| The Fringemunks | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Parody, filk, TV episode recaps |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Website | DavidWuMusic.com/fringemunks |
| Members | |
| Feebo, Notchy & Pie | |
The Fringemunks are a music group created by Seattle musician David Wu in 2008 consisting of three "cloned" anthropomorphic chipmunks: Feebo, Notchy and Pie. They are known mostly for recapping all episodes of Fox television series Fringe with song parodies. The group is, in itself, a loose parody of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
The voices of the group are all performed by Wu, who speeds up the playback of his voice to create higher-pitched voices. For their songs, Wu performs all of the instruments (heard in real-time) and writes the parody lyrics.
The songs, bundled with a production hosted by Wu entitled The Fringemunk Show (which to date has only been produced once), can be played and freely downloaded from their website. The songs and shows have also been made available via a free podcast subscription on the iTunes Store, from Season 2 onward.
Contents |
As a songwriter and producer, Wu used to create high-pitched chipmunk-sounding vocal demos to share with potential singers who needed to learn his songs, due to his reservations of sharing his actual singing voice.
In September 2008, Wu created The Fringemunks' first two Fringe episode song recaps (for "Pilot" [1.01] and "The Same Old Story" [1.02]), mostly as a joke to be shared with Fringe fans online. This led to more songs, which in turn led to a full-series project.
In October 2008, the Fringe Dwellers podcast began airing all Fringemunks songs; the podcast continued to do so until it ended its run in the summer of 2009.
In January 2009, Wu appeared in a round-table show featuring various Fringe-related podcasts, accepting the invitation despite the fact that The Fringemunks' songs were not available on their own podcast feed at the time.
In February 2009, Wu flew to New York as a correspondent for The Fringe Podcast at New York Comic Con, where he met and interviewed several Fringe cast members, as well as producer Jeff Pinkner, at the show's press junket.[1] Besides performing the required duties for the podcast, Wu distributed business cards with the Fringemunks' website URL to them.
In March 2009, The Fringemunks were added to the Fringe Podcast Network, a collection of audio and video podcasts dedicated to Fringe.
In September 2009 at the start of Season 2 of Fringe, The Fringemunks became its own podcast - with the songs being released as syndicated episodes - while still retaining membership in the Fringe Podcast Network. The Fringemunk Show - a variety show featuring Fringemunks songs and Wu conversing with Feebo, Notchy and Pie - debuted at this time.[2] That same month, Wu was interviewed by The Blowhard Experiment podcast about The Fringemunks.[3]
In early 2010, Wu continued making occasional appearances on Fringe-related podcasts, including The Fringe Podcast[4] and Following the Pattern with Megan and Jennifer.[5]
In February 2010, Alyssa Milano sent a Twitter message with a link to the video for The Fringemunks' "iPad Song" (a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad" that criticized the device), along with a statement that it had made her laugh.[6] The message and the ensuing "re-tweets" apparently caused "The iPad Song" to trend on Twitter across the United States. Technology columnist John C. Dvorak posted "The iPad Song" video on his blog in May 2010.[7]
In March 2010, Wu began streaming live broadcasts of the recording process, including lyric composition, tracking instruments, and mixing. The broadcasts incorporated a live chat as well. Some of these sessions were recorded and archived, and are accessible from the website.
Fringe episode "The Man from the Other Side" [2.18], which aired on April 22, 2010, contained a character named "David Wu," though it is unclear if this was a conscious decision made by the show's writers to acknowledge Wu, or if it was merely a coincidence. The Fringe Report, a video podcast, held a contest called "The David Wu Challenge" to see if fans could guess when and how the fictional character would be killed off in the TV series.[8]
On December 17, 2010, Wu announced via The Fringemunks' Facebook page that episodic recap songs would no longer be produced after Season 3, citing reduced lack of personal interest in the project.[9] However, in September 2011, Wu changed his mind and proceeded with the project.
On December 30, 2011, ESPN's "Fantasy Focus Football" podcast opened with The Fringemunks' cover of the show's theme song composed by Eric Hutchinson. The cover version received a warm round of applause and praise by Matthew Berry, Nate Ravitz and Stephania Bell.
"We've had many musical groups over the years offer to do a cover of the song, and no one's ever come through," said Berry during the show. "But apparently the Fringemunks came through."
In May 2009, Wu shared his conceptual approach to producing The Fringemunks:
Despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of the songs and its accompanying irreverent humor, it is still my music underneath the sped-up voices and, I feel, there is redemptive quality to the lyrics that I write for the parodies. It allows the audience to experience a Fringe episode in a different light, and also allows one to hear a song in a slightly different light as well. For me, it's also one experiment after another, creating music and presenting them to an audience in mind - it's simply great practice. The appeal for the listener is exemplified in a series of anticipations for each new song. Once an episode airs, I want the Fringemunks fan to automatically wonder how the 'munks will recap that episode. If a listener memorizes the song, it can be a great tool to remember a particular episode's plot and details when the episodes and seasons start piling up.[10]
Most of the songs follow a similar pattern of production: after Wu watches a particular Fringe episode, he chooses which song to parody, then writes the parody lyrics that recap the episode, most of the time from a character's point-of-view.
Wu, who is primarily a pianist/keyboardist, utilizes Cubase as his overall digital audio workstation software. He performs the instrumental using one of a wide variety of configurations - from as simple as an upright piano with handclaps without the use of a click track, to large-scale multi-instrument arrangements with full percussion using Reason. Most of the instruments, including the guitar patches, are actually played using a Roland JV-1000 synthesizer. Wu does use actual guitars for the recordings, on occasion. Many times, Wu performs percussion with unusual instruments, such as Aspirin or Ibuprofen tablet bottles, banging DVD covers together, and scissors.
When the instrumental is complete, Wu records the vocals at 2/3 the speed of the instrumental, which amounts to a perfect fifth interval below the original key. The vocals are isolated, sped up to the original key, then inserted as a vocal track for mixing with the instruments. The recording is then mastered and prepared for release.
This is similar to the initial process used by Alvin and the Chipmunks, although their vocals are generally recorded a full octave below the original key.
Reviews for the group are generally positive. Fringe showrunner and executive producer Jeff Pinkner sent a Twitter message describing the project as "brilliant, awesome, hilarious."[11] Fringe writer and supervising producer J. R. Orci told Wu that the parodies are "incredibly well done."
Megan Maloney, co-host of Following the Pattern with Megan and Jennifer, stated: "As far as parodies go - creatively, this far beyond anything I have ever heard." Jennifer Cifuentes, co-host of Following the Pattern, said that each song "is a little piece of genius and helps enhance (her) Fringe viewing experience exponentially." Adele Walsh of the Fringe Dwellers podcast stated: "Awesome stuff - the Kanye West ("Gold Digger") parody is my favorite!" Levi Bethune, co-host of The Fringe Report, stated: "It takes a really creative and skilled mind to not only put together a parody of something, but to assemble it from the wonderfully complex story of Fringe." Wayne Henderson, of FRINGEcasting with Wayne and Dan, stated: "David Wu does a very clever job of recapping great episodes of Fringe, in parody songs, done in the style of The Chipmunks and Weird Al." Darrell Darnell, co-host of The Fringe Podcast, suggested to J. R. Orci that a feature about The Fringemunks "would make a cool DVD extra."[12]
The song recaps continue to be plugged frequently on various Fringe-related podcasts and websites, while "The iPad Song" (along with its music video) has received mass exposure on many technology blogs around the world.
For each Fringe song, the title consists of the number and title of the corresponding TV episode.
| Season 1 | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by The Fringemunks | |
| Released | 2008–2009 (Tracks 1–20) 2010 (Track 21) |
| Length | 1:22:42 |
| Producer | David Wu |
This album consists of song recaps of all Fringe episodes aired during Season 1 (2008–2009). Also included is the song that recaps the episode "Unearthed," which was filmed during Season 1 but did not air until January 2010 during Season 2.
| Season 2 | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by The Fringemunks | |
| Released | 2009–2010 |
| Length | 1:47:19 |
| Producer | David Wu |
This album consists of song recaps of all Fringe episodes aired during Season 2 (2009–2010).
| Season 3 | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by The Fringemunks | |
| Released | 2010-2012 |
| Length | TBD |
| Producer | David Wu |
This album will eventually consist of song recaps of all Fringe episodes aired during Season 3 (2010–2011). Four remaining songs are still in work, and will be completed by early 2012; all the rest have been released.
| Season 4 | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by The Fringemunks | |
| Released | 2011-2012 |
| Length | TBD |
| Producer | David Wu |
This album will eventually consist of song recaps of all Fringe episodes aired during Season 4 (2011–2012). As of now, six songs have been completed and released. At first, Wu had planned to parody the entire double album, The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album), to recap all of this season's episodes; however, that plan was abandoned after the release of the "Epis. 4.04: Subject 9" song.
| Bloody Rare | |
|---|---|
| Compilation album by The Fringemunks | |
| Released | 2010–present |
| Length | TBD |
| Producer | David Wu |
This album consists of Fringe recap outtakes and non-Fringe-related material. New material and previously unreleased versions of songs will be added to this album over time.