I returned to Connecticut for the second half of the semester and a bitter winter threw me into a dark hole. And while that first listen to Shadows was a gasp of fresh air that I needed, it didn’t last long. Each track drew me further into its world of shimmering soundscapes and skeletal pop songs.Īt the time, I was struggling at college with a mental health triumvirate of anxiety, compulsions, and depression. It was as spiritual and visceral as any song I had ever heard. Looking back, hundreds of listens later, I still remember the force that dug into me as album opener ‘Carvel’, with the barely audible click of a hi-hat, took a head-first dive into a one-of-a-kind, egoless rock and roll anthem. He put on Shadows Collide with People, Frusciante’s 2004 solo record. We thought it would be funny to go to the Hayden Planetarium stoned. It was mid-afternoon and I was smoking a spliff in my friend’s Columbia dorm room. It was a beautiful, chilly Sunday during Thanksgiving break and I was home from my freshman year at Wesleyan University. The first time I heard music from his solo catalog was in 2010. For everyone else, welcome to the world of Frusciante. For anyone who’s already a fan of his modular creations, it’s a record that will delight and enthral. His latest release, The Foregrow EP, released last month via Acid Test, is a selection of tracks made during 20, a period in which Frusciante had just begun using the Renoise DAW to track and edit his wild synthesizer journeys. Throughout it all, he remained a prolific solo artist, his albums ranging from the drug-addled four-track experiments of Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) to the acoustic folk-rock shamanism of Curtains (2005) and the enveloping studio mastery of The Empyrean (2009).Īfter leaving the Chili Peppers for the final time in 2007, his solo output began to span a wholly new set of styles: experimental electro-pop, acid house, atonal jungle-rock fusion, and old school hip-hop. He spent the next 20 years in and out of the band, experiencing all the unimaginable highs and disturbing lows that rock and roll stardom has to offer. John Frusciante has gone through many evolutions in his career. He joined his favorite band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as a guitarist in 1988 at the age of 17. A year later, he shares his rare conversation with the media-shy guitar-god-turned-synth-wielder, spanning hip-hop, Ornette Coleman, and why he may never play live again. Track listingĪll tracks written by John Frusciante.Jeremy Judelson was a marketing intern at media outlet Mass Appeal when he snatched the chance to interview his idol, not knowing where his relationship with the reclusive musician would lead. But musically, it is my approach to synthesis, my sense of melody, and my sense of rhythm, which give this music its style, whatever one wishes to call it." John also mentions Yes and Genesis as influence regarding having longer songs with entirely different sections pieced together. Martin Hannett’s production of Joy Division, and things like Depeche Mode, Heaven 17s first record, New Order, and early Human League, were also influential on this stuff. The title track was recorded for RZA's film The Man with the Iron Fists and was included in the film, though did not appear on the soundtrack.ĭescribing the time surrounding the recordings, John writes, "Some of the programming and production techniques were inspired by people like Venetian Snares, AFX, Squarepusher, Gescom, DMX Crew, The Railway Raver, Ceephax Acid Crew, Luke Vibert, and Autechre.
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