Folk Implosion
Natural One (Unkle Mix)
Natural One (Instrumental Mix)
Natural One (Unkle No Scratch Mix)
“Yo check out this Unkle remix of this Folk Implosion song from an independent movie” is the most late-90s thing one could possibly say. I think I posted some of these mixes eons ago, but that was a really bad vinyl rip. These are from a CD single.
What a strange hit single. For those unaware, “Natural One” was on the soundtrack to the film Kids, a movie that was so sexually explicit that the MPAA gave it the dreaded NC-17 rating, leading the filmmakers to go the unrated route instead. I was interested in the movie when it came out, but I was also 15 years old. My parents, liberal as they were with my movie watching (they bought me a copy of A Clockwork Orange the same year) drew the line with Kids. I think it was the only movie from my father’s video store that I was literally barred from renting. In my 20s, I still haven’t seen the movie and honestly I have no desire to now. I’ve seen other movies by both the director Larry Clark and writer Harmony Korine. I think I can honestly say I’m not picking up what they’re putting down. Also, some…let’s be charitable and say “thematic elements”…of Clark’s films are really, really gross.
Folk Implosion was a side-project of Lou Barlow. Lou, for those who may not know, was/is also in Dinosaur Jr. He bounced from Dinosaur Jr. at the start of the 90s and went on form Sebadoh. Dinosaur Jr. had some minor hits without Lou, and Sebadoh was a college-rock indie-darling, but they never really made a dent on the mainstream charts. That was always mystifying to me. Sebadoh was a weird band with a lo-fi bent, but they could craft catchy, guitar-hook heavy, rock songs like nobody’s business. If any of the pre-Nirvana alt-rock acts deserved to capitalize off of the grunge boom, it was them.
While Lou couldn’t score a pop hit with his decidedly radio-friendly rock band, he somehow managed to get a hit with this track, a bizarre electronica-tinged, creepy-sounding low-key tune taken off the soundtrack to a controversial, rarely-seen indie film that some critics dubbed as literal child pornography. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was a mainstream hit. It cracked the Billboard Top 30! People really undersell just how damn weird the 90s were sometimes, I swear.
I still can’t figure out how this song became a hit so I’m just going to go with “it’s damn good” and leave it at that. It also managed to come out at just the right time. 1995 was the year that it became safe to put electronic elements in your rock music again. Bjork’s Post had just come out earlier that year. That album, along with albums like Portishead’s 1994 debut Dummy, were big critical hits, and endeared college kids to the idea that rock music could have samplers and keyboards in it and still be cool. If this song had come out a year prior, it might have been a hit with the critics, but it probably wouldn’t have broken through to the mainstream. If it had dropped in the later half of 1996 or 1997, it would have been to late, as by then the Matchbox 20s and Third Eye Blinds of the world had successfully removed any remaining edge or originality from the alt-rock scene.
The failure of Folk Implosion to capitalize off this hit also demonstrates just how “1995” the song was. Their follow-up album, Dare To Be Surprised, came out in 1997. It got indie buzz, of course, but no radio play. They followed that album up with their major label debut One Part Lullaby in 1999. That one was obviously recorded with more of a radio-friendly intent, but it got zero interest and less-than-zero airplay, which is a shame because it’s a fantastic record (“Chained To The Moon” is a banger) and got really good reviews. Lou’s version of the group without co-founder John Davis, The New Folk Implosion, released a record in 2003, but that one couldn’t even get any indie-cred, and fell with a resounding thud. It’s also a good record and I recommend it.
Lou’s back with Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. now, and he also released a really good solo album a couple years back. Despite being his breakthrough act, Folk Implosion almost feel like a footnote to his career now, but I think that more people ought to check them out. If you dig “Natural One,” I really think you can’t go wrong with either One Part Lullaby or that New Folk Implosion album. Both feature more of the band’s lo-fi/electronic mix, and sound just as fresh and unique now as they did 20 years ago. Actually, with the re-emergence of amateur recordings and lo-fi home demos thanks to Tik Tok, they’re probably more relevant than ever.
Someone needs to make a Tik Tok meme to “Merry Go-Round” is what I’m saying.
One Part Lullaby is one of my favorite records of all time. I also own the follow-up but haven’t listened to that one in years (will try it again). Lou’s solo work has always been more miss than hit — but oh do I love “Willing to Wait” by Sebadoh — it was on every unrequited love mixtape I made in the 90s 🙂