The Lumineers

"Hey, Soul Sister" kinda feels like the unofficial beginning of this trend, that was really the only 'acoustic' song on pop radio besides Taylor Swift for a while before the Lumineers/Phillip Phillips/Ed Sheeran onslaught

Good call. But, for all the surprise and confusion over where the Lumineers' hobo/suspenders/dumb hats image came from, Taylor was mining the same kind of Depression Chic in her "Mean" video. You could also go back to R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video, where they incorporated a mandolin and dressed up in pseudo-Amish costumes for another example of the same vibe. People trying to find some contemporary meaning ("They're dressing like hobos because their generation got screwed by the financial crisis") in the Lumineers' image need to step back and recognize that this kind of acoustic folk revival has been part of pop music since The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, at least. Gillian Welch is a good example of a 90s artist who put forth the same sort of Dust Bowl image as the Lumineers (although she was a much better songwriter, in my opinion). But there's nothing new under the sun.

Eh, I dunno. There was always all that Jack Johnson hammock rock before "Hey Soul Sister."

wtf is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Cnm0tdkJEU#!

dammit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cnm0tdkJEU

You could also go back to R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video, where they incorporated a mandolin and dressed up in pseudo-Amish costumes for another example of the same vibe... Gillian Welch is a good example of a 90s artist who put forth the same sort of Dust Bowl image as the Lumineers (although she was a much better songwriter, in my opinion)
--Driver 8

straight trollin'

it's funny that there have now been 6 different posters using the phrase "old timey" itt but nobody has traced this trend back to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack at all yet.

yeah, I was gonna say. these dudes were like 18 when that movie came out. formative experience obviously.

blimey @ the article linked in the OP

Yeah, 'codswallop' is too kind a word, really.

"Hey, Soul Sister" kinda feels like the unofficial beginning of this trend, that was really the only 'acoustic' song on pop radio besides Taylor Swift for a while before the Lumineers/Phillip Phillips/Ed Sheeran onslaught

Eh, I dunno. There was always all that Jack Johnson hammock rock before "Hey Soul Sister."

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, February 13, 2013 7:20 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well i was talking about like top 40 radio -- Jack Johnson never had a "Hey Soul Sister" or "Ho Hey"-level pop hit, and when he did peaked it was around the James Blunt era of acoustic hits, before the lull and recent influx of acoustic stuff.

One of the guys, Espen, who's like a huge star in Norway, picked up a ukulele, and said, 'Hey, how about this?' I said, 'Are you (kidding) me?' And it made the difference. It made my words dance. It made sense. These words were meant to dance with ukulele and not guitar.

Where do Of Monsters & Men fit in this mess?

right in the middle of the current trend, "Little Talks" broke through pretty well to pop radio, if not as much as the Lumineers

really wish the Shins hadn't changed anybody's lives

Do any of these bands even acknowledge the No Depression movement?

No Depression bands were rarely so into artifice. Remember, what made them "alt" country in the first place was really just them turning their back on costumes and polish.

At least with historical hobbyists like Civil War re-enactors and the Society for Creative Anachronism, there's an sincere intensity to their goofiness. I mean, who am I to argue against a 20 year old having a HFS moment with a Woody Guthrie record and wanting to tell you about it. What bothers me about the Lumineers and their ilk is the amount of empty calories they spew out. I'm convinced they were grown in vats or bodysnatched by interstellar seed pods.

Someone (may have been another comedian) described Dane Cook's act as ninety minutes of shouting "YEAHHHH! THAT'S RIGHT!" repeatedly. Get the same feeling here.

but with long dresses and suspenders and ukeleles

My first exposure to this band was when Paul Krugman posted live videos on his blog.

That was a sentence I didn't need to read.

NIGHTMARES FOR DAYS.

my sister informed me tonight that her dog has a heavy response to "ho hey" ... so there's that.

Hey!

Ho!

Hey !

Ho !!

here's the dog
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/301871_10200255556452079_37240055_n.jpg

No matter what the response, I love that dog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDNSp3spDE

These bands are fun to rank on for dressing like a community theatre presentation of the "Grapes of Wrath" or something, but I guess the legions of retro Sabbath/Pentagram worshippers dressed in bellbottoms and fringes (which I'm a total sucker for)are no better? Much as I wanna cram a fedora down someone's craw, I can't in good conscience deny that this kinda thing is ridiculoushttp://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/w/witchcraft.jpg
Except that I dig the tunes & aesthetic of Witchcraft and recoil form the Lumfords' diff brand of self-serious depression RPG.

Are there dudes who walk around with bellbottoms and fringe jacket? Because I get the weird feeling these Lumineers hit the stage in their street clothes/mustaches.

Witchcraft are from Sweden. American Sabbath/Pentagram worshippers dress like 21st century warehouse workers.

Johnny Marr doesn't specify, but:

I also find this kind of folk with guys in Wellington boots and washboards not good to listen to. That music is one step away from barn dancing as far as I'm concerned. Anyone under the age of 60 should not be wearing Wellington boots on stage.

i think we have a new genre name

Wellingtons and Washboards

I should mention that my yoga class uses the Lumineers music every week so I more strongly identify their music with pain and suffering than I even normally would.

barn dancing is great

Lululemon Rock.

God help me, I was at an arena last weekend where "Ho Hey" came on over the PA and -- before the knee-jerk revulsion set in -- it struck me that it sounded just a little like an outtake from Tusk. And now it's hard for me to hate it as much.

sb your ears

Maybe if buckingham weren't insane. The "yeah"s in That's Enough For Me are so much better than any "ho" or "hey" in that song. But really, I don't hear it.

Yeah, it's like a very blanded-out Buckingham, with nothing to say. Mostly it's the way the space in the production works with the hook in the chorus. Just enough for me to understand why it was a hit.

http://rusticauthentics.tumblr.com/

Inspired by the work of Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers and Bon Iver, we're an artisan hand-crafted clothing line dedicated to matching your passion for the lifestyle. Real clothing for real people who love real music. It doesn't get any realer than that.

Easily rollable sleeves prove an asset for impromptu banjo and mandolin jam sessions, while buttoned bottoms can connect with your pants and stay eternally tucked.

ultimate menswear line for the New Authentic movement.

is it a joke or just horrifyingly indistinguishable from what the joke version of it would be?

pretty sure it's for real, unfortunately.

is it a joke or just horrifyingly indistinguishable from what the joke version of it would be?

This. Was not aware that it had become a full-on "movement".

so for real

refuse to live in any world where this is not a pisstake