A Guide to Navigating 'Folx': Background, Influences, The Future of New Internet Sound
Background
Friends& is a band of BC Power, CT Pond, JC Grame, JK Sims. JC is basically the public face of Friends&.
JC Grame
JC’s first breakthrough was Shadowdog, under the alias tirestires.
Dawk26
Internet label started by JC and clust.r.
…
The Album
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Structure
Folx consists of 36 ‘main’ tracks, as well as 76 ‘interlude’ tracks. The whole album is continuous — as in, all the songs flow into each other. The main tracks are normal album songs, roughly 2-3 minutes each. The interlude tracks are in majority a second or so long, with some notable exceptions.
Folk Reinterpretations
All main tracks are based on a popular folk song, usually from the 1930s or similar. They have a naming convention:
Folk Song ([fantasy creature] w [health condition] [verb] to [verb] @ [a place]) (subplot, alternating between uppercase and lowercase with underscores where spaces should be)
There’s one exception to that, Track 44, Hallelujah ([friends& original not a cover]) ([i_hOpE_EvErYoNe_lIsTeNiNg_iS_EnJoYiNg_tH_mEtApHoR_AnD_ThE_CoNcEpT_AlBuM_!!] [if rym mods don’t respect case sensitivity when cataloguing this album i will kms]).
Interludes
The interludes are usually not that sonically complex, usually bridging together two main songs. Every interlude is a quote from either Marx, Engels, Fisher, or Deleuze.
Plot
There is not really much discernable plot in Folx. The main track titles have a “subplot” where a main character falls in love with his work as a corporate creative, sucks up to his boss, but ultimately becomes disillusioned with his work and starts making music as a hobby.
While the interludes appear to have a plot in their titles, these are quotes from Fisher or Deleuze, with folx interpolated where a character would be. You could interpret this as a plot, but I feel like it is more just symbolism, personally.
There is also a story that culminates in Track 107. During the album, the sample “Please—” can be heard a lot. This is a voice clone of JC’s father. In track 107, he makes his father recount a childhood story, the clone becomes annoyed with him trying to get his father back, they say “I love you” to each other. this is a dolly parton sample.four
On Track 26:
‘Where am I?’ (citation needed)
On Track 55, this lyric can be heard:
‘I’m begging you. Please - don’t -‘ (citation needed)
You could also maybe interpret this voice clip on Track 98 as JC’s father, but maybe not.
‘How many answers do - let’s go slower.’ (citation needed)
‘Two, three, four -’ (citation needed)
After Folx, around Folx
Dawk26 is a label that has published four other records so far. New Internet Sound is its self-proclaimed movement.
Shadowdog
Autumn Break Down
Buckle Up
This album is a warm, summery, pleasant time.
The Rock Band: Stem Fragmentation and Syncopation Exercises #1-7 w/ Supplemental Materials
This album is a re-release from 2024 made by…
- friends& - bc power, ct pond, jc grame, jk sims
- Swimming - Jacob Cherwick, Liam Ryan, Nick Hunt
- The Lampreys - Guinevere Laurent
- clust.r - River Everett
- apollo bitrate - Caybee Calabash
- Bigger Boot - cameron clay
New Internet Sound
Internet-based music from the 2020’s. Often using heavily synthetic sounds and samples with a focus on bittersweet and dense sound design. Maybe called Daw-rock sometimes who knows! Associated with the Laptop-Twee and Neo-Vapor scenes.
Adjacent to: Glitch Pop, Breakcore, Neo-Psychedelia, Vapor, Electronic
Noisy, Bittersweet, Mechanical, Surreal, Dense, Melodic, Sampling, ect…
NOT associated with Indie-Sleaze, we staunchly disagree with the ideals of the Neo-Indie-Sleaze aesthetic - New Internet Headquarters
The ‘New Internet Sound’ list on RateYourMusic (https://rateyourmusic.com/list/LindseyLauren/new-internet-sound-work-in-progress/) is maintained by (it seems) Guinevere Laurent of The Lampreys. It seems – to me – that NIS is basically just one big Discord server.