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THE STORY OF FOL CHEN
Traffic was thick, thick, thick and Samuel Bing was unwell, strung out on the latest psychotropic fads: sleeplessness and feeling crummy. The Northern State was crawling, the usual twice-a-day funeral procession for Robert Moses. Above the overpasses, the clouds were lined with gristle. Even the horizon seemed to be sinking. So, it came just in time when Donna Donna transmitted her message over the open radio waves a phantom broadcast from a station whose signal had long since dissolved into static. She spoke backwards for security and you could barely hear her voice between the Crazy Eddie ads, but Samuel Bing had his radio loud. He understood each word. Initiates in the society of Fol Chen, Donna Donna whispered, "Lets get to it. While you sit in traffic, John Shade is busy spreading his black mischief. Here's the Screamer of the Week: 'Birds Fly' by Icicle Works. Samuel Bing turned off his car and opened his trunk. No one was moving, so no one bothered honking. The trunk was filled with what looked like garbage, but this wasnt just any piled crap every object was a module in a greater, yet-to-be-created whole. Samuel Bing fished out a cassette tape and a broken ice-scraper. He inspected the sides of each, found the hidden grooves, snapped them together. He grabbed a faded Polaroid, an old paperback romance, a polyester potholder, and a pair of drugstore sunglasses. He snapped each edge to edge. He chose twelve items, then another six, and arranged all eighteen in interlocking circles that together formed a wider circle. Just to be safe, he welded the grooves with a cigarette lighter, slapped the whole thing on his back. From beneath a crusty blanket where the spare tire should have been, he pulled a wide, machete-like sword, and shoved it in his belt. Then he leapt into the air and let the currents carry him.- Ben Ehrenreich
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UPCOMING SHOWS
Dec. 4, 2010 8pm Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CADec. 11, 2010 9pm Zero Film Festival Los Angeles, CAJan. 14, 2011 8pm Schubas Chicago, ILJan. 17, 2011 8pm 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MNJan. 19, 2011 8pm Larimer Lounge Denver, COJan. 21, 2011 8pm Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UTJan. 22, 2011 8pm Neurolux Boise, IDJan. 24, 2011 8pm Media Club Vancouver, BCJan. 25, 2011 8pm The Vera Project Portland, ORJan. 26, 2011 8pm Holocene Portland, OR
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PRESS
John Shade moves with composure and ease through arch, almost dour indie pop (The Believers) as well as joyous dollops of Of Montreal-inspired electro pop. The sexily deadpan Cable TV brings all the moods together, celebrating the joys of cheap motel rooms and Janet Jackson songs with boop-beeps, handclaps, and a wry smile. - Spin MagazineIn the spirit of Im From Barcelona, Loney Dear or Boy Least Likely To, Fol Chen employs all my favorite electro-fey devices: cheesy 80s keys, propulsive beats, sporadic strummy guitars that bounce between channels and, of course, xylophone. Beginning with understated, low-register vocals, the keeps building, layering on more instruments and even tossing in a key-change for good measure. - Paste MagazineIf Prince had decided to take up esoteric mathematics instead of sex-god funk, that career might be something Fol Chen could get behind. The Highland Park band's screwball pastiche pop sounds like an algebra problem but feels like a come-on. At Tuesday night's release party for Fol Chen's second album, "Part II: The New December" (which, admittedly, should have taken by Coheed and Cambria), the band pulled the neat trick of making its two impulses -- danceable pop immediacy and its need to run every song through a paper shredder -- feel unexpectedly simpatico. (more) - LA TIMESElusive Fol Chen offers dark, whimsical debut - NPR"Fol Chen distinguish themselves during John Shade's midsection with some seriously percussive production. "Red Skies Over Garden City (The Ballad of Donna Donna)" tumbles out of the court of King Crimson with cavernous drum patterns, while "Winter, That's All" manages a stomp-the-yard drumline mixed with rave keyboards. But if you're gonna pick a breakout single from John Shade, your best bet is "Cable TV". It's lyrical idea is cliché, but there's a certain sense of slink (if not necessarily sexiness) that recalls, I dunno, Bran Van 3000 or any number of late-1990s one-offs-- its "Killing Me Softly"-style sitar drop is just dorky enough to be kinda loveable." - PitchforkL.A.s best new band? Probably. Fol Chens beguiling, witty synth-pop with guitar, funky keyboards and West Coastian harmonies comes from a semimysterious unit that, according to its bio, sounds like that mysterious black object that the creepy family is staring at on the cover of Led Zeppelins Presence album. - LA WeeklyJust as Led Zepelins design firm Hipgnosis plopped a miniaturized 2001: A Space Odyssey obelisk amidst vaguely sinister domesticity for Presences cover, Fol Chen seek to start dance parties for stiff indie kids. - Under The RadarIn what could have been a brave experiment gone horribly wrong, the ragtag stylings, samplings, and influences of Fol Chen create a tight ensemble - not only of performers, but of song genres. The album isnt an identity crisis so much as pre-made mixtape. - Venus MagazineRight around the corner, independent music is happening in the weirdest and most wonderful way. These Highland Park homies have an ear for combining a unique electronic programming and processing to their inde-rock song structures. - Dublab
Fol Chen
the beautiful ones
the idiot
the holograms
in ruins
c_u
NOAH'S ARC...the music
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FREE Download
www.Folchen.com
© Tall Skinny Black Boy, LLC 2010-Infinity. All human right reserved.
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