Worlds apart
#6: new york antifolk
Don’t worry. Your Dylan records are safe. You can put that Arran sweater back on. Let Donovan out of the priesthole. Apologies folk fans; the name’s a bit misleading - New York Antifolk doesn’t hate you. In fact, in many ways you’re not so different. You’ll recognise some common elements to the two scenes; guitars, a strong community ethos, unfeasibly pretty heavilyfringed singers, and there’s still a gentle emphasis on lyrics.
But there’s none of your hey-nonny-nonny at The Sidewalk Café (the genre’s spiritual home.) No, this is full blown, uncastrated f*lk - finger picking with one finger in the air. The beautiful bastard child of an ill advised beatnik, punk and Joni Mitchell threesome.
It’s not often that an entire musical genre can be traced back to the actions of one man, but when poet/songwriter Lach was kicked out of one West Village acoustic club too many for ‘not being folk enough’ he started hosting an open mic in the only venue willing to put him on • his own apartment. Thus the Antihootenanny was born.
It proved massively popular - with New York’s acoustic artists, disheartened by the current folk scene, flocking from all over the city to play, and changing venue a few times before coming to settle at the legendary Sidewalk Café, where it remains to this day. In the mid 1980s, traditional folk wasn’t meeting the requirements of politically aware punk-at-heart NY folkers, reluctant to stick to safe fingerstyle but equally unwilling to turn to the clichés of rock and roll.
Because of this Antifolk as a genre is nigh on impossible to pin down, it’s all encompassing ethos means that the diversity is on a massive scale. Admittedly, this means that there’s quite a lot of dross to sift through, but the UK’s reaction to AFNY exports The Moldy Peaches has showed that there’s a market for even the most simplistic of lo-fi tunes.
There is no typical AFNY artist so, short of embarking on a pilgrimage to Sidewalk, the best way to explore the genre is through one of the eclectic compilations produced to showcase the genre’s highfliers. The only genre-wide constant is a self-deprecating sense of humour, an element of fun and general irreverence.
Influencing countless musicians, from Beck to The Libertines, Antifolk has come a long way since shows in a small New York apartment, and with the growing popularity of artists like Jeffery Lewis and the uprising of a UK sister movement, this energetic, honest genre shows no signs of slowing up or stagnating.
17th Nov 2005