the problem is all inside your head, you see Adding electronic elements to folk music is at least as old as Bob Dylan, who is the world's oldest living American. I've been trying to mix folk songs with dance records lately. While my Woodie Gutherie/Felix tha Housecat blend sounds alright, it's nothing Erlend Øye hasn't done before. In the summer of 2001, the bespectacled half of Swedish folk duo Kings of Convenience got bored of waiting for his bandmate to finish med school, so he went traveling. Over the course of a year he visited ten cities, made a song with a different dance producer in every city, and released them all on an album called Unrest. While it sounds like a case of too many cooks, Erlend's hushed singing voice and his meloncoly brand of storytelling are the dominant ingredients here, and the various producers work to compliment these flavors. "The Talk" sounds like early Chicago house, but it could work just as well with an acoustic guitar. Have they invented the Folk Remix yet?

Erlend Øye- The Talk

Here's the Baltimore Bass Connection (Spankrock dudes) chopping up Paul Simon's "5o Ways To Leave Your Lover." Same idea: Gentle Folk Vocals+ Great Drums= Intimiate Club (Not the Lil Jon kind).

Chris Rockwell- 50 Ways

Other Links:
Why America's Twenty and Thirty Somethings Can't Get Ahead

SXSW video featuring Erlend and Hot Chip  ¶ 10:44 PM