VIDEO:
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Fol Chen – “C/U (STAR SLINGER REMIX)” by forcefieldpr
2010 has been a busy year for Fol Chen with the release of their second full length Part II: The New December, a pair of remix EP’s and tours with Liars, !!! and The Apples In Stereo, but they’ve got a few more surprises in store before the year is over. The band recently took a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia when they were invited by CEC Artslink for a special performance. The day after the show the band held a workshop where they invited local musicians to help them create samples, loops and sounds for a song that they’ll release next summer.
The band also lent a hand to KRCW DJ Eric Lawrence in remixing David Bowie’s classic “Golden Years” as a part of KCRW’s celebration of the release of Bowie’s remastered Station to Station. You can check out the remix right here. Additionally, Part II single “In Ruins” was recently featured in a decidedly NSFW scene between Mary Louise Parker and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack from Saved by the Bell) in an episode of Weeds.
And now the band have recently collaborated with director/animator Nancy Jean Tucker to create a video for Part II standout “C/U” and had the track remixed by the UK producer Star Slinger.
About the Director of the video:
Nancy Jean Tucker is a Los Angeles based filmmaker and artist. Her animated films have shown in galleries and festivals worldwide including the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Nashville Film Festival, and the European Media Arts Festival in Germany. She is also the animator behind the infamous “dancing lions” video for Fol Chen’s indie dance hit, “No Wedding Cake.”
Bio:
For its second album, Highland Park sextet Fol Chen presents Part II: The New December, songs of malaise and miscommunication set to dark pop and glitch-riddled chamber funk. Since the band’s inception, Fol Chen has remained a mysterious entity – its membership disguised by masks and aliases, its lyrics appearing as transmissions from a fictional world. But just as the on-album narrative has congealed in bits and pieces, the group’s real-life story has grown in tangible ways.
Fol Chen’s wildly eclectic 2009 debut, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made, spawned some healthy praise (from NPR, no less), a remix album (featuring No Kids and Junior Vasquez, among others), a BBC session, and a video collaboration with the Laker Girls. It also paved the way for a pair of uniquely inspired covers: Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones” (recorded for Spin) and Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh” (for Mojo). Fol Chen’s bent, blackened takes on the pop eccentrics of yore provided fresh context for its own kaleidoscopic songs, and The New December shores up the group’s slippery identity further still. This is Fol Chen’s most focused work – as consistent as it is consuming, as enjoyable as it is unusual.
The plot, steeped in a Bowie-esque sense of puckish melodrama, picks up with the malevolent John Shade vanquished. 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. The members of Fol Chen, once a ragtag team of insurgents, are now bureaucrats forced to sit back and watch as the cipher they relied upon to defeat Shade mutates into a virus that eats words indiscriminately. Things unravel as The New December progresses, with Fol Chen enlisting a handful of familiar voices – Angus and Aaron of Liars, L.A. chanteuse Kárin Tatoyan, singer-songwriter Simone White – to help tell the tale.
FOL CHEN
01/14 – Chicago, IL – Schubas $
01/15 – Rock Island, IL – Daytrotter
01/17 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Entry !
01/19 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge !
01/21 – Salt Lake City, Utah – Kilby Court !
01/22 – Boise, ID – Neurolux !
01/24 – Vancouver, BC – Media Club !
01/25 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project !
01/26 – Portland, OR – Holoscene !
01/28 – San Francisco, CA – Hemlock Tavern !
01/29 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo !
! = w/ Friends & Darwin Deez
$ = w/ Twin Shadow, Apache Beat & BRAHMS
Fol Chen
Part II: The New December
(Asthmatic Kitty)
Street Date: July 6, 2010
1. The Holograms
2. In Ruins
3. Your Curtain Call
4. This Is Where the Road Belongs
5. Men, Beasts or Houses
6. C/U
7. Adeline (You Always Look So Bored)
8. The Holes
9. They Came To Me
10. The New December
FOL CHEN LINKS
Twitter – http://twitter.com/folchen
Band page – http://www.folchen.com
MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/folchen
Press Materials – http://asthmatickitty.com/fol-chen