went and listened to some of the other neofolk artists you mentioned and I can't say that I love any of them. I guess this really isn't my genre, but then I never liked Wardruna or Heilung much either.
2 of the more important people I think you missed from the history of neofolk are Nico (Nico from velvet underground fame, who has some of the darkest folk songs!) and Changes. Lovely video!
My homeland of the PNW of North America has some great unappreciated acts in this genre. Waldteufel, Novemthree, Alethes, The Elemental Chrysalis, Night Profound. A lot of very unique stuff to be found there.
An adjacent style is Hauntology, exemplified by the Ghost Box label. This genre is a mixture of Wicker Man esque folk, public information film music and electronica. This music can be unsettling and nostalgic. Bands include The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group, Broadcast, Pye Corner and Belbury Poly. The closest thing to actual Neofolk on Ghost Box is Hintermass. It sounds like music from a dream sequence on Summerisle - nostalgic, winsome yet unsettling.
nice overview of the history! many great albums mentioned here. i think you under-emphasized the right wing and neopagan influence in the genre especially wrt di6. it’s less bleedthrough and more of direct inspiration for doug p and his copycats. the politicization of the “apocalyptic” side of the genre is important for so many outfits in the genre. would also recommend “england’s hidden reverse” by david keenan for more on the history of current 93 and its contemporaries to anyone interested
Well done! Btw: Current 93 actually did a splendid cover version of Comus' "Diana"... Some suggestions regarding american Neofolk/Darkfolk: In Gowan Ring, Harvest Rain (with a massive coldwave edge), In Ruin, Luftwaffe/Et Nihil (like Blood Axis, more a neofolk/martial industrial hybrid)
It's easy to overlook a lot of continental european artists from the nineties like a lot of the ones that are featured on the Taste This compilation series (which are probably pretty hard to find nowadays) such as In My Rosary and That Summer and Italy had quite a few artists like Ataraxia, Ordo Equitim Solis, and Kirlian Camera, although people might consider those more neo-classical. I would have never discovered these artists w/o being into Death In June and Sol Invictus.
Great overview! I appreciate the work you put in, those of us who’ve loved this genre for 40+ years approve! Just a minor correction, and apologies if someone has brought it up or if I missed something, but I don’t believe Marc Almond contributed to the excellent album ‘Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude’. He has contributed, as you mentioned, to several albums from the collective artists - just not that seminal offering as far as I know.
Thank you for the introduction. I read or watched an Interview in the 90s with Varg Vikerns of Burzum that said that his drive for making music, clear of influences of rock and pop, was because of his extreme race views. That we here in Scandinavia should not make anything that came from Africa or from other races and stated it was pure or some shit. Would you say that the driving forces of Current 93 and Death In June, was a similar to Varg in the beginning?
Thank you for this great video, the explaining and suggestions. Maybe Neurosis somehow has brougt something to the table too with their sideproject Bland and Time and Tribes of Neurot?
Just a useless reflection inspired by some good comments here regarding the the links between fascist-adjacent ideas and neofolk. First of all, I want to make clear that I don't want to involve my personal political beliefs here: yes, I have my biases (like anyone) due to my cultural and national background (I'm Italian), but I hope that my point could be appreciated anyway. WWII is probably one of the main topics of neofolk, and we know that, and I'd say this fascination has its roots in the ideals of industrial music: the "RE/Search No. 6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook" uses an expression that I find really vivid, which is "post-Holocaust culture". Industrial is per se a provocative reflection about living in a post-catastrophe, post-morality world, and the fracture IS WWII. This conflict, the bloodiest in the whole human history, is ideally the endpoint of a long evolution within European thought from the sparks of Romanticism at the beginning of XIX century, through positivism and social darwinism going hand in hand, to the "scientific" justification of nationalism and, finally, to the birth of the various continental fascisms and to the two world wars: a downward spiral toward destruction. In this sense, neofolk looks like a reflection upon the ruins of the Western World crumbled upon itself (Stefan Zweig would have talked about “Die Welt von Gestern”, the World of yesterday). And, although I can see why someone would get back to certain ideals, at the same time, doesn’t History objectively show that those ideals are the source of that mourned decay? So why wanting to get back to them? And I say this as someone who is fond of the culture of his country and studies it. I think that David Tibet said it best and in the most equilibrate way in “A Song of Douglas”: “Though empires can not last Where blood and soil's concepts Have faltered and failed” I’m wondering if Douglas has ever answered to this song, considering that he IS on the album. That’s it: peace y’all, fellas.
I'm glad you brought up Agalloch, they were my gateway into neofolk. The Mantle is obviously heavily influenced by neofolk, but they also have The White EP which is 100% beautiful folk/neofolk.
It was my most awaited video of the year, cheers man. Finding Rome (and then the whole neofolk genre) was one of the most important things in my music life and I will forever be in your debt for that. A couple of Jerome's albums are not available on streaming or UA-cam (Haus der Flieger, Batter und Steine, etc.). I'm tempted to order them withouth sampleing first, but could you tell a bit about them if you've heard them?
You overlooked *Brown Book* by *Death In June* , *Fruits Of Yggdrasil* by *Sixth Comm* and *Freya Aswynn* , and *Gilded By The Sun* by *Fire+Ice* . These three albums are pure gold and true milestones. As for non-English bands, you overlooked *Ordo Equitum Solis* , *The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud* and *Forseti* to name just a few.
forseti was peblicited by douglas pearce at the time.. jensig their first album with these accordion layers and this voice in German is fantastic in the genre, after 3 albums and the end of the group because of the andreas ritter accident.
You kinda stepped aside from the real breaking point of Tibet/P's relationship... Douglas P was obsessed with sketchy imagery and getting close to it ideologically, so Tibet reacted critically to P's radicalization to the right in songs such as Rome and A Song for Douglas after he's dead. I believe their breakup has much more to do with that than with Tiny Tim, seeing that Current 93 has been a stepping point for LGBT artists from Marc Almond to Anohni...
![Megadeth - BUS INVADERS (Revisited) Ep. 261 [2013]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uWu8j2JIdys/mqdefault.jpg)
Great video and absolutely agreed about Exuma. The obeah man! Its a shame the first record had never been re-pressed. I dropped a pretty penny on it recently and do not regret it. The history around the project and its relation to Bahamian spiritual practice and black power is worth diggin into. Not to mention Nina Simoné's cover of Dambala. Somehow for me Exuma runs a cool parallel to the most spiritual side of Neo-Folk Waldteuful and Kinit-Her and Romove Rokoito come to mind. Regarding D.E.E. check the liner notes on a few early woven hand records the denver sound is closely related to Big Bad Bob's Absinthe Studio. Tangentally check out Antony and The Johnsons have connections to Backworld C93 and Lou Reed.
One of the best descriptions of Tibet's singing I ever read was that he sounded like an excited old antiques dealer, showing uou around his treasures 😄
Awesome video! You got some of the best, most organic and real analyses on UA-cam. Keep up the good work man!
Yes, and no stupid pictures and fake videos as background. Just natural talk of knowledge 🤘
Oh shit a neofolk video. Bro your taste is amazing, so glad I found this channel.
Some honorable mentions that come to mind would be The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud for "classic" neofolk and King Dude for modern neofolk. Great video as always.
Its cool to see you talking about Neofolk again, you are probably one of the only UA-camrs I know of besides Russian speaking ones that talks about neofolk at all. It would be interesting to see you do a "Death in June Explained" type video or of the other neofolk projects like Of The Wand And The Moon or Current 93. If for nothing else than to give a very slept on genre some more exposure.
Kudos for the research man, great work as always! looking forward for that Coil video!
never heard any neo folk song, but this dude is just great at telling me stuff i didnt know were that interesting
Brasileiro?
gambá
He's your accidental protege
You never mentioned The Moon lay hidden beneath a Cloud!
To me, that was the ultimate neo folk band, that drew inspiration from the medieval times....
However, probably the best presentation on neofolk on You Tube! Thanks! Really enjoyed your video!
(Subscribed....)
First Utterance by Comus, what a masterpice! Love your deep dive in this one! Keep going cheers from italy
This is a great video and a great contribution. I suggest that you should have included Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, Born Again by Blood Axis, Sonne Hagal, Sixth Comm, Spiritual Front, Ordo Equitum Solis, Ataraxia, Seven Pines, and others. Der Blutsarch should have been included.
The omission of FIre + Ice is definitely an issue, though. Birdking was absolutely definitive, and drew on the group you mentioned earlier.
Yes !
Wow, thanks for reminding me of Revolution Army of Infant Jesus. Pretty sure I have a cd somewhere.
Great video. Totally agree on Nature and Organisation. One of my favourite albums. Completely unique.
When it comes to US neofolk I really like Harvest Rain. And the Drainland album by M. Gira is great.
Another one of my go to's are Naevus - Relatively close to the sea and Spritual Front's Armageddon gigolo.
The inclusion of ‘Wicker Man’ OST (performed by the session band Magnet, fronted by composer Paul Giovanni) was spot on, not at all a weird choice. In fact, (if you haven’t already) you should check out ‘Looking for Europe: The Neofolk Compendium’ - the inclusion of ‘Willow’s Song’ is completey viable & fitting. And, with the mention of this compilation, I would be remiss to neglect mentioning Changes and Phase II. Highly recommended and, as you can tell from the timeline they fall in (1969/1979, Changes was reactivated in the 2000s), highly influential to the neofolk / apocalyptic folk genres as they were tapping into an almost-progressive, yet very haunting sound. Go look for the Changes collection, ‘Fire of Life’. Absolutely essential for this family tree/bloodline of sonic output.
First time I meet another person who knows Changes
@@Oskar81671good to meet you, fellow deep musick lover!
I think comments that emphasise the rootedness of neo-folk in neo-right ideology have a point. I'm not primarily concerned here with anti-fascist activism. So it's not so important whether the musicians in question have only read Evola and Codreanu or are actually active in such political contexts. I think this point is important to distinguish neo-folk from 60s psychedelic folk, indie folk and other experimental interpretations of this style. A romanticised view of pre-industrial life is a central trope of most folk styles. Neofolk, however, goes far beyond this, asserting a unity between the biological world of race and the spiritual world of the soul that has been destroyed by modernity. Calls for re-enchantment and re-wilding are then no longer just expressions of anti-modernism. They are directly rooted in the traditions of the racial doctrine of the völkisch movement.
I think “race” is the wrong word though as it’s something that only really became part of public consciousness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The much older notion is the attachment of cultural identity to natural geography. The problem with the modern world that evokes such strong nostalgia is the fact that people can no longer identify with a geographic “home”. In the modern world everyone is constantly on the move and we are not rooted at all to the land we live on. I don’t see this as inherently right wing or political.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820
These are very important aspects. Landscape as nature, which becomes a human home through culture, is a central trope of folklore and the existential arc of agrarian society. An idea that is the root of all evil for primitivist followers of hunter-gatherer societies.
"Landscape that / invented me" is a saying by the German-speaking Jewish-Bukovinian poet Rose Ausländer. Foreigner in the sense of living in exile, being exiled, incidentally comes from the Middle High German ellende, to come from abroad, not to be at home, which in turn provides the root for Elend, misery. In the German cultural imagination foreigners / aliens are therefore miserable people. Of course, this is not yet scientific racism, nor is it inherently right-wing. What homeland or homelessness mean, however, are central political problems.
@@marshallsweatherhiking1820This is mainly the case in the west and more developed countries. There are plenty of people in the world who still have an organic attachment to their geography, and have had that attachment for hundreds of years. It’s the alienation of modernity and Capitalism that really alienates the white / western affectivity. “Sons of the East guards well trained”
@marshallsweatherhiking1820 I think it has precisely become right wing and it extends to the immigration dilemma.
@@Octavian2 But modern nationalism is different. I don’t think there was such a thing as Norse nationalism, because Norse culture was all people knew. It was the entire world to them before other empires came. People had way more local allegiances.
Really great video, really good stuff and most of my favorites are there.
I think it's important to note Ulver as well (when talking about Agalloch too) since they were one of the pioneers imo.
Some of my biggest influences are Tenhi & Vali and older folk artists like Bert Jansch for sure.
Agree with Beauty Reaps The Blood Of Solitude being the best album in Neofolk
Another outstanding analysis which will influence my music taste and hence my life. Thanks.
The incredible string band! No one ever mentions them!
Neo Folk inspiration : can’t forget about the Pentangle. Bert Jansch sang many dark songs with that European / Anglo style
And let’s not leave out the velvet underground and the solo albums from Nico
vashti bunyan sounds a lot like pentagnle,
Bert Jansch absolutely did not sing in an Anglo style. The guy's a Scottish legend. Gotta love the Pentangle.
@@robertsteinberger5667 pentangle had multiple singers
So glad to see another Bert Jansch fan here
Quality content, as usual.
Thnx Bro!
I fucking hate you
I think dead Can Dance mustbe mentioned, especially their 1990 album AION.
i've always considered Neoclassical Darkwave and Neofolk to be pretty adjacent genres, maybe not so much in the musicians and influences, but in sound, and i bet there is a lot of overlap in fans
excellent music but nothing to do with neofolk
They’re definitely ethereal. Many many neofolk artists show influence from them though ! Why, Golgotha, Scandinavian neofolk band, covered Black sun
That's world music. Travis meeks might be though.
@@MRSludgedude I like days of the new and all, but not every dark acoustic guitar music is automatically neofolk. In that case Nick Cave, whom I also love, would be mentioned too
Good video. You have, as usual, the most interesting content about “metal-related” music on UA-cam. May I suggest, as an addition to the bands / acts you mentioned, Neurosis as yet another band that have flirted with apocalyptic folk / neofolk several times during their career? Some of their records match both the aesthetic and the philosophy of certain neofolk acts (mainly those from the late 80s / early 90s) as well as the overall atmosphere and, on top of that, Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly’s respective solo projects have often offered a quite experimental take on folk and country infusing them with an evident sense of apocalyptic doom end despair. Last but not least I would also add Michael Gira’s side project Angels Of Light with its blend of folk instrumentation and existential / apocalyptic lyrics. My two cents.
Nice shout out to Exuma. A true hidden gem. Can't wait for the full Coil video!
Thank you for always putting links in the description, its hard to stop doing what im doing at work and search for stuff.
I discovered Beauty Reaps The Blood Of Solitude through your other video about neofolk, and now it is one of my favourite albums. Great work, as usual!
"The sorrow of things
how lovely, how sad"
Huh...just created a neofolk playlist and dipped into that cosmos for the first time, and now you made this video. Perfect timing brother, thanks
Again, thank you for your videos. I'm discovering so much great music because of you.
I would mention FORSETI alongside :of the wand and the moon: amongst the most accessible dark folk projects around the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately Forseti is not available on Spotify, but their/his albums Erde and Windzeit which can be found on UA-cam are just the most beautiful and accessible folk music you can find
Absolutely
Thanks for another quality content. You could also mention bands like Fire + Ice, Hexvessel, Tenhi, In Gowan Ring, Spiritual Front and many more but I understand that the video would be too long. Concerning predecessors of neofolk and dark folk, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Nico, Pentangle, Spirogyra, Strawbs and Changes are also worth mentioning. By the way, are you familiar with the krautrock band Sand? Current 93 covered one of the songs from their only album Golem (released in 1974). Some of the vocals on that record sound very similar to those of David Tibet.
Thanks for the dive. Never heard much Neo-Folk but will use your video as a guide 👍
Excellent overview. You nailed it.
Nice topic. An absolute must is the compilation Looking for Europe: The Neofolk Compendium from 2005 which has most of the band you mentioned here and more, an amazing starter for new listeners
Been waiting on this one
Hmm - great work and description.. the moon lay hidden beneath a cloud then der Blutharsch would be worth mentioning… Albin played also as part of DIJ and a lot of the bands you described where in the same label… take care
Fantastic video! Please continue making these! Was waiting to see if anyone would mention Cromagnon. Some early examples of this style appear on their one and only album, specifically on tracks such as 'Caledonia'. Oddly enough, I'd also recommend Sonny Sharrock's 'Black Woman' album recorded and released about the same time in the late 60's. I believe anyone who checks those out will see some correlation in what would later appear in the 'Neo Folk' sound.
An underrated component, I would say, is Charlie Manson's "LIE" album and the Family Jam's album, which only came out in 1986-87 but was published by Genesis P-Orridge, a collaborator of David Tibet. IMO, 'Swastikas for Noddy' has some Family Jams elements on it, and Tibet extensively references the Manson Family. Charlie's music is definitely 'apocalyptic'.
I came here to say the same thing. Glad I'm not the only one who acknowledges this
When I saw the title, I wondered if you'd mention Comus... and you did! :)
I saw Death In June in Baltimore some years ago. I felt blessed to get the opportunity to see him. I don’t believe there will never be another chance.
I'm a fan from China and I really love this video! I was wondering if it'd be cool to translate it into Chinese and share it on "Bilibili"? I’ll definitely credit you and link back to the original video. It's just so well made!🥰
Sure,
As long as you credit Wyatt.
Hey man just wanted to say that i love the vibes of these videos. I find it extremely jarring when music channels constantly cut in clips of songs, whereas your vids are like having a cool uninterrupted discussion (albeit a one sided one, obviously haha). Plus, you don't go over the top with the "hEy ThErE gUyS!!" fake persona. Keep up the chill energy and interesting topics man. Hails! 🤘🏻🍻
Great video on a rarely discussed genre. 'The Seahorse Rears To Oblivion' is one of my favourite songs.
Really awesome video! Thank you for the research, it's very interesting for those who just recently became aware of this genre!
Great video man! I've been listening to this music for about 30 years. Never bothered to really dig too deep in its history though, so this video really helps me put the puzzle together. There are a few bands you mentioned that I may not have heard, so I'm going to spend some time checking them out. I am so glad you mentioned Heilung and Wardruna at the end. While they don't seem at first like neofolk/A.F., they are definitely adjacent to it and are very influential.
I wanna take this oportunity to share what brought me into this genre: Uaral, a short lived band from Chile. Very strongly tied to our folk roots with dark atmosphere and gut-wrenching vocals.
SONG BATTLE: Oasis "Wonderwall" vs Current 93 "I have a special plan for this world" comments below 👇👇👇
Finally! Been waiting for this one.
I live with one of the incredible string band adjacents believe it or not, and get hash off of one of the old guitarists too lol :p. Exuma is a great little shout, I listen to Baal pretty much every week and have done for yonks
I love Of The Wand & The Moon..... I've been listening to them since I was 15 years old, now 38. I never got into any other Neofolk really, other than the very album you put on screen. Lost In Emptiness is just such a great song for an impressionable young mind. Or maybe not, but it felt that way for me!
Top tier neofolk content, thank you Wyatt! Honestly i think Boyd Rice needs more recognision
A few years back, I found a copy of Current 93's "Dogs Blood Rising" for sale on Discogs. Turned out it was a record store about a 20 minute drive from where I live, so I went to pick it up, I'm always up for a visit to a decent record store. While I'm standing at the cash register talking to the guy behind it, there's this older dude, early 50's I guess, and he sees what I had on the counter, and he starts talking about all the similar stuff he has, the rare stuff in his collection, and so on. Now, I don't mind someone talking about his interests and I love hearing about what someone else has in his collection, but this dude was just out to brag. At one point he asks me if I happened to know (you're gonna have to make up your own obscure name here, because I forgot what he said), adding that they were 'very experimental', and because of that, very obscure and hard to find, but he had it at home. I asked him back if said act was 'experimental experimental' or more in the category of 'so bad we'll just call it experimental'. The guy behind the counter bit his lip and became very interested in a piece of paper on the counter, while 'experimental music guy' pulled a face as if I just pissed all over his shoes. If looks could've killed, my insides would've been splattered all over the drum 'n' bass section of the record store, hehe.
Anyways, another good one as always! Keep it up, my man!
@SunwheelOnTheHelmetOfSteel Telling him off wasn't entirely what I had in mind, but sometimes the mouth verbalizes what pops up in the brain, I guess.
Here's another way of interpreting your interaction....part of the enjoyment of collecting things is talking to people with similar interests about what you each have and that he decided to do that with you was his way of complimenting you for your good taste in music.
The material on 'Fire of Life' by Changes was written between 1969 and 1973, so I feel they need to be mentioned, not only for historical significance as far as the origins of neo folk goes, but also for the sheer quality of the songwriting.
My personal neo folk favorite though, is definitely the Ostara album 'Secret Homeland'; an absolute gorgeously beautiful release.
For a more experimental approach, I have always loved the Scivias album '..And You Will Fear Death Not'; a truly unique neo folk masterpiece of a concept album.
Changes definitely a fundament. Scivias. They are my long time friends. "And you will fear. . ." is a masterpiece.
@@dr.paroczipeter838 Indeed! 👍
Immediately recognized Henryk Vogel's voice in the background. Such a gem. 🖤
thanks a lot! In the last days i'm readin "Englands hidden reverse" by david keenan- so this video is here timed perfectly :)
Maybe it's just my personal experience, but Kristin Hayter's "Saved!" gives me strong neofolk vibes
That is an awesome C93 shirt! best album too
i love DI6
Wyatt, I don't know if you've ever heard of the man, but Simon Finn is quite literally one of the most unique figures within Psych Folk and especially Freak Folk I've ever encountered and his album 'Pass the Distance' is one of the most odd, beautiful and mesmerizing works of the genre I've ever heard. Please give a listen to his work.
Absolutely loved the video.
Loving the correct pronunciation of "folk"! Please keep it up.😊
Great work as usual
Awesome a video I neofolk from you! I remember when I started venturing for the first time in 2010 👀 it's been an adventure ever since and I uploaded Espers 1st album onto UA-cam
5hank U so much for putting this together 🍻👍🏽
Sorry if this has already happened, but please do a video on The Body?🤞🏽
The first King Dude album is total Neo Folk
Truly a good overview of the history. I remember listening to Nature Unveiled ages ago eventually I Have A Special Plan. Had to actually stop a ways into them and take it in chunks until I got over how freaky they are. When Tibet isn't doing Neofolk, he's usually on a power trip from the depths of Hell. Utilizing every and any strange and uneasy soundscape known to civilization
very good and informative video as always. you introduced me to this style of music a few years back and i have become very intrigued by it as well. i look forward to checking out some of the artists you mentioned such as Comus, Exuma, Backworld, and Holy Locust. I also agree with you about Derniere Volonte being categorized as neofolk, as it doesn’t seem that fitting to me either. i guess it makes sense with his past with martial industrial which is linked with neofolk to an extent and his more “folky” instrumentation on his later records. thanks for another great video. its always good to learn more about things such as these
THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO ALOT OF NEWER NEO FOLK BANDS IVE NEVER HEARD OF
Nice video. I've had an interest in this genre (as well as martial industrial) ever since I heard Woodkid, but I hadn't looked that deep into it.
Bonne video
Mes groupes préférés son
Apres certains classiques de c93/dij/sol invictus /
Fire +ice, blood axis, camerata mediolanence,forseti, der blutharsch, von thronsthal,
The moon lay hidden beneath a
cloud .
Le groupe métal empyrium tres bon aussi
YES!
i might have yelled when i saw this i love neofolk and industrial so much
great opening course to the genre. would be cool to see you do a deep dive on themes and intentions of the bands, and especially the mindset in the 80s of the originator's of the genre.
I got into Neofolk late, in the 2000’s mostly through DJ Merrick’s Aural Apocalypse podcast. Does anyone have a link for all of those? I can only find links for about four of them. But this has to be my favorite of your shows!
Need more neofolk analysis videos so bad, ty for this!! The only other decent one is by Charlie Looker, "Death in June vs Current 93".
Very well presented!
great video!!
I was really amazed to see this in my feed since I listen to Neofolk all the time lately, switched from BM. It is just a phase. Got some recommendations to listen after. Thx.
great video! lots of new albums to listen to. thee oh sees did freak folk stuff at first, not exactly essential, but sucks blood and memory of a cut off head are two lovely folk albums
King Dude “My Beloved Ghost”. The artist and album that got me into Neofolk. He’s also recorded with Chelsea Wolf.
Great! Needs a pt.2. 👍
I found this video really interesting from my own perspective because I have only ever associated groups like Heilung and Wardruna with the neofolk genre. I'm not a huge fan of either one, but I'm a huge folk metal fan so they're always on the periphery of the genre and the subculture I associate with. I wouldn't have classified any of the other groups as neofolk or even considered that neofolk was a label that could be applied to any of them. My complete experience with the neofolk label began and ended with Germanic neopagan dark folk music projects, the only one of which I really like is Garmarna.
Happy to learn more accurate knowledge though! I went and listened to some of the other neofolk artists you mentioned and I can't say that I love any of them. I guess this really isn't my genre, but then I never liked Wardruna or Heilung much either.
Absolutely nailing it with this one, and raising the bar for analysis and commentary. ❤
2 of the more important people I think you missed from the history of neofolk are Nico (Nico from velvet underground fame, who has some of the darkest folk songs!) and Changes.
Lovely video!
My homeland of the PNW of North America has some great unappreciated acts in this genre. Waldteufel, Novemthree, Alethes, The Elemental Chrysalis, Night Profound. A lot of very unique stuff to be found there.
Wyatt yet cooks again 👌👌fav UA-camr
Holy Locust is amazing and one of my favorite bands. They played a show in my basement a few years ago and brought around 60 travelers with them
bravo nice video always interesting
Great Video, would add Unto Ashes, Also though Psych-Folk - The Espers~ great moody anthems on their first couple of albums.
An adjacent style is Hauntology, exemplified by the Ghost Box label. This genre is a mixture of Wicker Man esque folk, public information film music and electronica. This music can be unsettling and nostalgic. Bands include The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group, Broadcast, Pye Corner and Belbury Poly.
The closest thing to actual Neofolk on Ghost Box is Hintermass. It sounds like music from a dream sequence on Summerisle - nostalgic, winsome yet unsettling.
nice overview of the history! many great albums mentioned here. i think you under-emphasized the right wing and neopagan influence in the genre especially wrt di6. it’s less bleedthrough and more of direct inspiration for doug p and his copycats. the politicization of the “apocalyptic” side of the genre is important for so many outfits in the genre.
would also recommend “england’s hidden reverse” by david keenan for more on the history of current 93 and its contemporaries to anyone interested
Well done! Btw: Current 93 actually did a splendid cover version of Comus' "Diana"...
Some suggestions regarding american Neofolk/Darkfolk: In Gowan Ring, Harvest Rain (with a massive coldwave edge), In Ruin, Luftwaffe/Et Nihil (like Blood Axis, more a neofolk/martial industrial hybrid)
It's easy to overlook a lot of continental european artists from the nineties like a lot of the ones that are featured on the Taste This compilation series (which are probably pretty hard to find nowadays) such as In My Rosary and That Summer and Italy had quite a few artists like Ataraxia, Ordo Equitim Solis, and Kirlian Camera, although people might consider those more neo-classical. I would have never discovered these artists w/o being into Death In June and Sol Invictus.
Thunder Perfect Mind is such a beautiful yet strange record in my view. I love Current 93
Great overview! I appreciate the work you put in, those of us who’ve loved this genre for 40+ years approve! Just a minor correction, and apologies if someone has brought it up or if I missed something, but I don’t believe Marc Almond contributed to the excellent album ‘Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude’. He has contributed, as you mentioned, to several albums from the collective artists - just not that seminal offering as far as I know.
Ok now make video on martial industrial please
Thank you for the introduction. I read or watched an Interview in the 90s with Varg Vikerns of Burzum that said that his drive for making music, clear of influences of rock and pop, was because of his extreme race views. That we here in Scandinavia should not make anything that came from Africa or from other races and stated it was pure or some shit. Would you say that the driving forces of Current 93 and Death In June, was a similar to Varg in the beginning?
Thank you for this great video, the explaining and suggestions. Maybe Neurosis somehow has brougt something to the table too with their sideproject Bland and Time and Tribes of Neurot?
THANKS FOR MENTIONING EXUMA!
but how could you mention the pioneers of Neofolk without bringing up Patrick Leagas?
Just a useless reflection inspired by some good comments here regarding the the links between fascist-adjacent ideas and neofolk. First of all, I want to make clear that I don't want to involve my personal political beliefs here: yes, I have my biases (like anyone) due to my cultural and national background (I'm Italian), but I hope that my point could be appreciated anyway.
WWII is probably one of the main topics of neofolk, and we know that, and I'd say this fascination has its roots in the ideals of industrial music: the "RE/Search No. 6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook" uses an expression that I find really vivid, which is "post-Holocaust culture". Industrial is per se a provocative reflection about living in a post-catastrophe, post-morality world, and the fracture IS WWII. This conflict, the bloodiest in the whole human history, is ideally the endpoint of a long evolution within European thought from the sparks of Romanticism at the beginning of XIX century, through positivism and social darwinism going hand in hand, to the "scientific" justification of nationalism and, finally, to the birth of the various continental fascisms and to the two world wars: a downward spiral toward destruction. In this sense, neofolk looks like a reflection upon the ruins of the Western World crumbled upon itself (Stefan Zweig would have talked about “Die Welt von Gestern”, the World of yesterday). And, although I can see why someone would get back to certain ideals, at the same time, doesn’t History objectively show that those ideals are the source of that mourned decay? So why wanting to get back to them? And I say this as someone who is fond of the culture of his country and studies it.
I think that David Tibet said it best and in the most equilibrate way in “A Song of Douglas”:
“Though empires can not last
Where blood and soil's concepts
Have faltered and failed”
I’m wondering if Douglas has ever answered to this song, considering that he IS on the album.
That’s it: peace y’all, fellas.
Beautifully written. Posts like this make the comment column on this channel a rewarding read.
@@7919dd Thank you very much for the nice words! It was your post that made me ponder a bit :)
I'm glad you brought up Agalloch, they were my gateway into neofolk. The Mantle is obviously heavily influenced by neofolk, but they also have The White EP which is 100% beautiful folk/neofolk.
love the t-shirt 🙇♂
It was my most awaited video of the year, cheers man. Finding Rome (and then the whole neofolk genre) was one of the most important things in my music life and I will forever be in your debt for that.
A couple of Jerome's albums are not available on streaming or UA-cam (Haus der Flieger, Batter und Steine, etc.). I'm tempted to order them withouth sampleing first, but could you tell a bit about them if you've heard them?
You overlooked *Brown Book* by *Death In June* , *Fruits Of Yggdrasil* by *Sixth Comm* and *Freya Aswynn* , and *Gilded By The Sun* by *Fire+Ice* . These three albums are pure gold and true milestones. As for non-English bands, you overlooked *Ordo Equitum Solis* , *The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud* and *Forseti* to name just a few.
forseti was peblicited by douglas pearce at the time.. jensig their first album with these accordion layers and this voice in German is fantastic in the genre, after 3 albums and the end of the group because of the andreas ritter accident.
You kinda stepped aside from the real breaking point of Tibet/P's relationship... Douglas P was obsessed with sketchy imagery and getting close to it ideologically, so Tibet reacted critically to P's radicalization to the right in songs such as Rome and A Song for Douglas after he's dead. I believe their breakup has much more to do with that than with Tiny Tim, seeing that Current 93 has been a stepping point for LGBT artists from Marc Almond to Anohni...