other than their names: samuel bing, sinosa loa, the booksman, gmo, julian wass, and patrik-ian polk, very little is known about the highland park band fol chen.  the cryptic band "maintained utmost secrecy from the start" said samuel. in fact for a morning becomes eclectic gig in 2009, he "drew a black mask around his eyes."  for a sxsw gig, his band mates wore hamburgler eye makeup and the band was replaced with singing fish and dancing lions for their “no wedding cake” music video.

the lo-fi band claim to have secret powers and list prince and hot chip as influences.  they remind me of the blow, pink floyd and of montreal.

fol chen described their sound best.  "you know that mysterious black object that the creepy family is staring at on the cover of led zeppelin's presence album?" the band asks. "fol chen sounds like that."

part II: the new december, the follow up to 2009’s part i: john shade, your fortune's made, released june 21, 2010.

the plot of part II: the new december is “steeped in a bowie-esque sense of puckish melodrama, picks up with the malevolent john shade vanquished,” wrote reps from the group.  “unfortunately, the struggle alluded to in part i has left fol chen's world frayed - covered in ash, plagued by acid rain - and its population dazed.”

click here for a july 20, 2009 set and interview recorded by kcrw for morning becomes eclectic.  click here for a february 11, 2009 story by whyy's fresh air.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if fol chen have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.

fol chen are wicked.

if you agree, please spread the word (about the band and this site).

jason

don't worry if you missed the wild nothing profile from last week: here it is.

asthmatic kitty


asthmatic kitty