Tankian

2020, The Year Of Our Pandemic: A year of social unrest, police violence and a monumental US election. The year of COVID-19 and its mounting death toll. A massive explosion and mass death in Lebanon. Political upheaval in Belarus. A spiraling world economy. Global protests. If ever a stage was set for new music from Serj Tankian, this is it. With his trademark eclecticism and one-of-a-kind vocal style, Serj delivers, Elasticity, a five song EP that run the gamut from hard-driving, electronically enhanced anthems like the title track to rallying cries for his beloved Armenia (“Electric Yerevan”) to the tongue-in-cheek political mash-up of “Your Mom.” Elasticity is comprised of songs originally intended for System Of A Down. But it didn’t quite work out that way. The EP will delight fans of System who have waited a long time for new music.

Though he possesses one of the most instantly recognizable singing voices in music, Serj Tankian has still spent the last five years finding his musical "voice" as a solo artist, steadily working his way out of the shadow of his work fronting nü-prog rockers System of a Down. After taking his sound in an increasingly grand direction, an idea that culminated in the singer recasting his debut album with a symphony on Elect the Dead Symphony, Tankian returns to a more direct rock sound with his third album, Harakiri. Filled with political angst, this album feels the most lyrically similar to SOAD, with lines like "sucking seeds is pastime" even serving as direct references to "Toxicity" ("eating seeds is a pastime activity").

Recorded in Linz, Austria in October of 2012, Orca was composed and demoed in Tankian’s home studio and fully realized after a successful Kickstarter campaign that helped fund a recording and debut performance at the regal Brucknerhaus with the “Das Karussell Ensemble”. With conductor Werner Steinmetz at the helm, the four acts of Orca mix influences from early 20th century composers with modern film compositional dynamics showing influences ranging from Ennio Morricone to Philip Glass. Listeners are met with a mingling of sounds and intertwining pieces that are both serene and bombastic at the same time, offering a fresh interpretation to the classical art….

Imperfect Harmonies is the second studio album by Serj Tankian, the frontman of System of a Down.
When Serj Tankian released Elect the Dead Symphony (the live orchestral version of his debut solo effort), he shifted his already nearly unclassifiable post-System of a Down musical vision to entirely new terrain. His prog rock leanings already clearly displayed, he also embraced everything from romantic and 20th century classical and opera to Armenian traditional music and even electronic music, while retaining rock’s aesthetic dynamics. On Imperfect Harmonies, he utilizes the sonic possibilities of orchestral music to integrate various forms into a wildly excessive near theatrical effort that never escapes his control. Imperfect Harmonies was recorded at his home studio in Los Angeles, and Tankian wrote, produced, arranged, sang, and performed the vast majority of the album with help from select guests…

With the glut of "String Tribute To" albums floating around out in the world, an orchestral version of an album is typically just cause to run in the other direction. That said, the orchestral version of Elect the Dead is a welcome re-imagining of the System of a Down frontman’s solo debut. On Elect the Dead Symphony, Serj Tankian worked with composer John Psathas and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra to convert the album from biting prog rock to an elegant symphony that was performed live in Auckland, New Zealand in 2009. Thanks to the singer’s prog leanings, the album translates surprisingly well from one medium to another, bridging the already short gap between progressive rock and classical music…

Live at Leeds is the second live album by US singer-songwriter Serj Tankian and US musical group The F.C.C., released on April 8, 2022 by Serjical Strike Records.