Franz Ferdinand, Sparks Join Forces for Supergroup FFS

On Friday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m ET, Yahoo Live will live stream the show by FFS (Franz Ferdinand & Sparks) from First Avenue in Minneapolis. Tune in HERE to watch!

In the world of internet acronyms, FFS may be self-explanatory to those with overly clever, nasty mouths. But clever as it may be, this week’s newly released album FFS—by a new group with that very same name—is anything but nasty.

It is instead sharp, catchy, aggressive, and sophisticated—and it the unexpected union of two unique groups from two different eras.

FFS–short for comparative newbies Franz Ferdinand (Scottish, formed in 2002, hit with “Take Me Out” in 2004) and aged L.A. wunderkinder Ron and Russell Mael, better known as Sparks (American, formed in 1971, three billion massively clever albums, occasional hits)– are here, and they’re very dear indeed.

Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapronos discuss their new collaborative album FFS.
Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapronos discuss their new collaborative album FFS.

You need to hear their brand new album, released this week by Domino Records, which miraculously combines the two very distinctive pop brands—FF and S—and emerges as something not necessarily better, and certainly not worse, than anything either band has produced on its own, but something…equally good. And catchy.  And clever.

It is one of the most expected collaborations in pop music history, and from the album’s very opening track—lead single “Johnny Delusional”—it makes complete aesthetic sense.

Joining Yahoo Music in our Santa Monica studio recently were three major perpetrators of the project—L.A’s own Mael Brothers and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos—who explained exactly how it was this union came to be, who brought what to whom where, and why artists who assume their listeners have some degree of intelligence—as these guys do—are always a delight to listen to.

There is a tour coming, an inevitable re-examination of the respective glories of the legacies of both Sparks and Franz Ferdinand, and a lot of gratitude to be directed at all parties–for allowing one of 2015’s brightest moments to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting public so unassumingly, as if it were a matter of course.

It isn’t, and it’s worth looking into right now.