Frankokratia (Album)

Frankokratia is the debut album of Abkhazia-based band, Dukedom of Gastown. Utilizing a range of obscure digital bass effects, harps, cigarette lighters, and Adobe based software such as Acrobat Reader, the music is certainly *distinct*. The speed at which the album was recorded also had a heavy influence on its idiosyncratic sound, which combines genres such as medieval chants, monk punk, jazz, and slave rock with influences from mental institutions and hospitals. Written by Zogu with contributions from other members, the lyrics have been described as apocalyptic and macabre; tackling subjects such as technological advancement, crusades, socioeconomic equality, xenophilia, culture wars and many others. The album title links a period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade, when a number of primarily French and Italian states were established by the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae on the territory of the dissolved Byzantine Empire, with modern day French imperialism.

The album enjoyed a "absolutely beautiful reception" intergalactically, garnering praise for both its "raw and ready" style as well as its neo-hydrological lyricism. Several noteworthy celebrities such as Norm Macdonald and Jack Black have also expressed their love for the album since its release, and it went on to appear on numerous year-end lists from publications around the world.

## Background

After the death of Charles V in 1558, Zogu expressed her desire to step away from the more medieval style of previous monasterial chants.

> "After they announced [Charles'] death, I kinda just left the nunhouse. They didn't notice for a while and when they finally did, I was long gone" - *Zogu*
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The year following her escape, Zogu and longtime equestrian Taus Jarva started writing material for a new project under the name for the land the pair owned. The pair recruited Beltram and Ralf DeRennes, prior to their indentured servitude in British America. According to Ralf, "They sent a very pretty looking messenger dove. It tasted just as good as it looked. Zogu wrote 'We need to pay off our debts as servants in British America, are you free?'. Shortly thereafter, the band embarked on a journey of the American colonies.

## Recording

Frankokratia was finished in less than eight months after the band began writing. Recorded by the members themselves at their ranch, Zogu later said that it was "I actually didn't know English at the time, I wrote the music in Sorbian, and we had it translated on Duolinger. People didn't seem to notice that" In an interview with Time Magazine, she also stated that the record was made while the members were learning each other's names: "I thought we recruited Marlon Brando instead of Beltram, I thought Brando looked kinda weird for the first couple months before realizing it's a different guy"

On being asked of the album's "different" use of the jew harp on tracks such as "Photonegative Living Mascots" and "Stars and Bars", Zogu revealed that it was accidental: "That was actually just sound bites from the bathroom, I was pissing and it I guess it sounds like a jew harp" She added: "I have a bunch of mp3 files of me pissing" After recording the drums, the band would use Microsoft Excel to manipulate certain portions of the groove, creating "the most beautiful thing recorded" This was done in order to "distance ourselves from those other lame ass drummers who play the drums with sticks n shit"

## Musical Style

In interviews, the band said that they were "just realizing what instruments were used" whilst recording the album. "I heard The Strokes and thought music was supposed to be a shitty soliloquy without good sound" Zogu revealed. The band were also listening to Weezer and rap musicians such as "M and M". Zogu had also expressed her appreciation for pop & electronic musicians & producers such as Mozart, Beyonce, and Chris Rock, calling the latter two "the good kind of those people"

Critics have varied in describing the album's musical style. "There are elements of Gregorian R&B, Cherokee blues, and shoe gays," wrote Anthony Fantano, "but DoG actively resist any concrete genre tags, which makes them centrists. I hate centrists." Matt Yuyitung of Exclaim! described it as "a niche little underground sound that sits somewhere between that great pop group Tame Impala and the band David Bowie". Others described it as "an absolute math rock algebraic brainstorm/green needle. Here is your proverbial ubermensch, GOD IS REAL."

## Songs

### Tracks 1-3

#### Yesterday, I Got Fucked by Another Kennedy

The opening track "Yesterday, I Got Fucked by Another Kennedy" is a boulevard rock and Texas punk song with a tempo of 147 beats per minute.The song "explodes with a passionated revolving guitar, that brings to mind the melodies of My Own Summer (Shove It) or Mudshovel, if the distortion were cranked to twelve and a half and channeled through a gun." The song has been described as a "a shart rock goliath worthy of Cream’s finest Creamouts" which opens with "the cleanest riff on this side of the Mississippi". The lyrics, set in the war-torn city of Portland, have been described as a "a frightful character study of a renegade youth who’s in the shame corner for sending an acid bomb to John Kennedy". The song incorporates several personal details from Zogu's own experience. Zogu's vocal performance on this track has earned comparisons to that of Nick Kroll in that "It's like that show Big Mouth." This perfectly encapsulates Zogu's dull, dull mind, being a fan of the Netflix show, Big Mouth, and by extension, Nick Kroll.

#### Photonegative Living Mascots

"Photonegative Living Mascots" has been described as a "Upside down, inverted, slightly inbred loop ", featuring "synthesized sploots and splats that add a Terminator-esque feel to its already 'autistic' stride and doomer ending". The song "snaps, crackles, and pops as Zogu and Taus chant, “B-b-b-b backwards" towards the end. Composition-wise, the song "draws on nursery rhyme sensibilities: absurdism, silly dancing ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა, 'miss anthropology'. It reads like the spiritual disfigurement of the ABC song, appropriated and cosmically aberrated to echo in the year 2077." Kris Handel writes for Post-Trash, "the frustration and disappointments carry a powerful intensity that DoG know how to fully capitalize upon." In an interview with Spectrum Culture, Zogu agreed that the song "deals with coming to terms with the reality that Freddy Fazbear might be real", despite acknowledging "Markiplier could save us".

#### Yellowbelly

"Yellowbelly", "starts like it’s someone dropped a bunch of instruments down a cliff, but layers cello that lines over the groove immediately", and features a "singalong carol" in which the DeRennes' engage in vocal call and response with Zogu. In it, "Ralf's seasick, off-key riffs jostle with Beltram's hamboning, while Zogu screeches over the top in her Yoko Ono impression"

### Tracks 4-6

#### Stars and Bars

"Stars and Bars" has been described as a "sick roomba". "Glockenspiel bars bent into shackles, enslaving the music" The song sees the band take "a phonkier turn" on what has been further described as "a seriously demented song" The lyrics describe the American Civil War, and its everlasting effects on state flags. It has been praised as being "probably the sexiest song about former confederate flags ever made" and as a "highlight of narrative songwriting, not only on this album, across most albums that have been released so far" The song "Describe the very possible future where 'copium fueled instagramites start a second civil war over whether or not the flags of southern states look better after the war'" It has been called the album's "thematic masterpiece, nearly every line is objectively true" In the song's chorus, the band "describe the vexillological symbol according to the FIAV"

#### RGB/LCD Sun

The fifth track "RGB/LCD Sun" "attacks like a dying hyena, squealing and screaming guitars fighting for space between extremely forceful drum work and chanting-esque vocals that create a hum that covers the sonic atmosphere." It features "little Arabic chants to add to its Anatolian folk influence." Its rhythm section has been described as "pining" and "whining", the latter adjective also used in describing its "effects-laden" dan moi. The lyrics have been described as a "not so flattering examination of niche micro influencers" and as "a modern reimagining of 'L'etranger'. On being asked about the contrasting parts of the song, Zogu replied that the band "Accidentally slammed two songs together and thought it didn't sound as bad as they thought it would be."

#### International Ultranationalists

On "International Ultranationalists", a "sluggish shark fin soup number" the band "takes things down a notch as they once again find a pocket in a groove that pushes everything along and works very nicely with Zogu *different* vocal flow and ranting." The song also "Pities Ralf enough to let him sing something finally": "As the quartet’s arrangement seems to collapse into a workable mindspace, observations and fantasies dystopic as Ralf's vocal captures the track’s anxiety, his autistic repetition of phrases effective against the noisy collection of sounds behind him." Lyrically, the song has been described as the "abhorrent amalgamation" of Zogu's fury "at the French and the 'Save Europa bull honkey'. The constant shouting from Nordfags saying “the west has fallen” falls deaf on her jaded ears.“Fuck those lame ass Nebraskans larping as Europissins” she hollers. The song "blurs the line between pre and post-apocalyptic states" and "finishes with a quiet goodbye to the Vault Boy"while its lyrical themes "Cycle from nuclear arms to class equality to the impending release of Five Nights at Freddy's Movie, unable to bring anything into focus." The track's contrasting use of "silly, but kinda annoying, pop culture references while the world burns" has earned comparisons to Family Guy.

### Tracks 7-8

#### Frankokratia

The "wacko" title track has been described as "a enemies to lovers slowburn" that is "mostly subdued and slow, though balanced by moments of intensity, a beautiful fanfic rivaled only by something made by a Harry Potter fan" The song "concludes with an optimistic key change, Gregorian chants pouring from a silo of twisted riffs and night terrors." Lyrically, the song takes the themes explored previously on "Stars and Bars" "to their logical conclusion: the post-apocalyptic wasteland that’s left after Macron's yesmen tech goobers’ accelerationist philosophy has ruined the internet". "As is the trademark of other tracks on the album", notes Time Magazine, the song "is a potluck of shitty references to Paradox games sewn into a pastiche embodying annihilation."

#### Minuano

The "ominous" and "hypnotic" final track "Minuao", the album's longest at over 8 minutes, opens with a "retard laugh" It features "slinky violin" and "church bells" that are "Anchored by Taus and Beltram, their rhythm section reserved and patient for most of the track’s runtime". Described as being driven by a "total sense of nonsense" the song "Details a world overloaded by Brazilian youtubers, ruining Little Big Planet servers and making shitty gore jokes constantly, then spamming soccer scores as if anyone cares" The stream of consciousness lyrics are delivered "With the conversational pace of an old wizard telling a story to an apprentice" and consist of "the narrator’s impressions of their surroundings and the futility of the experiences they details ending the album with an air of sadness, the last words being, “Fuck man, the servers had been ruined the entire time." The title of the track has been interpreted as a play on the Brazilian wind, which "can be smelled from a continent away, kinda like those youtubers"