Anti-Folk | The Rock Snob's Definition

Anti-Folk: Hazily defined genre originally inhabited by young white tenement squatters who combined folk and punk sensibilities, but more recently embodied by LO-FI pretend rustics Will Oldham and Bill Callahan, who under their aliases (Palace and Bonnie “Prince” Billy for Oldham, Smog for Callahan), thrum acoustic guitars and warble ominous murder-ballad lyrics in the style of the authentic twenties hayseeds heard on Harry Smith’s ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC. The anti-folk movement (which took it’s name from English acousti-punk Billy Bragg’s description of his own sound) traces its origins to a scroungy eighties Lower East Side scene that spawned, among others, Beck, Michelle Shocked, Cindy Lee Berryhill, and Ani DiFranco.

Definition from the Rock Snob’s Dictionary.
(words in CAPS also defined in the book)

Previously

Sage Francis vs Will Oldham | A Healthy Distrust
No Superwolf Instores for Me
Beck @ Hiro Ballroom, NYC | Pics
Joanna Newsom News | Hal Willner, (Smog)
More Reports From the Drag City Christmas Party
Freak Folk & Pixies in the NY Times

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