THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM
Released June 3, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: After his terrific psychedelic pursuits within The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger, Sean Lennon returns and plunges even deeper down the rabbit hole and this time, he has been joined by Primus's Les Claypool.
"Monolith Of Phobos," The Claypool Lennon Delirium's debut album sounds precisely like the unit's moniker, a 21st century deep dive into a playful yet dark psychedelia that recalls the disturbing dream worlds as conjured by Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. As also advertised within the band's name, we are indeed hearing the work of a strictly two-man collective where Claypool supplies most to the lead vocals, much of the lyrics and certainly, his incomparable bass playing where Lennon contributes vocals, the lion's share of the instrumentation (guitars, keyboards, drums) and the two co-composed the music.
What the album reveals are selections that travel from the two movement early King Crimson-esque mushroom trip "Cricket And The Genie," the increasingly creepy character study of the late night pervert "Mr. Wright," the seasick chantey of "Captain Lariat," an indictment of the pharmaceutical industry with "Oxycontin Girl," the incomprehensibly, the surprisingly poignant "Bubbles Burst," existence as viewed through the eyes of Michael Jackson's former pet and further and farther beyond.
Truth be told, I am not terribly familiar with Les Claypool's musical legacy, so fans of Primus and Oysterhead would have to tell me how they feel about this album as it relates to his pursuits. But, for me, as a fan of the eclectic Sean Lennon, I find the album more than fascinating as he has again made a conscious decision to more than fully embrace his heritage musically as he has weaved some of his Father's specialized brand of psychedelia and found its gleefully sinister underbelly.
ISAAC HAYES
Released November 1971
SLOAN
Released September 9, 2014
FELA KUTI
Released October 26, 2009
THE KINKS
Released May 8, 1974
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
Released June 17, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: The first thing that grabbed me about this latest album from Red Hot Chili Peppers, their first release in five long years, was the gorgeous streetwise dream world album cover, a painting entitled "Coalition II" by Kevin Peterson, and on which the band has reportedly adopted certain of the characters depicted as emulations of themselves: a girl (guitarist Josh Klinghoffer), a bear (drummer Chad Smith), a raccoon (bassist Flea) and a raven (lead singer Anthony Kiedis).
What further intrigued me about the album was that this would be the first RHCP release in 25 years where the band did not collaborate with Producer Rick Rubin, instead changing up with Danger Mouse in the studio chair, who pushed the band by throwing out previously written material in favor of writing together within the studio setting and crafting tracks out of more layered step-by-step recording than through their standard practice of working out selections through extensive jams sessions. By interview accounts, this process was difficult and challenging for the band but necessary to provide a true sense of evolution. The results, as found upon "The Getaway," do not provide a radical sonic change, but they do indeed showcase some often bold new choices and aesthetics that prove without question that Red Hot Chili Peppers remains a band of vitality, purpose and adventurousness.
Unlike with "I'm With You" (released August 30, 2011), the band's previous album on which it was obvious that Kiedis, Flea and Smith were feeling out the then new, and decidedly arcane presence of guitarist Klinghoffer, who replaced the beloved and departed John Frusciante, "The Getaway" finds the foursome working and playing together as a fully integrated team. Where Kiedis' lyrics and the album's themes of love, sex, mortality, death and California remain the standard RHCP territories, what transpires and transforms greatly is the approach to the band's music, which is consistently rich melodically and rhythmically but also offers quite a number of sonic surprises.
The album's first three songs terrifically set the stage announcing that we are all in for a different RHCP listening experience. sound of a voice emulating a hi-hat opens the album upon the title track, a hypnotic slice of minimalist funk that would not have sounded out of place upon Prince's "Sign O' The Times" (released March 31, 1987). The piano driven "Dark Necessities" and the David Essex influenced zig-zag funk of "We Turn Red" sparkle, shimmer and exist as more nuanced and even intoxicating works than what we may be used to.
Where "The Longest Wave" and "Goodbye Angels" tread familiar melancholic ground, it is on selections like the Elton John tinged "Sick Love," the outstanding Prince/Lipps Inc./Zappa pastiche entitled "Go Robot," the jazzy "Dreams Of A Samurai," the stunning "Encore" as well as heavier tracks like "Detroit" and the jarring loud/quiet tactics of "This Ticonderoga" plus even more, that "The Getaway" offers one unexpected jewel after another.
Red Hot Chili Peppers' "The Getaway" is not a full re-invention by any means. But what it does accomplish, and strongly so, is to provide us with a picture of a band that is continually in the process of evolution. Who knew that the band who once wore tube socks upon their...ahem...appendages, would one day grow into a group so artistically mature and so restlessly in pursuit of greatness.
DJ SHADOW
Released June 24, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: It has just dawned upon me that it was 20 years ago that I, along with the world I would suppose, became introduced to DJ Shadow.
I remember that it was a rainy afternoon and I was killing time just browsing around one of Madison's treasured local record stores, Mad City Music Exchange. I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Just walking, thumbing through albums and then, lightning struck. The clerk in the store began playing "Endtroducing..." (released November 19, 1996), the debut album from DJ shadow, and it was instantly transfixing. An outstanding voyage of instrumental hip-hop that sounded as forward thinking as I could imagine but also as vintage as my favorite Tangerine Dream albums, it was an album I purchased that very day after hearing the first four or five tracks. As I always say, music chooses you and DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing..." sustains me sumptuously to this day as it has also cast its own massively looming shadow over the musical landscape...even DJ Shadow's own continuing journey.
Now, I have always been a person who has championed the artist's right and need to challenge themselves first before pleasing the audience. To grow, to change, to shift styles and genre as each work sis a chapter in an ongoing musical novel, so to speak. If not, then most certainly The Beatles woud have never become THE BEATLES! That said, I also get it when you love a particular album so very much that when the artist in question returns with their next effort, you just wish to recapture that certain something all over again and when it doesn't, you tend to feel somewhat let down. n the case of DJ Shadow, I have to admit that I have fallen within that latter category although I certainly do not begrudge the man for challenging himself with every new release.
And now, we arrive with "The Mountain Will Fall," DJ Shadow's first new full-length release in five years, he again has produced an effort that flies further away from "Endtroducing..." but also somehow finds a way to circle around its orbit while providing a new sonic universe to find yourself slowly becoming lost inside of.
After an introductory "Hi," the album begins with the synthetic slow fade in of the title track, a sea of dense, lushly warm keyboards and synths (again something akin to a vintage, yet updated, Tangerine Dream) that are propelled by booming electronic percussion that sounds like unreleased beats from "Stomp!" A more than captivating beginning to an album that, while will not unseat "Endtroducing..." in my heart, it has otherwise slowly begun to weave its dark spell over me.
Admittedly, the track "Nobody Speak," featuring Run The Jewels felt out of place to me on this mostly instrumental album, as if it was an overly vulgar record label concession (although I do love the line that begins with "Charlie Brown Peppermint Patty Linus and LUCY!!!") And also, "The Sideshow" featuring Ernie Fresh is a solid slab of classic hip-hop but still feels superfluous and unfortunately breaks the spell that had been woven by the sinister instrumentals "Three Ralphs" and "Bergschrund."
But by the time we hit the grinding "Depth Charge," which phases into the terrific "Mambo" and the album's highest peak "Ashes To Oceans," DJ Shadow's blend of live instrumentation, chilly synthetics and his peerless drum programming transform the remainder of "The Mountain Will Fall" into a intoxicating, troubling release that only re-confirms that DJ Shadow operates solely within his own league.
THE AMAZING
Released July 22, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: Speaking of intoxicating and instantly so...
It was just about one year ago when I became acquainted with The Amazing, a Swedish band whose "Picture You" (released February 17, 2015), was a dreamy, elegiac album that was sumptuously captivating. Now, the band arrives with "Ambulance," and this effort is even better.
Again blending psychedelia, curlicues of melodies and blissfully interlocking guitar lines and riffs, The Amazing has crafted a terrific album of a superbly sustained mood and tenor. It is as if they have captured Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" inside of a jar and were somehow able to manipulate the music into crating a collection of new songs. The dream like vocals and somnambulant guitar heroics flow seamlessly over the album's eight tracks, weaving a spell I think will hypnotize you into an entranced state between waking and dreaming.
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