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

Weezer - (Red Album)

Weezer is one of those slow-and-steady consistent bands where it is never just about a single song, but an entire record, and the 2^nd self titled album Weezer, or the Red Album, is no exception.  The bad reviews & odd popular conception (a low seller in America, but a #1 hit in Japan -again) has to due with the striking post-modernist views expressed both musically and lyrically.  This album was what the band needed perhaps more then what the fans, or shall we say the pop-fans, wanted.  This album, however, is brilliant.

                Something Weezer has always been about is a dedication and reverence for the past.  Even if they don’t mention it, the evidence in older albums was an obvious cornucopia of style with as many surf songs and rock-pop hits as heavier driving classic rock & simple folk.  Now that fusion is somewhat sarcastic.  Whereas before, with songs like “Buddy Holly” everyone was laughing along, now, the sarcastic humor is somewhat spiteful & over our heads, with a new world understanding of just how serious their own message was & now has become, Weezer is having some philosophical fun with us.  The beginning of The Red Album does not knock on your door politely to come in and have a cup of tea; instead it pounds down the door and demands to be heard without any pleasantries.  If you don’t already know Weezer, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this album, as the previous work is required listening to understand just what they’re getting at.

                This album is for the true Weezer fan.  You get to hear vocals from the entire band (all well done and in tune, a rarity in this industry).  You get experimental music that we’re not used to as the band goes back to a pre-Blue Album time when Cuomo and the guys were delegating just who did what.  Now we get pleasant, if near Indy music, performances of a new holistic Weezer.  When listening, one is easily thrown back to other great bands that did this (for trial, success or error).  The Red Album is most easily comparable to R.E.M.’s Eponymous, with multiple fun band member cameos, strange new instruments, techniques and effects, and a wonderful sense of power that the band truly can do whatever they want to creatively.  Not to mention, a little of the shocking realness we now respect Bruce Springsteen for with biting samples of harsh reality.  Some complain about the new changes, but it seems like without them, the band may not have even survived.  Theoretically, wecould have a sort of upcoming “Out of Time” era and a possible “Losing my Religion” type path for Weezer’s future, where they take this new post-modernity and translate it into pop-rock understanding for the masses.  The Red Album seems like a prologue for greater albums to come, yet a vital reference point none the less.

                The songs on The Red Album range from a taste of their familiar roots to wild new ideas all with a tinge irony. “Dreamin,’” and “Miss Sweeny” (as well as most of the songs Rivers Cuomo sings on) still have the same old familiarity.  The songs’ style and rhythm all sound like they could have been somehow taken right off the oldies station, and then twist into power rock choruses that sample yet transcend those old standards.  As with older albums, not enough can be said about the harmonies of the singing & guitar.  The secret weapon of Weezer is an entire band that can sing, and they truly allow Cuomo to fly into beautiful cadence.  Matt Sharp’s Bass is always the in perfect syncopation with Jason Cropper’s guitar as if joined by sort of mystical musical hip.  They can take a simple melody and turn it into something that sticks humming in the brain for years to come.  Glue all this together with Patrick Wilson’s driving rock beats & incredible sense of dynamics on the drums and you get an incredible album.  Much respect should be paid to a band where all the members can play instruments and sing.  In this day of digital sampling and vocoder auto-tuning, bands that work as hard as Weezer deserve respect & your ears

 

Like every Weezer album, we forget that they are individuals & slip away into the world they fashioned; we go to that place of imagination that is Weezer’s metaphorical Island in the Sun…but the isle now has a mysterious jungle, intrepid and overgrown.  Songs such as “Automatic” feel a bit crazed, yet poignant, whereas “King” does so much as to transmute one into the shoes of a megalomaniac.  Parts on the album where more seasoned critics get paranoid and upset are typically not because they are bad songs, but because they are songs with personal messages that, for many such self important people, hit too close to home.  But when one spends more time with the album and especially the songs featuring the rest of the band on lead vocals, the surprise is pleasant.  One is even able to hear a bit of a Bob Dylan like twang, rhyme and writing style in “The Weight.” These are clearly not pop songs.  This clearly is not a pop album.  So why is every critic worth their salt acting as if it is and that Weezer owes something to pop?  Hard lessons, though tough to listen to, are still valuable, if not more so.  The true value of theRed Album is not retained in the first listening, perhaps not even 10 or 100 times is enough to understand just how important the individual perspectives of the band members really are.  This album deserves critical analysis more like what Radiohead’s “OK Computer” received.  It’s a revolution for Weezer more then a mere album!

The parts of the Red Album that deserve the most attention are the rough, unfamiliar parts, as they most likely show a new side of the band for the future.  This album is more for those who enjoy Weezer’s earlier B-side work, for those who like the whole album and not just the singles.  It may be shocking to the typical fair of Weezer fans, but it is easy to tell that this is what the band wanted.  Cuomo’s earlier Rolling Stone interviews, during the “Green Album” release, speak of a sort of disassociation from the crowds, of him going to see Dave Mathews and being “disappointed” that there weren’t enough drugs being used by the audience.  This sort of dissention of wanting to be a more alternative artist and being mainstream is something the band is now in the process of deconstructing and rebuilding the way they want it.  It seems the goal here is not fame; they have that, they now seem to want an ability to regulate their audience somewhat, thin out the ignorant fans, and bring in a more esoteric & philosophically oriented mindset of concert goers.

Weezer’s Red Album deserves your time and energy & will return the favor with incite into new music to come & a refreshing perspective on pop-society.  The individual creativity of band members trying things they haven’t before is brave, even audacious considering their already thriving fan base. To risk that popularity in the name of art is one of the more inspiring things a band can do today in a music culture of production value and “it” factor.  Despite heavy critical complaints, the Red Album symbolizes a new style for Weezer that is a more solid, well-rounded version of itself, even if it takes a few years and a couple more albums for us to catch on.

Weezer - (Red Album)

2008 Geffen

Rick Rubin, Jacknife Lee, Weezer

Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted

The first thing apparent when you pop in Kelly Clarkson’s “All I Ever Wanted” album, is that life would indeed “suck” without her music.  Ever since her original 2002 American Idol performances, Kelly has consistently churned out a taste of every genre with powerful yet tastefully dynamic performances.  This album is a continuing progression on her road to permanent diva status, done with elegance.

The initial song, “My life would suck without you,” is a strong reminder of what we take for granted in relationships.  The intensity of Kelly’s vocals cut right through to the soul, yet the music makes the song comfortable and easy to sing along with (if you can hit those notes!).  What is interesting about it being a pop-single is the blend of multiple music styles.  It is easy to identify a sort of trancy baseline, yet Clarkson has made the song into what is clearly a type of pop-power ballad, or perhaps a sort of minuet where the couple holds each other and bounces up and down franticly.  The energy of the music is undeniable.  Also the undercurrents of the synthesizer / keyboard parts are bordering on a sort of electro, but are played underneath the melody elegantly.  There are so many aspects to this song it’s remarkable that it even works, let alone is number one on the charts.  Also fabulous is that the song knocks down Britney’s “Womanizer” (a barely in tune rant about ego) from the top spot, so that “My life would suck without you,” goes from #97 to #1!  This is the second time Kelly Clarkson has broken the record at Billboard for moving the most spots on the chart at once, her previous record for “A Moment Like This” which went from #52 to #1.  It is great to hear songs of confidence and hope outshining the other depressing mainstream nonsense usually found on popular radio.

Many of the songs, such as “The Day We Fell Apart,” or “I Do Not Hook Up,” speak more to the sense of independence we’ve all seen growing in Kelly Clarkson.  She is strong, she thinks about relationships & problems with a much clearer mind then the first couple of albums.  Though a bit risky to her huge pop fan base, these songs are real and very important.  It is refreshing to see such a popular artist working so hard to talk about real issues of humanity, even if it is still on the level of personal relationships, these instances can be used as extended metaphor to help anyone with the problems in life we all must overcome. 

Some of these more serious songs, such as the title song “All I Ever Wanted” and “Whyyawanabringmedown” are much more critical, even sounding a bit punk with blazing guitars and a screaming Kelly.  This new attitude is a bit frightening at times, but at the same time mysterious and tempting.  The songs may fall harsh on the ears at first, but after a few times through the album, they fit perfectly.  In “All I Ever Wanted” we get a sort of minor, treacherous build in the verse to a gritty transition that resolute in a major chorus end that seems to apologize for the real hard facts of mentioned difficult relationships to a sort of compromised determination.

The biggest difference on the album & where the flow seems to break up a bit is in songs like “Impossible” where the sense of depression almost overrides.  But then you discover that the negative energy is coming from another person and Kelly is arguing that nothing is impossible.  It is a bit of a rough swallow, perhaps because it hits close to home.  This is a time when many are pessimistic and believe that many things are unchangeable.  So even though this song was rough at first, there is a big payoff for really listening.  “I Can’t Have You” strikes a sort of similar tone.  The event has past, nothing in the song seems salvageable, yet Clarkson punches through the problems to once again show us a subtle yet undying confidence.  Claiming “We can break the rules if you want to have some fun, think of all the fun we’ll lose, if I can’t have you.”  This song however, is not personally specific, as on the most recent American Idol performance Clarkson confessed that there is indeed no particular love interest that these songs are about, as she was and still is single.  All these songs should be taken with a grain of salt.  They are advice more then experiential recollections of history.  Though one gets the sneaking suspicion a lot of this actually happened. 

My personal pick for next single was “Don’t Let Me Stop You,” for its strong build and ringing chorus (title), that feels somewhere between pop-rock and country.  But instead the next single will be "I Do Not Hook Up," sure to be another chart topper.  What is refreshing about Clarkson is a country style that doesn’t crack the voice because of range issues or some inability to hit high notes.  Kelly nails every high note to your brain so you can see it, remember it, feel it.  Her ability far transcends other popular singers across multiple genres of the music industry.  Another pick could be “Already Gone,” simply for the amazingly singable chorus.  The new album could even have a few single surprises, as it is do dynamic and complex.

“All I Ever Wanted” the album is a beautiful fusion of Clarkson’s old relationships as much as it is a work of pastiche, fusing classical and pop music, techno & rock, contemporary and country.  The only thing she doesn’t do is rap!  The end result is a surprising new original album that attempts to do tribute to many old styles while Kelly still somehow manages to make them her own.  Her voice is unmistakable as so few popular singers have this sort of range and technical ability paired with a sweet tone & honesty.  This work is truly soul-searching through her music.  It is a rare that an album this powerful and well-done comes about, especially with this sort of positive energy.  It was harder to find things to criticize then it was to just simply love it.  Do yourself a favor if you enjoy Kelly Clarkson or American Idol & pick up this wonderful album.

Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted

2009 RCA

Kelly Clarkson, Ryan Tedder, Howard Benson, Max Martin,

Lukasz Gottwald, Dre & Vidal, Sam Watters, Louis Biacaniello