Current Trend: Folk

Finally, a Current Trend that will be simple to explain, something that is dedicated to a genre and/or style of music. The past Current Trends have been so lacking in a direction, I think I was just writing them to have something to write. But no longer! This Current Trend, and perhaps this whole month, has a purpose, a goal, an endgame.

Tyr

What began with as a simple Weekly Dose of Prog has spawned into a movement that is dominating my time (much to my enjoyment). The Decemberists' classic, The Hazards of Love (see the WDoP here), has gotten me into a folk bender, first with just their discography, and then into folk as a whole.

While it did begin on the more docile side of things, with The Decemberists, Mumford & Sons and a little Iron & Wine (jury's still out on that one), it quickly jumped on the metal bandwagon. Bands like Turisas (I've been looking forward to their newest release for a while now), Týr have already popped up, and I'm going to try a foray into some Celtic/black folk - something that I've not had a lot of experience with - with Cruachan and Primordial (but that may only appear a little bit).

Turisas

The bands listed above are ones I've already listened to (at least partially) or have put on a playlist to hear already. Seeing as the month has just begun, these bands will obviously be added too, from all different genres of folk. On top of this, there will be the few randoms I throw in (hey, moods hit me), as well as the Weekly Dose of Prog, and my continuing attempt of reviewing band submissions at a somewhat continual pace.

I wanted to dedicate March to folk, mostly of the Irish/Celtic kind, something I decided in the middle of January. I figured that with Saint Patrick's Day, there isn't a better month for the music of my heritage, but I preemptively hit this subject by a week or so, during the waning days of February. So for this month, expect a large number of Celtic folk rock/punk bands, a good portion of indie/alternative folk rock, and a heaping of folk metal.