As a fan of 70s German rock (Faust, Neu! etc) I have an affinity with the almost motorik sound of rhythmic banjo playing...

As for Mumford & Sons, they've received loads of radio play in the UK - including on BBC Radio 6, the closest station we have to Triple J in the UK (primarily lots of varieties of indie rock). Radio 6 is also the station most likely to be found playing nu-folk, alt-folk or whatever you want to call it. In a lot of ways this scene, which is almost entirely separate to the mainstream folk scene (with the exception of a few artists like Nancy Wallace and Mary Hampton who have begun to get positive attention from "proper" folkies), has laid the way for more mainstream bands like Mumford and Sons to achieve success. Artists as diverse as Tuung, James Yorkston, Nancy Elizabeth, King Creosote, The Owl Service, Men-An-Tol and so on and festivals like the Green Man and acoustic nights up and down the country have created their own "folk" scene, and though much of it is not particularly recognisable as folk to older folkies, it is a vibrant scene with lots of live acoustic or semi-acoustic music. In a few cases, such as the wonderful Owl Service, you even get largely traditional songs too. Increasingly we are starting to see crossovers between the alt-folk and the younger end of the "proper" folk scene too, an example of which would be the presence of alt-folk pioneer Alasdair Roberts on Jackie Oates' latest album.

My view is whatever you call it, it's pretty healthy. And cross fertilisation between alt-folk and "proper" folk will continue to create some interesting music that is possibly a little less bland than some of the mainstream folk offerings that have been served up of late.

Or course, it's probably all over for Mumford & Sons. Their popular success will inevitably lead to record company pressure for increasingly slick, mainstream product... not that I'm cynical or anything!