American Idol has The Beatles, as witnessed by its recent mugging of the Fab Four over a series of tortuous amateur hour laden evenings; hip-hop conducts its own ongoing campaign of theft, its big names sampling everyone from Minnie Riperton to Curtis Mayfield (of late); and though the iconic idea of the "rock band" is surely dead, corpses like Steven Tyler and Mick Jagger continue to Botox their sags and bed their comely young babes.

But who cares for the neglected orphan that is folk music? Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Judy Collins are still hoofing it somewhere, but where have all the new folk stars gone? Sure, we got enough country crossover stars to wet our whistles, but real folk? Back in the day, the 1960s I guess, folk was the then-contemporary equivalent of rap. Dylan, Donavan, Phil Ochs, Tim Buckley, Tim Rush, Tom Paxton--even the ever goofy Peter, Paul, and Mary--were all stars America's youth looked to for guidance.

Folk today means Jack Johnson, Kings Of Convenience or Ben Harper perhaps. Melody free beings (excepting the wonderful KofC) working groove and sweaty grist to please college audiences the nation over. But perhaps if we look beyond our own borders we'll see contemporary folk in full flower--drawing from the past and present, rife with regional influences, and expressing and fulfilling modern concerns.

Galarno's Tout Baigne: Information on this French Canadian quartet is hard to come by, but their jaunty music is sprinkled with jazz, country, and world beat flavors. The title track to Tout Baigne bounces with funky jazz inspired drumming, lively acoustic bass and freaky backwards guitar riffs. Though sung in French, Galarno's sprightly tunes could easily appeal to international, even US audiences. Chock full of hooks, easy on the ear, and experimental enough to keep the music interesting, Galarno's friendly happy folk pop puts me in mind of old cheese. Smelly wine. They like that really soft cheese in France, right?

"Le Bout De La Chandelle" has all the sincerity of a bar full of boozers on a Friday night, all urgent rhythms, nearly whispered vocals and acoustic strumming so frantic you'd think there's a long line and a single stand-up stall.

Galarno
"Tout Baigne ..." (mp3)
from "Tout Baigne"
(LOCAL)

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Galarno
"Le Bout De La Chandelle" (mp3)
from "Tout Baigne"
(LOCAL)

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AH! The Golden Giants: MySpace bulletin: "From the ashes of Stinking Dogs and Satellite of June comes The Golden Giants. With over 13 years of musical experience, band members Jean-Marc Ethier, Sébastien Goyette, Philippe St-Cyr and Guy Charbonneau have joined together for a clash of influences ranging from indie rock to folk to bring you what we hope is a new record for the following year."

So we know The Golden Dogs think like folk music auctioneers, even if their latest record reminds me more of garage band disco. Okay, the folk's in there somewhere. I just know it. Those French Canucks are so darn shifty.

The Golden Giants
"The Golden" (mp3)
from "Geography of Love"
(LOCAL)

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The Golden Giants
"Above the Factory Floor" (mp3)
from "Geography of Love"
(LOCAL)

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