Best of Freak Folk

Though the term wasn't coined until the 21st century to describe acts like Devendra Banhart and early Animal Collective, the roots of freak folk lie in '60s experimentalists like Pearls Before Swine and The Incredible String Band. A bearded blend of acoustic instruments, lo-fi noise, electronic processing, freak folk floats in the unsteady netherworld between the organic and the synthetic.