Folk Week: François Virot

(French Freak-folk artist  François Virot)

François Virot is something special.  Wildly influenced by everything from crust-punk to Sonic Youth, he picked up his first guitar at age seven hoping to one day become the next Kurt Cobain.

The end result couldn’t be further than the grunge legend and to be honest, I’m relieved.  François Virot’s debut album Yes or No is a refreshing reminder of what made the revival of freak-folk so exciting in the early 2000s.

Yes or No is haunted by handclaps, beautiful layered acoustic guitar work and Virot’s tortured yelping and howling vocals.  It’s impossible not to compare this release to Animal Collective.  The same mix of youthful, playful lyrics and an otherworldly sound that shone through in Sung Tongs is present and alive here.

Listen with: Animal Collective, Vashti Bunyan, Black Dice, 

mp3: Not The One
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/francoisvirot
live performance videos (via blogotheque.net): http://www.blogotheque.net/Francois-Virot,2776

bonus video:

cascade kisses from francois virot on Vimeo.

Grab Your Banjo And Lets Get Folky This Friday

It's folk crazy at flip the tape HQ.

As part of YOUTH WEEK, It feels like it's the right time to take a nice, long look at the world of folk music.  Constantly misconstued as old, dusty and antiquitated, you can expect to have your conceptions shattered this friday.  

I'll be exploring the world of folk, from the origins of freak-folk in the 70s (vashti bunyan), to the new wave of anti-folk (kimya dawson, Elizabeth mitchel, Paul Baribeau) and to the youthful sub-genre of american folk-punk (brian lugo!, victor V-B and more!).

Tune in to this friday's show for a two hour folk-music extravaganza.   You can also check back to this blog for daily folk artist profiles (and mp3s!) throughout the week.

So celebrate Youth Week with style, by twanging your banjo and swilling some moonshine*

*please don't drink any moonshine, especially if you're youthful.

VICTOR V-B

(Illinois acoustic folk-punk musician, Victor V-B)

The joy of acoustic folk-punk is that it's a very raw style of music.  Most folk-punk outfits are generally solo-projects and sideprojects of various musicians who simply want a break from their usual style of song writing.

Illinois native Victor V-B is drummer of pop-punk group Arkansas? and in his spare time picks up an acoustic guitar tours/records solo.

His songs are lo-fi, simple acoustic numbers and his voice routinely breaks as he strains to hold notes.  Yet there's something utterly pretty about this broken, earnest style of song-writing.

It's youthful, unpretentious and endearing.

listen with:  Ghost mice, Brian Lugo!, New Found Glory's latest release.

mp3:  Highschool's Prety F--king Stupid

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/victorvbdooder