It took a collaboration with Sparks
to get me interested in Franz Ferdinand,
this alt rock group from Glasgow, now
into their twentieth year or more as a band.
This record, the only album I have of theirs,
is titled simply FFS. Not officially a Franz
Ferdinand album, but rather a new super
group collaboration with a new super group
name. Unfamiliar with FF but acquainted
with S (only recently a Sparks convert, a
band that has existed almost without my
awareness since the 70’s), I assume that
this record brings together what is best
about both bands. It’s upbeat and funny.
It’s a nice combination between the electronic
tendencies of Sparks and the good old
fashioned rock instrumentation of Franz
Ferdinand. These are good songs, stronger
I think, structurally, than a lot of Sparks
tunes, which tend to be kind of repetitive
and melodically pretty straight forward.
And if you, like me, find Russell Mael’s
voice a little taxing sometimes with that
operatic falsetto, you might find Alex
Kaprano’s voice a welcome relief, although
you also might want to be hearing
more of that. It’s all to the good. I’m not
sure why I didn’t play this record more
often than I did. I’m having a great Monday
morning kicking it with FFS, fueled by
coffee and the ironic silliness of the songs
“Collaborations Don’t Work” and “Piss Off.”
Notes on the vinyl edition: FFS, Domino Recording Company, 2015, double black vinyl.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 