A look at the folktronica genre
October 12th, 2010 by illlit.com
“Folktronica” may be one of the most amusing terms for a music genre ever, but there’s more to it than just a silly name. As far as fads go, it’s relatively new, only really coming into popularity in the last decade. British musician Four Tet was one of the first artists to have the label applied, particularly with the release of his 2001 album Pause.It’s not too hard to figure out what a folktronica band sounds likeat least on the surface. Some bands emphasize the electronic aspect (such as Four Tet and also Caribou on 2005′s The milk of Human Kindness); others start with the folk foundations and apply electronic touches (like Tunng on 2005′s Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs). The sound creates a unique sort of contrast between presumably cold synthesizers and other electronics and warmer guitarshowever, even these tones and adjectives can be switched on occasion. Newcomer Ellie Goulding is one of the most popular artists peddling the sound right now, with her song Starry Eyed reaching number four on the UK Singles chart earlier this year.