The Boggs sound like a collision between a rural Appalachian porch session and a 1970s New York art-punk club. It is music that feels both ancient and dangerously modern, characterized by frantic banjo picking, slide guitar that screams like a siren, and a rhythmic urgency born from their origins as subway buskers. There is a palpable sense of friction in their sound, as if the traditional folk structures are being intentionally stressed until they splinter.
What makes them truly distinctive is their 'archival no-wave' approach. While many bands in the early 2000s NYC scene looked to post-punk or garage rock, Jason Friedman looked to the deep well of American roots music and filtered it through a jagged, experimental lens. The result is a sonic texture that is dusty and gritty, yet propelled by a nervous, urban energy that aligns them more with The Walkmen or Liars than with traditional folk revivalists.
Start with 'We Are The Boggs We Are' to hear their most radical re-imagining of folk history, then move to 'Forts' to experience their evolution into a more expansive, atmospheric, and rhythmically complex unit. It is the perfect soundtrack for when you want music that feels lived-in but refuses to sit still.
The Boggs is an independent rock band from New York City formed by Jason Friedman in 2001. Original band members Friedman, Ezekiel Healy, Bradford Conroy and Phil Roebuck met as subway buskers in New York and became a part of the then burgeoning "New New York" scene that included groups like The Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Calla, Interpol, and The Walkmen. Their debut album We Are The Boggs We Are (Arena Rock Recording Co.) was a punk re-telling of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music that the band mockingly dubbed ‘Archival no-wave’. The Boggs also contributed a compilation track for This Is Next Year: A Brooklyn-Based Compilation in 2001 (Arena Rock Recording Co.). The follow-up, Stitches, recast the band's sound as a type of acoustic post-punk. Some reviews compared the record to a more artsy Pogues or more country-blues based Echo & the Bunnymen. Their third album "Forts", once again recast the sound of the band. The band's official biography found on their Myspace page describes it as, "proto post folk garage punk folk punk blues and disco." In 2010, Robert Plant adapted the Boggs' song "How Long" for the track "Central Two O Nine" on his album "Band Of Joy" listing Jason Friedman as a co-writer with Plant and Steven Miller.
Shares restless, defiant, brooding (moods); lo fi, analog warmth, stripped back (production style)
Shares restless, defiant, brooding (moods); lo fi, noise textured, analog warmth (production style)
Shares raspy, intense, deadpan (vocal style); restless, defiant, brooding (moods)
Shares restless, defiant, brooding (moods); lo fi, analog warmth, noise textured (production style)
Shares urban night, basement show, fog (atmosphere); lo fi, noise textured, analog warmth (production style)
Shares urban night, basement show, dive bar (atmosphere); raspy, intense, deadpan (vocal style)
Shares lo fi, noise textured, analog warmth (production style); raspy, intense, deadpan (vocal style)
Shares folk punk, post-punk, indie rock (subgenres); lo fi, stripped back, analog warmth (production style)
Shares urban night, basement show, fog (atmosphere); restless, defiant, brooding (moods)
Shares folk punk, post-punk, stripped back, indie rock (signature)
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