Fol Chen

Thu., Aug. 5, 9 p.m., $10, with Baths and Virtual Virgin, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com.

by Patrick Rapa

Juliana Paciulli

art/dance/pop/rock

The Residents had some good ideas, but I wouldn't call them "fun." Los Angeles band Fol Chen seems like the next evolutionary step, an art-pop project you can groove to. They're coy with their faces and identities. (There's at least one lady and one dude, and they wear Chucks.) The music is shrewdly odd, but catchy, maybe even dancey. Their lyrics stitch the pretty to the apocalyptic. This is exactly what I thought we'd be listening to in 2010: trancey, clangy, absurd, half-hopeful, over-processed pop for the bombed-out/beat-up/4channing/music-stealing post-Lost endless-war generation. I miss Lost.