Dan Friel made it big as a key member of Parts & Labor, a fantastic, now defunct, Williamsburg-based art-pop and noise-rock band. He played keyboards and guitar while lending his voice as well, creating monstrous and yet joyous walls of sound, invigorating the DIY scene in the early aughts.
Years after the amicable dissolution of P&L in 2012, Dan Friel is still creating fantastically abrasive and fun songs under his own name. Since 2001, he's been making music using his trusty 1984 Yamaha PortaSound (a Christmas present) among a slew of bass overdrive and delay pedals to make demented part-Nintendo part-Prurient pop songs. He created a trilogy of albums spanning seven years that not only provide milestones in Friel's musical career but his life as well.
"Ghost Town" lands in the same year as P&L's "Receivers" (2008), but provides a nice parallel with spaced out, methodical, and gorgeous tracks. It's not easy listening by any means (the album starts with a long peal of distorted feedback), but if you give the album a shot, it's likely to surprise you. Friel occasionally calls his style "folk electronics", and this album displays that best of all. The melodies take center stage, from the calm, atmospheric beauty of "Horse Heaven" to the straightforward, rock-inspired riffs of "Buzzards". This album balances beauty and noise incredibly well.
His next album, "Total Folklore" (2013), was inspired by walking. Simply walking around New York provided the inspiration for the record, which came out almost exactly one year after P&L's final show. The first track, "Ulysses", is evidence enough of Friel's growth. There's a monstrous beat to provide a steady "walking" pace, while buzz saw synths mix with the chiming of bells and a brooding low end. The album takes off after the monolithic first track, providing one high-energy noise/dance track after another. This album is different than "Ghost Town" in that it is faster, noisier, and more dance-inspired. Friel is also much more open to experimentation with his equipment; for example, there's a fucked-up, frantic drum beat in the middle of "Thumper", suddenly dropping off into a spacious, distorted kick-drum-led bridge. "Total Folklore" expands on the faster elements of earlier work while maintaining a focus on melody.
"Life", Friel's newest release, is maybe the most straightforward, but Friel's singular approach to pop songwriter comes through very well. While tracks like "Cirrus" and "Rattler" sound like insane club songs from the future, "Sleep Deprivation" is one of the heaviest and most distorted tracks in his entire discography. While "Total Folklore" had an impenetrable, heavy feel to it, "Life" is much happier in nature, especially on the two-part title track, which is one of my personal favorite Dan Friel songs. It's outwardly joyous and remarkably adventurous, taking the limitations of his setup and proving he is one of the most interesting songwriters around today.
This post is only covering Friel's solo album work - the second part (which will come out at some point) will have a ton of stuff from Parts & Labor, and maybe some early EPs from Friel.
Unorthodox, unique and really fun. Videos and download link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCQAYw-OqJw ("Ghost Town")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID61WQd8XTw ("Thumper" video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwtovYaHmM ("Life Pt. 2" live w/ horns!)
http://tinyurl.com/jfvhge3 (MEGA)
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