By: Maple Graham
The following review is split into 6 parts, with this being the first. As always, a listen through the album is recommended before reading my review of it. If you want a succinct answer as to whether or not this album is worth a listen, I would say it’s worth its time despite its hit-or-miss qualities present throughout.
‘folx’ was made by the collective friends& over the course of 8 years, 8 months, and 1 day. It’s described as “an attempt to reinvent pop music,” and it does so in very unique ways. This album, for a lack of better descriptors, is utterly chaotic. The song titles are insanely long and read like a Google Doc if you let 200 people all edit it at the same time—which did happen with a lesser group of people in the album’s unofficial description. Regardless, this avant-garde album is worth a listen if you like any sort of pop music, and it’s chock full of references from a wide range of media franchises and pop culture.
A good chunk of its massive tracklist of 112 songs are made up of snippets of sounds and transitions. These will be noted when they appear—and make this album that much harder to review in depth. This album also uses a smidge of artificial intelligence for certain samples, which has come across as controversial to some. I see the usage to be unneeded, but complimenting nonetheless.
- “[…] in its blind unrestrainable passion, its were-wolf hunger for surplus-labour, capital oversteps not only the moral, but even the merely physical maximum bounds of the working-day.”
The album kicks off with a 5 second ambient track—containing a single acoustic guitar chord, and a tape being inserted into a recorder and wound up. Decent for a starting track, though I do think the album as a whole would be more cohesive if the ambient tracks were all combined, rather than split to form the multiple story arcs the album offers in its titles. 3/10—it’s better than nothing, I suppose.
- “It usurps the time for growth, development, and healthy maintenance of the body.”
This song, despite being short like the first one, contains an actual melody and lyrics taken from “Can The Circle Be Unbroken” by The Carter Family before a quick explosion into the next song. I would consider this the actual beginning of the album, as it introduces the idea of mixing different media together to create an entirely separate piece of creative work. While still a segue, it’s much more meaningful than its predecessor, which is why I give it a 5/10.
- “At Seventeen ([werewolf] w [impulsive borderline personality disorder] [cracks logic] to [produce] @ [the instrument store]) ([mUsIc_wIlL_Be_mY_PrOfEsSiOn])”
The first longer song of the album, which is the first taste of how genius this album is. All of these songs follow a separate progression in their song titles, which end in a snippet of their own story characterized by alternating capital letters and underscores as spaces. For the content in the song itself, it’s a beautiful and dizzying amalgamation of so many samples that overwhelms your senses instantly. Upon my first listen, which was in a dimly lit room with no other things to keep me occupied, this was so fun to listen to intently, trying to hear each individual element within the song. It’s a chaotic mess that’s hard to attach a named feeling to, so I’ll leave it at that, and a 7/10 rating.
- “This instant is insomniac, amnesiac; it locks us into a reactive time, which is always full ([…]). There is no continuous time in which shadows can grow, only a time that is simultaneously seamless ([…]) and discontinuous”
Another segue track, just featuring the end of the last song slowing down with audio clip of a radio switching on to play the next song. It’s clean, and it doesn’t feel jarring at all, but there’s not enough content in it for me to rate it any higher than a 2.5/10.
- “Mr. Tambourine Man ([muse] w [insomnia] [bootlegs] to [dream] @ [the housing complex]) ([nOt_lIvInG_WiTh_mY_DaD_AnYmOrE])”
The second longer song, which is just as sprawling as the last, however shorter. The second bit with all the echoing vocals of “Bob Dylan” and other miscellaneous samples is easily my favorite part of the song, and I wish it was longer. I’d give this song a 7/10: it’s better than “At Seventeen ([werewolf] w [impulsive borderline personality disorder] [cracks logic] to [produce] @ [the instrument store]) ([mUsIc_wIlL_Be_mY_PrOfEsSiOn]),” but shorter than I’d like.
- “The machine accommodates itself to the weakness of the human being in order to make the weak human being into a machine.”
Easily the worst segue by far, being a hard cut on both ends. It’s got its own guitar bit as an excerpt of “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” by The Soggy Bottom Boys, but that’s it. It could’ve easily been scrapped from the album, and it brings no other purpose besides advancing the arc that’s tied to this song title. 2/10.
- “Man of Constant Sorrow ([android] w [autism] [phishes] to [network] @ [the city upon a hill]) ([bOyFrIeNd_qUeSt_bEgInS])”
One of my favorite songs from the whole album. The accordion combined with the guitar, vocals, and samples is phenomenal. The only complaint I have with the song is, once again, the length. I’m aware most of the songs here are short-lived—how else do you fit 112 songs in an hour and a half?—but the progression just feels amazing, and I wish it had more room to breathe. My favorite part of this song is the pitched samples and violin creating a backdrop for the rest of the song to rest on; this song uses the pitched samples more than any other songs on this album. A solid 8/10, very catchy and gets stuck in my head frequently despite its complexity.
- “Deprived of memory and the capacity to dream, the androids can be wounded but not traumatised. Yet there are signs that precisely this capacity to experience trauma is developing […]”
A simple segue taking a sample from the last song and slowing it down to create the rhythm for the next song combined with something sounding like wind chimes. It’s a 4/10: rudimentary and gets the job done.
- “Catch the Wind ([fairy] w [bipolar mania] [indecently exposes] to [impress] @ [the coworking space]) ([cAsUaLlY_DaTiNg_iN_SeArCh_oF_SoMeThInG_SeRiOuS])”
This song in the grand scheme of things isn’t very notable, in my opinion. It’s far away enough from the beginning to start to turn into noise, and this is my issue with most of the songs on the album. The album itself is innovative, but bedazzling effects and myriad samples only go so far on most of these songs. While masterfully put together, I give it a 6/10 due to its placement and overall sound.
- “Such fantastic pictures of future society, painted at a time when the proletariat is still in a very undeveloped state and has but a fantastic conception of its own position,”
A transition that has more to be desired. It merely chops up the end of the last song and overlays a metallic ringing on it, while adding in the vocals to the next song. 3/10, could be better.
- “correspond with the first instinctive yearnings of that class for a general reconstruction of society.”
I don’t know how to classify this one, since it’s decently long for a segue in this album. It’s alright; I don’t understand why it wasn’t lumped together with the previous entry though. While longer, this transition adds virtually nothing to the actual experience, due to its hard cuts on both ends and lack of cohesiveness—aside from the Sonic the Hedgehog samples—which earns it a 3.5/10.
- “Amazing Grace ([genie] w [alcohol addiction] [abets] to [collaborate] @ [the campaign fundraiser]) ([fAlLiNg_mAdLy_iN_LoVe_wItH_My_nEw_bOsS])”
Similar to (“Catch the Wind ([fairy] w [bipolar mania] [indecently exposes] to [impress] @ [the coworking space]) ([cAsUaLlY_DaTiNg_iN_SeArCh_oF_SoMeThInG_SeRiOuS]),” this song doesn’t have any parts that make it stand out from the rest of the album. As a standalone song, it works well, but it gets lost in the noise of the rest of ‘folx’. The second part sounds better than the first, but it ends much too quickly for it to have any lasting impact on the listening experience. This song really has potential, but it wasn’t acted upon to the fullest extent, which is why I rate it a 5/10.
- “In time-honored fairy tale fashion, however, the acts of wish fulfillment quickly become traumatic and catastrophic.”
Hard cuts on both ends, and giving no context to the rest of the album—that being what sounds like a jousting match in progress for most of it. Thankfully short and takes up little time; a waste of space on the album. I’d give it a generous 2/10. At least the audio matches the name, I suppose.
- “Jolene ([gargoyle] w [panic disorder] [assaults] to [de-escalate] @ [the third space]) ([iT_WaS_My_fAuLt_mY_BoSs_rEaCtEd_tHaT_WaY_AcTuAlLy])”
While a biased take, this song shines through the rest of the other mediocre entries. It’s far from pleasant, and gives you no breaks as it slides its focus from one sample to the other. It also feels very fleshed out, and has plenty of runtime to make you revel in what it brings. It’s a good 6.5/10, and would be an amazing introduction to the album if it was any earlier.
- “Do I obey economic laws if I extract money by offering my body for sale, by surrendering it to another’s lust?”
Audio of a drink being poured and a person out of breath drinking it. May have some relevance to the title, but I’m unsure where it falls in the overlapping title stories. Only a noticeable cut at the end, which is better than a meaningless transition like some of the others. 2/10.
- “We Shall Overcome ([fury] w [dysmorphia] [tortures] to [improve] @ [the 24-hour fitness centre]) ([tRyInG_To_bE_MoRe_lIkE_My_bOsS] [identity#01])”
The first “identity” track, which would serve as an amazing intermission if there weren’t transitions between every song. It only contains an acoustic guitar and vocals, with background noise barely audible behind it. It’s a good 7/10—short, sweet, and oozing of unadulterated human expression.
- “Examine the hideous machineries that produce the world-as-appearance. What did they see there? Only what all depressives, all mystics, always see[…]”
This song is structured similarly to “correspond with the first instinctive yearnings of that class for a general reconstruction of society.,” but is better in the sense that it addresses all the issues I had with the former. There’s no transition track before it that adds nothing—instead baked directly into the song. The melodic part is also catchier, taking the same motif of “Wake Me Up” by Avicii and throwing a spin on it. I especially enjoy the banjo inclusion towards the end, which adds yet another dimension to an already amazing soundscape. It gets a 7/10 from me, and would’ve scored higher had it had more runtime.
- “the obscene undead twitching of the Will as it seeks to maintain the illusion that this object, the one it is fixated upon NOW, this one, will satisfy it in a way that all other objects thus far have failed to.”
Another longer transition which, surprisingly, does a good job of doing what it was made to do. A simple solo of what sounds to be some sort of synth or electric organ, accompanied by Vocaloid-like vocals. It acts as a good break between two very upbeat songs; I give it a 4.5/10.
- “A Horse with No Name ([headless horseman] w [bipolar depression] [racketeers] to [advance] @ [the property law firm]) ([tAkInG_ThInGs_wItH_My_bOsS_To_tHe_nExT_LeVeL])”
This song blows my mind because it perfectly demonstrates how to make a song sound massive: loud, definitive sounds that aren’t muddled by a bunch of additional elements. The high-pitched ringing definitely adds something to the composition and feeling of the song, very similar to “tranq” by greenhouse. Deserving of a 7.5/10; this is extremely memorable despite it not riding off of a pre-existing melody that I know of.
- “folx puts themself at the service of the other’s most depraved fancies, plays the pimp between them and their need, excites in them morbid appetites, lies in wait for each of their weaknesses –”
A transition to another transition afterwards. It cuts off at the end—which makes sense, considering it’s just a tail end of the last electric guitar chord in “A Horse with No Name ([headless horseman] w [bipolar depression] [racketeers] to [advance] @ [the property law firm]) ([tAkInG_ThInGs_wItH_My_bOsS_To_tHe_nExT_LeVeL])” being stretched out. Decent, but could just be added to the end of the last song. 2/10, meaningless and was most likely split for the sole reason to add another song title.
