The legendary beginning of FFHKS's number series. Originally released in 2014 is now widely available to the public. Get ready for a musical journey unlike any other.
Fortune, Friedman, Hemberger, Krimstein, & Smith.
Never before in the history of recorded sound have five artists of such a high-caliber of innovation, talent, and notoriety, each with their own voice and style, come together to create art with such a singular style and vision.
From the band's humble beginnings working together to create the certified classic Number Series to the spiritually informative corporate electronics of Astral Projecting Your Way To Work, Fortune Friedman Hemberger Krimstein & Smith have an ear for experimentation, an eye for detail, and an output that is unparalleled both in its prolixity and creativity.
When FFHKS recently announced that they intended to release an album a day for 30 days straight (#albumadaychallenge) even many of their most devoted fans questioned how the incredibly high standards set by their current catalogue could be matched with such a lightning fast release calendar.
And yet, skeptics and critics of the band become harder to find every day, as each release has proved to be just as, if not more, iconic than the last.
Though most know them only through their ubiquitous online presence, their incredibly rare and explosive live performances have also received unanimous praise from those lucky enough to catch them.
As Dylan was to Woodstock, so FFHKS is to Kurt Wittemans' house. After being the host of two (as far as FFHKs historians are concerned, the only two) performances from the band, it has become a Mecca for FFHKS fanatics desperate to catch a glimpse of the band, who prefer to remain out of the public spotlight.
Not only are FFHKS some of the most important artists of our time, they are also tireless archivists of the most essential movements in contemporary avant grade music around the world.
From the heart-achingly beautiful country rock of the prairie dogs to the seemingly endlessly brilliant compositions of Marshall T.C. sandwich, to the bitingly political west coast psychedelia of San Francisco, FFHKS are more than a band. They are a collective and a movement. The beating heart of what is, through history and forevermore, the quicksilver heart and soul of expression that can be found only in the most tirelessly brilliant art. Pablo Picasso is dead. Marshall T C Sandwich is dead. The prairie dogs are incarcerated for life. FFHKS carry the weight of thousands of years of creative genius on their shoulders, and carry the heavy torch of the True Soul of Art. In the words of the great art critic Dennis Coles "I don't give a fuck if you don't know what I'm talking about- this is art"
The fruits of their labor are most visible in the lasting influence of their pioneering improvisational output circulating around notions of the Metamodern and other contemporary avant-gardes. Due to their efforts the language of music criticism has, out of necessity, been rewritten in order to accurately assess the vibrations of the airwaves produced by their state of the art amplification system.
Day after day, they remind us all of the truest depths of the soul, the grandest reaches of the human imagination, and the endless beauty of music. If not them, then who?
Produced By Jonah J Smith
credits
released February 11, 2016
Alex Fortune - At Work
Elias Friedman - Synthesizer
Anthony Hemberger - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
Noah Krimstein - Drums
Jonah Smith - Piano
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