Thermal

This is a totally unofficial video made by a guy in Sweden to accompany a song off the new John Frusciante album, The Empyrean. It’s an impressive enough amateur effort, but to be honest just listen to the song – it’s something else.

An amazing guitarist & musician.

It’s pure filth……

Probably my favourite artist right now, John Frusciante (though it’s a close run thing with Nick Cave), has just announced that he’s releasing a new album in January 2009.

You may have heard of him as the guitarist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but much as I love his work with the band I think his solo stuff is just something else. From simple noisy rock, to beautiful soul stirring acoustic albums via 80′s style electronica, his ability to produce gorgeous music across a range of genre is unmatched in my experience – check out his back catalogue & I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

His new album is titled The Empyrean and in his own words it:

..is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters. It contains a version of Tim Buckley’s, ‘Song To The Siren’ and the rest of the songs are written by me. My friend Josh plays on it, as does Flea. It also features Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr and The New Dimension Singers. I’m really happy with it and I’ve listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides. It should be played as loud as possible and it is suited to dark living rooms late at night.

With anyone else that would sound unbearably pretentious, but from John it’s just simple honesty & the line up of talent is also promising – Josh Klinghoffer is a criminally underrated musician, and again you’d do well to track down anything he’s played on.

I’m too old & too cynical to be a gushing fanboy, so you’ll have to believe me that if you can’t abide the dross that is mainstream music, and want to just try something genuine and fresh then John is the man to head for.

(By the way Johnfrusciante.com has been re-launched as a WordPress blog written by John, so it will be cool to read what he has to say in the coming months.)

Yes, I’m still here, busily getting ready for the return to the world of work next week. I think I’ve just about spent my way up to February’s wages already……

Anyway, listen to the Salmon dance and you will have the song stuck in your head for days…..

The boys love this

Well, not literally or indeed any other way.

If you’ve a spare 1/4 of an hour, here’s a great song, and a cool video from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – due to YouTube it has to be in 2 parts:

Altogether now,

“The aging rock & roller with the twin seater stroller; and the fan in the van with the abominable plan…”

It’s been a while since I posted any music, so here’s what’s on my current playlist.

This song is Leap Your Bar from the album Curtains by John Frusciante. Yes, I’ve chosen his music a lot, but he really can do everything from funk to metal, loud rocky guitars, synths and then this: a piano, his voice and a tiny, almost unnoticeable sample.  Quiet, reflective and quite beautiful.

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I’ll be glad when this series reaches the ‘boot camp’ stage so I don’t have to watch anymore. But until then, the auditions continue to mine a rich seam of the mentally ill and self-delusional.

First up: a salutary lesson in why you never dress your twins the same (we don’t)

Yes, they sing at funerals. I bet that sets the mood off nicely.

Next, the delightful Kelly, who’s going to be a star, and Simon Cowell will regret ever turning her down:

Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Simon: her parents should have told her she can’t sing years ago, preferably along with giving her a good slap. They were probably to busy thinking ‘meal ticket’ when they should have been thinking ‘luncheon voucher’.

Will this misery ever end?

This week on the delusional merry-go round, we have the Birmingham super-group ‘It’s About Time’.

Just before the audition, the nutter-de-jour prattled on about how she was going to buy her mum a house, she wouldn’t have to work again, etc. etc. If only they’d had a speck of talent, she may have been right:

“I used to think you were a wonderful person…..sob!”

For those of you who love the Muppet Show, Nine Inch Nails, or Johnny Cash’s cover of ‘Hurt’, this will probably ruin them all for you, but it’s still very clever, and actually very well done.

Kermit the frog sings Hurt.

Tagged by the Villainous Curmudgeon to reveal the Top 10 songs in the year I turned 18 and have a little post about them, I looked at the site that forms part of ‘ze rules’, and it is unsurprisingly USA-centric and the charts were almost unrecognizable to me.

So I went to this site to check out 1991′s top songs, and it turns out that the UK charts weren’t much better: 1991 was obviously a bad year for pop music….

1. Bryan Adams: Everything I Do….: The aural equivalent of having your genitals trapped in a food blender containing tarantulas, if I never hear this song again it will be too damn soon. Canada, you owe the world big time for this AND Celine ‘why the long face’ Dion.
2. Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody: OK, top song, ground-breaking video, but played to death. Fred’s dead baby, Fred’s dead.
3. Cher: The Shoop Shoop Song: Die.
4. Right Said Fred: I’m Too Sexy: No, as camp as a row of tents is what you are. Recently resurrected to advertise washing powder, it’s power to incite murderous rage is unabated.
5. Jason Donovan: Any Dream Will Do: OK Jase, I have a dream, you, alligators, vat of sulphuric acid….that do?
6. Chesney Hawkes: The One & Only: In the style of Dr Evil: “M, m ,m mole…..”
7. The Simpsons: Do The Bartman: Was this international year of the deaf or something?
8. Vic Reeves & The Wonderstuff: Without this song, legions of students would have had no sound-track to their sponging, beer-soaked lives. A curse upon you Reeves….
9. Oceanic: Insanity: Who?
10. 2 Unlimited: Get Ready For This: Oh, just fuck right off…..

Well there you have it. If you were compiling a playlist of songs for Satan to play at you during your eternal torment, by squeezing his hand in his armpit, whilst using Rosie O’Donnells voice, face and arse, you’d be hard pressed to beat this.

Christ, 91 was a bad year.

Personally it was the year I left school without a backward glance, with no intention of University as I wanted to earn my living ( ) and got a job looking for asbestos for a crappy little laboratory in East London. Arsenal Football Club won the title and that was that.

Pop music may have been dire, but luckily I had discovered this group:

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