Reviews: folk

Recently there seems to be a lot of interest in Ô Paradis judging by the recent releases and collaborations of this artist. This new album has a darker sound as before.

It took me quite some time to write a review on this record. I really needed a lot of time to listen to the music on Destello de Estrellas en la Frenta to fully appreciate it. Don’t understand me wrong, from the first time I put on the disc I liked what I heard but even though the sounds are relaxing and tranquil it is not an easy album…

When you write about music for years, you could get the urge to be more actively involved in the production process yourself. Perhaps that’s why Nathalie and Ian of Heimdallr webzine started their own label: Autre Que. They managed to have an interesting first release: an EP by Catalonian artist Ô Paradis, with Juergen Weber of Novy Svet as special guest…

This is already the third album by Ukrainian folkpop band Flëur on Prikosnovénie (and their fourth album in total). In general Siyanie is a logical sequel to their album Magic and basically it is more of the same. But, in this case I am not complaining. The magical folk pop of this band is something that never really tires me…

This album by In Gowan Ring, the psychedelic folk project around B’Eirth, contains material recorded in the period 1999-2001. “Hazel steps…” was originally made available by Bluesanct in 2002. Now the young Swiss label Shayo has released a welcome reissue. It comes as a nice digipack, with a 16-page booklet containing all the lyrics…

This compilation in honour of the German poet Eichendorff is initiated by Uwe Nolte’s publishing company Noltex. Therefore it is not surprising that his group Orplid is present with two songs, as well as related acts like Sonnentau and Barditus. Furthermore there are some other well-known neofolk acts present, like Forseti, Sonne Hagal and Waldteufel…

Only the third album by Romowe Rikoito, which was formed in Kaliningrad in 1995. While their previous albums appeared on the Russian label Brudenia, they now are taken care of by Ars Benevola Mater from Italy. People who heard their earlier work won’t be too surprised by the style of “Astradeiwa”. Romowe Rikoito play a romantic form of dark folk music with many neo-classical influences…

Yet another split / collaboration cd. It seems to be the new trend these days. This time one of the best apocalyptic music bands, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, and a well known dark folk band, Spiritual Front, teamed up. On the cd are two tracks which the bands made together. Next to that both bands contributed three individual tracks…

After the album “Lucifer” (2003) it became relatively silent around :Of The Wand & The Moon:. Though new albums from this Danish darlk folk act have been announced for a while, there were only some reissues in the meantime. Now there is a sign of life with this 2-track vinyl single…

A reissue of the out of print 10″ vinyl single, released by Eis & Licht a few years ago. The original five tracks have been remastered and remixed, sounding quite clear. They are accompanied by two extra pieces: a long but not spectacular live version of ‘Midnight Will’ and a short untitled instrumental piece which is not very interesting either…

For a long time Voxus Imp was just an obscure name from the past for me. In recent times this project has come more to the foreground, with a performance at the Wave Gotik Treffen and two reissues. Last year the old tape “Runen” already got a new vinyl release on Mjölnir Tonkunst. Now Eis & Licht has rereleased the LP “Idafeld” (1998) on cd with a bonus track and remastered sound…

This is what happens when bands try to copy Novy Svet and the likes. “Eleven songs about hate, love sadness and fun.”

Harvest Rain, the group from South Carolina around songwriter Jason Thompkins, left a good impression with two EP’s with a neofolk style that sounded just a little different than many other acts…

Kutna Hora from Argentina made a decent debut a few years ago. They were still looking for an own sound, but showed some nice ideas, a good sense of melancholy and a couple of good songs. Their follow-up album makes a more professional impression. Various instruments and musicians are involved, there is a larger variety in styles and the sound quality has improved…

‘Marseille’ is already the fourth release in the Sol Invictus live archive series, after ‘Brugge’, ‘Paris’ and ‘Trieste’. The music is attributed to Duo Noir, which is actually a more minimal line-up of Sol Invictus, in this case just Tony Wakeford (guitar, vocals) and Matt Howden…

The name of the band and the title of this 4-track demo cd may suggest a German act. Waldsonne are actually from Moscow, Russia. They exist for about 1,5 years and were first called Languor, before changing their name to Waldsonne. Some of the members have also been involved in Neutral, which had two nice releases, a live album on Brudenia and an album on Cynfeirdd last year…

This mini cd is released on Forseti’s Grunwald label and contains four songs, based on traditional European folk songs and texts. It is announced as a foretaste of the forthcoming album “Jordansfrost”, to be released in the spring. The music on this cd is very pure: almost completely acoustic, mainly based on guitars, violin and accordion (By Andreas Ritter)…

Two new releases of German dark folk act Sonne Hagal at about the same time: a mcd called “Nidar” on Forseti’s Grunwald label as well as this 7″ single on Eis & Licht. Though previous vinyl singles of Sonne Hagal often had an experimental ambient character, “Dygel” is clearly devoted to acoustic folk…

Graumahd was one of the positive surprises for me at the WGT festival in Leipzig. Though far from faultless (it was only their second live appearance), I enjoyed their dynamic concert with six people on stage. I don’t know much from Graumahd, except that they come from Austria and that they have musical relationships with other acts from that country like Allerseelen and Sturmpercht…

The 10” vinyl Weltenwende EP (2003) by Darkwood is still the most played neo-folk record I have. It is the highlight in Darkwood’s repertoire and can be considered a sort of classic in the neo-folk genre. As the vinyl is long sold out there is now a cd version of this release which includes some additional tracks. Next to the eight original tracks there are five extra songs on this cd…