Published
Mon, Dec 5, 2022, 09:00
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist will release . I : and : II . on February 2nd.
John Frusciante, guitarist for legendary rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, has a new electronic album on the way via Avenue 66.
Releasing under his given name for the first time on the label, Frusciante is putting out two versions of the same album, one for vinyl and the other for CD and digital. The former, . I : (pronounced "one), spans seven tracks, while : II . (pronounced "two") spans ten. Both are out on February 2nd.
"After a year and a half writing and recording rock music, I needed to clear my head," he said. "I listened to and made music where things generally happen gradually rather than suddenly. I would set up patches on a Monomachine or Analog Four and listen to them, hearing one sound morph into others, making changes to a patch only after having listened for quite a while, gradually adding elements, and finally manipulating the sounds on the fly. All tracks were recorded live to CD burner, with no overdubs, and executed on one or two machines."
While recording the album, Frusciante was listening to experimental artists such as Oren Ambarchi, Klara Lewis and Ryoji Ikeda, as well as taking inspiration from John Lennon, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Eno.
"Music being a solitary sculpture in sonic space was the main motivating thought," he added. "I was looking at pictures of sculptures and trying to make music that simultaneously conveyed both movement and stillness [...] I was using sound to create what I saw as being a physical structure."
Although Frusciante has been listening to electronic music since he was a young teenager, it was only later in life that he began experimenting. He debuted his Trickfinger project on Acid Test in 2015.
"I also cannot overstate the role that being in my band played," he added. "I had previously spent 12 years programming and engineering my own music, and then spent a year and a half making music where my role was basically to write songs and play guitar. When the band's recording phase was completed, I needed to go back to my adopted language. I had done enough with chords, rhythms, notes, defined sections, sharp transitions, etc.. What I needed was to create music from the ground up with nothing but sound, and have that music reflect 'being' rather than 'doing.'"
Revisit our interview with Frusciante, then known as Trickfinger, from 2015.
Tracklist
. I :
A1 Clank
A2 Sluice
B1 Unitiled
C1 OFD (vinyl only)
D1 Pyn
D2 MK 2.1
: II .
01. Golpin
02. MK 2.1
03. Pyn
04. Blesdob Dot
05. Unitiled
06. Clank
07. Frantay
08. Galvation
09. Sluice
10. Firpln
Acid Test will release . I : and : II . on February 2nd, 2022.
Tracklist . I : A1 Clank A2 Sluice B1 Unitiled C1 OFD (vinyl only) D1 Pyn D2 MK 2.1 : II . 01. Golpin 02. MK 2.1 03. Pyn 04. Blesdob Dot 05. Unitiled 06. Clank 07. Frantay 08. Galvation 09. Sluice 10. Firpln Acid Test will release . I : and : II . on February 2nd, 2022.