By this i mean, depressing, perhaps even violent. I've been searching for this style of music for years but have always fell short of finding a band that applies. Recently by accident i've discovered the band The Devil Makes Three. Some people say they're country but i highly disagree. I love this band. All the songs are so catchy. You guys should give them a listen. If you know any other dark folk bands you should post them in this thread.
I don't know if this is folk but i would classifie it there... this is a band i loved before... but i got really despressed by there music and then started to listen to hippiemusic instead but you maybe likes it. Das ich is a electronic music band... but this song that is from their first album is not so electronic. I think It's more dark then heavy metal listen and see if you like it http://youtube.com/watch?v=idDSJVZwyN4
Well if you like it a bit more metalish, check out Skyclad - their lyrics are dark and very ironic, also funny if you 'get' black humour Good albums: Folkemon, Burnt offering to the Bone Idol, and Oui Avant-garde a chance.
I wouldn't call Devil makes three dark folk, their tunes are pretty uplifting. Anyway, what about songs from bands like Dead can dance, or songs of folk bands like Steeleye Span. King Henry could be described as dark folk then, or Edwin, both two of my favs!
i dunno about dark folk but you can certainly try " Leo Kottke". Songs: "Across the Street" and "The Tennessee Toad" ,"Coolidge Rising", "Busted Bicycle" are pretty dark and cool folk. "I Yell at Traffic" is kind of a fast paced, in your face kind of folk. Leo is hands down the best guitar (folk) player i have ever heard. You should check out a lot of his albums, he plays a lot of different stuff. Some good albums worth your time or money are :"Try and Stop Me", "6 and 12 String Guitar", and "Essential Leo Kottke" I think if you check out some of those songs, you will like. Enjoy..
I'm not sure I would call him Dark Folk, but William Elliott Whitmore's music is certainly depressing...and certainly beautiful. Check him out.
Hmm, well, I'm not sure if what I'm going to recommend applies to what you're looking for, but I consider the following acoustic songs by GG Allin to be folk-ish, and definitely dark. In This Room Blood For You (Acoustic) Darkness And A Bottle To Hold Pick Me Up On Your Way Down (this is a cover song..Patsy Cline maybe?)
GG Allin was one of the most vile humans to walk the earth. I don't like to talk about people that way, but...it's true. Crazy mother.
"First Utterance" by Comus is an album I have been listening to a lot lately, and if it doesn't fit the dark folk tag, I don't know what does. The music is a complete freak-out, the lyrics are violent, it's all acoustic and very dark. Like being in the woods at a sacrifice or something. Highly recommended.
years ago groups like swans and current 93 did dark folk of sorts there was a bit of a movement in the late 80s-early 90s, mostly among occult and what could only be called racist industrial music artists some of it was quite nice, some of it not so much a lot of old folk/country is pretty dark, there are some nice collections of murder ballads out there, etc
aye dark folk. Jason Webley fer sure, i just posted a thing about him before I saw this. He's nothing like The Devil Makes Three, but just as awsome. I wouldnt consider the Devil Makes Three as dark, even though some of their topics are, their music is the opposite. How bout Andrew Jackson Jihad? again, not dark music but twisted topics. free music off their site. yay.
The Pentangle did several old English and Scottish ballads that were pretty dark and/or bizarre. "Cruel Sister" is a long, involved story song about two women in love with the same knight, but he only wants one of them. So the rejected one murders her sister and throws her body into the sea. Later, the body washes ashore, where they make a harp from her bones, stringing it with her hair. This harp of course is haunted, and it plays all by itself. The "cruel" sister hears it, and goes mad. Just your everyday love story ... lol One more ... "Bruton Town" tells the story of a young lady who is in love with a servant of her family. Her brothers don't like this, and take the servant into the woods on the pretext of hunting. But when they get there, they murder him and toss his body into a ditch. Later that night, the ghost of the murdered lover appears to the girl and ... umm ... pleasures her in her sleep. Fun stuff
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago some songs on this album are really depressing. Also check out Nick Drake.
This is my little one man band called 'Dark Alley Gospel'. I saw the subject of your post and immediately caught on to what you're looking for...you're not alone bro. :cheers2: It's all free to download so check it out. www.myspace.com/darkalleygospelmusic www.purevolume.com/darkalleygospel
Sol Invictus and Death in June are both excellent British groups/artists playing some very dark philosophical music. Vastly underappreciated. Diamanda Galas is much more experimental, but she does live albums of old blues/folk standards that absolutely destroy 90% of other music. Terrifying...truly terrifying.
