Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe

-Insert random weirdness here-

Misattributing a quote to Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, actually from J. B. S. Haldane, Terrence McKenna once said in a lecture on fungi, “Not only is reality stranger then we suppose, it's stranger then we can suppose.”  Les Claypool is here to remind us how strange life truly is!  Smelting together folk sense with rocking bass lines, yokel slang with scientific theory & a love of the bizarre with real-life fables, Of Fungi and Foe is not an album to be taken lightly, yet still retains its fun with an alien sense of humor.

The reason I bring up the aforementioned scientists and philosophers is because one gets a sense from the lyrics that this is exactly where Les is coming from.  He is heavily weighing the nutrients and poisons of life as well as their social ramifications, and beyond to a sense of the eternal.  Stories of mass abuse of chemicals on all levels within the songs –from cocaine abuse, to being addicted to a political agenda- narrow focus to individual examples of an array of different drug addicts and their subsequent lifestyles.  Surviving some 30 years in music industry, Claypool has lessons for all the culturally maligned, examples of tragic karma coming back to balance life.  From his point of view, anything could become a manifest desire, could ruin entire lives with this sort of social cultism.  The philosophical points of view expressed in the album are complex to say the least & offer evidence for their relevance amidst silly reverence, ranting & craziness.

Add all this wisdom to his deal to compose several songs on the Wii game title Mushroom Men and instead of getting a bunch of thematic mush, like with most game soundtracks, Les Claypool produced thoughtful, somewhat controversial, yet realistic songs that not only fit the context and setting of the game, but now extended onto the new album is comprehensive & a whole other world to explore.  A sort of darker and more satirical They Might Be Giants vibe is to be found in this new record, with a splash of Frank Zappa’s allegorical madness.  Songs like “Kazoo” and “What Would Sir George Martin Do” are the more fun songs, doing well to balance the serious messages. 

Then we delve into a sort of hybrid, where it’s obvious that Les has something serious to say, but needs to cloak the message somewhat.  “Primed by 29” is a good example, with a rousing melody to sing to, one soon realizes that from the wordless freeform bass scat (which is sweet!), that they’re singing along to some of the lyrics between verse and chorus that are stark reminders meant to speak to those caught in hopeless patterns of self abuse. Lyrics like “damn that’s some shitty wine…but fill my glass another time, I’m sure it’ll begin to taste fine, just fine” sound like the emulated words of an enabler, once cheering on intoxication, now observing it with and ironic sense of pain and tragedy from life.  These songs are some sort of spring trap to anyone feeling any sense of guilt about these overindulgences.  All along to childlike xylophone, funky guitar & a great beat; a wonderful disguise for an important message that is very hard to hear for most.

In Pretty Little Song Claypool makes a list of the little nagging things that destroy us slowly & puts it to warped out bass with bizarre synth. Singing “As the stones are moving through your kidneys, sing a little song”  we get chilling real life reminders.  By this point it is no longer silly, but scary.  A sort of Twilight Zone eeriness fills the mind as one starts counting original sins and aches & pains.  This is not pleasant.  But, it is unpleasant in a much needed way, in a way comparable to Radiohead’s “Kid A.”  These things, though nagging problems, may one day, as much as anything else, be the end of us and deserve our attention.  It is much easier to ignore these things, but we must be as brave as the doctors out there seeking cures, and we must be brave enough to take care of ourselves.  “Ol’ Rosco” is a reverent slang tale of drinkin’ and drivin’ that echoes this same sentiment, only from an outside, perhaps elderly perspective.  One could picture Les in a rocking-chair out on his front porch telling the story to a group of youngins to warn them of the dangers, or gossiping with relatives about how Rosco “do’s as he damn well pleases!”  The bass at face value alone is a reminder of how both are telling the story.  Short staccato phrases of perfectly syncopated lines create an atmosphere for tales like no other.  This is also why it’s easier to overlook Claypool’s sort of sing-talk style.  His voice is so descriptive and dramatic that it is for him another tool besides his singing, rather then an inability.  However, when he does sing, its great to hear a true bass!  His bellows of deep lore are quite effective at getting across his message.  The way he imitates a sort of good-ole-boy attitude & hick accent make the story all that more authentic.

                The culmination of this collection of tales, one is take by surprise when they begin to discern an actual antagonist and protagonist.  It is at the end of the album one realizes it was a folk device all along, all the tales interconnecting in ways similar to Bob Dylan in ’65 such as the characters in “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” or “Desolation Row.”  There is a menagerie of characters living through Of Fungi and Foe.  It is clear that the hero here takes the place of “friend” in the famous saying, as the Fungi.  The villain is, or are, all the poisonous parts of life, be it chemical, social, psychological or even political, not matter how good something is, even his own music, there is a point to it that is unhealthy.

                Of Fungi and Foe sucks about 60% less then most Primus albums, but that isn’t any reason not to go out & get it.  Les Claypool, though eccentric and sometimes silly, is ultimately a sage in fool’s clothing.  He sets a high standard for near experimental, technical instrumental music on the cutting edge, and matches it with esoteric lyrics that somehow manage to reach from the ends of the universe to pull it back to earth and speak it in hillbilly slang, or Cali hippy, or alien scat bass solos.  Claypool seems to be hinting at his own evolution, and a cultural revolution of genetic understanding.  The cover art especially seems to link the archaic references… but I have to wonder just what it represents.  Are these missing links we see on the cover?  Why does one dude have a spider on his head?  Perhaps Les and the artist giggle over its true meaning.  There are just as many answers offered here as unnerving questions rose about what we consider to be normal.  None of this music is normal and that is what’s most wonderful about it.  At this level Claypool is creatively free to explore acting, writing, music or whatever he wants (some of his far-out voices would make wonderful cartoon voiceovers) and we can only hope that he will continue to produce more oddities such as Of Fungi and Foe. 

-(cue slide-whistle & creeping bass-

Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe

2009 Prawn Song

Les Claypool