Fol Chen is an American

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

band from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, formed in 2009.Staff (undated)
"Fol Chen"

Asthmatic Kitty Records Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheez ...

. Retrieved February 18, 2013. The band is signed to

and has released three full-length albums.

''Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made''

The band "maintained utmost secrecy from the start", working under aliases and disguising their faces during recorded shows, including

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

radio's ''

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is an American three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill t ...

'' program and the 2009

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival. The cover art for their first album, '' Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made'', release in 2009, features silhouettes, and music videos replace band members with actors and animation, such as the video of the song "No Wedding Cake" where band members appear as animals.

''Part II: The New December''

In 2010, the band released ''Part II: The New December'', described by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' as "screwball pastiche pop ''

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

' sounds like an

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

problem but feels like a come-on." Sinosa Loa joined the group at this time as keyboardist and vocalist, although the band favored group vocals and shared lead duties among most members. They toured throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe with other American bands, including Liars, !!!, and

The Apples in Stereo The Apples in Stereo are an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant 6 Recording Company, Elephant 6 Collective. The band is largely the project of lead vocalist/guitarist/producer Robert Schneider, who writes the majority of the ba ...

''The False Alarms'' (2013)

The band's third album was released March 19, 2013, on the Asthmatic Kitty label. The music is in a style the band calls "Opera-House", which they describe as "beat-driven electronica with grand, operatic gestures and lyrically-dense storytelling." In a departure from their previous use of multiple lead singers, Loa performs all ten tracks.

Other projects

During a month-long residency at The Echo nightclub in Los Angeles, the band featured different shows each night one show invited guest singers found via

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

to perform with the band as a sort of live

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

; another night saw

metal band Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

Viscera In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...

playing exclusively Fol Chen covers. In November 2010, Goldman and Loa traveled to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, to perform two long-form, constructivist-inspired reworkings of the two studio albums, followed by a workshop and recording session where they invited local musicians (and curious non-musicians) to join them in building a new Fol Chen song. On July 28, 2011, Goldman and Loa held a workshop at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

to introduce the Fol Chen Verbal Algorithm Composer-Free Song Generator, produced with the Los Angeles–based arts organization Machine Project. The project allowed museum visitors to record their experience with a piece of art and have it converted into a song that they could take home. The band collaborated with

Monome Monome is an Upstate New York-based company, founded by Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain, that produces sound modules and MIDI controllers. Monome is also the name of their initial product, a grid-based controller that is now sometimes simply referre ...

, a computer-manufacturing company, in late 2011 to make the Tetrafol, a motion-sensitive pyramidal sound device. The Tetrafol came pre-loaded with Fol Chen samples but allowed users to apply their own sounds. The band released two singles made with the device and sold a limited run of 100 units.

Members

* Adam Samuel Goldman (credited as Samuel Bing) * The Booksman * Garrett Henritz * Sinosa Loa *

Patrik-Ian Polk Patrik-Ian Polk (born July 29, 1973 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Polk, who is gay, is noted for his films and theatre work that explore the experiences and stories of African Americans, Africa ...

Discography

Albums

* '' Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made'' (2009) * '' Part II: The New December'' (2010) * '' The False Alarms'' (2013)

Covers, remixes and collaborations

* '' The Longer U Wait'' remix digital release (

Asthmatic Kitty Asthmatic Kitty Records is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend lo ...

, 2009) * 2009: " The Beautiful Ones" cover on the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

'' Purplish Rain'' * 2009: " In the Flesh" cover on the

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

The Wall Re-Built ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' * 2011: "I Walked" (

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

cover) * 2012: "Implants and Yankee Candles" with

Kitty Pryde Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The character First appearance, first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (January 1980) and was ...

Other contributions

* soundtrack for the Canadian-American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film '' Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom'' (2008), directed by

* soundtrack for the short

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''Beauty CuLTure'', directed by

Lauren Greenfield Lauren Greenfield (born Jun 28, 1966) is an American artist, documentary photographer, and documentary filmmaker. She has published photographic monographs, directed documentary features and series, produced traveling exhibitions, and published i ...

* an instrumental version of the band's song "In Ruins" was featured in the episode " Unfriendly Chat" (2010) of the American police-procedural television series '' CSI: NY'' and was also featured in the episode " Gentle Puppies" (2010) of the American dark-comedy

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

Music videos

*
200 Words
' directed by Aaron Ohlmann *
Cable TV
' directed by Chris Wilcha *
No Wedding Cake
' directed by Nancy Jean Tucker *
The Longer U Wait
' directed by Chris Wilcha

References

External links

* , the band's official website *
SXSW 2009 interview (video)
{{Authority control 2009 establishments in California 21st-century American musicians American pop music groups Electronic music groups from California Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Los Angeles American synth-pop groups Asthmatic Kitty artists