April Fools Day brought the first new music from the brand new alt-rock supergroup, FFS, made up of the members of Franz Ferdinand and Sparks!  (If you’re following the new Unicorn Booty Tumblr admin’d by yours truly, you got a sneak peek yesterday morning.)

As confusing as it might sound, it sounds… exactly like what you’d expect from combining the two acts… the piano and operatic vocals from Sparks, and the angular guitars and jittery energy of Franz Ferdinand.  Sure, on paper the only thing the bands have in common is putting out some of the best records of the past 40 years (Sure, 30 of those 40 years are held up by Sparks, but if you didn’t like Franz Ferdinand’s Tonight, you’re just wacky) — but “Piss Off” works perfectly.

In fact, this project has been in the works since Franz Ferdinand’s debut album – so about 10 years – and “Piss Off”  was one of the demos from that initial meeting.  But it wasn’t until 2014 when the two bands got together over a 15-day span and put together the full length, due June 8th on Domino.

sparks, franz ferdinand, ffs, rock
FFS Album Art

The track listing is as follows:

  1. Johnny Delusional
  2. Call Girl
  3. Dictator’s Son
  4. Little Guy From The Suburbs
  5. Police Encounters
  6. Save Me From Myself
  7. So Desu Ne
  8. The Man Without A Tan
  9. Things I Won’t Get
  10. The Power Couple
  11. Collaborations Don’t Work
  12. Piss Off
  13. So Many Bridges
  14. King Of The Song
  15. Look At Me
  16. A Violent Death

(The last four tracks are only on the Deluxe edition.)

Tour dates have been posted, but they’re Europe-only at this point.  And, to remind you of what the bands sound like on their own: