Freak-When-See 101: Part 1 – Maggot Brain (1971)

As someone who is a die-hard music fan the most difficult (and often most common) question I get asked is “What sort of music do you like?” I try to listen to a bit of everything but I can’t just say “everything” and expect to be taken seriously as a fan. Sure I enjoy metal, funk, blues, jazz, rock, hip-hop, prog, dub and much more but just spouting off a bunch of genres is not much good to anyone. No, I look for a certain feeling in music. It has to be adventurous, dangerous, powerful, and preferably freaky. To this end I have coined the term “Freak Music”. Since it is damned hard term to define I intend to demonstrate what Freak Music is by exploring the music that shaped the idea. Freak-When-See 101 is my love letter to the great, bizarre albums of the world that helped inform my taste in the unusual. Part 1 sees me confronting one of my all-time favourite records: Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain.

“Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time for y'all have knocked her up. I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe. I was not offended for I knew I had to rise above it all or drown in my own shit”

With those ominous words one of the greatest psychedelic trips known to man begins. The year was 1971 and funk master George Clinton’s Funkadelic outfit had released their third album, Maggot Brain. It was a record that dug deeper into the trippy territory explored on their previous records and took another stab at what people were calling “funk”. As a piece of music terminology funk was still a new concept and many people were scrambling to define it. Sly & The Family Stone defined it as soul with guitars but that just wasn’t funky enough for Clinton and co. His idea was to smash James Brown and Frank Zappa together to make something fun, energetic, and trippy as hell. And thus, Maggot Brain was born.

Naturally when one thinks of Maggot Brain the legendary title track leaps to mind. Aside from the spoken word passage at the beginning what you have is ten minutes of sprawling, emotive guitar solo. Even today, a mere 41 years after its recording, it still sends a chill up my spine. There are conflicting stories about how the song came to fruition which adds to the overall mystique. The one is subscribe to is that it was performed under a copious amount of LSD when guitarist Eddie Hazel was told to imagine that his mother had died. If this is how you play while tripping and grieving then I suggest some more musicians should give it a go¹. Speaking of Hazel, he pulls his weight and a half all across the whole record. His molten solos on ‘Super Stupid’ is easily enough to put him at Hendrix-ian levels of awesomeness, let alone the vocal performance. As far as I am concerned Eddie Hazel is one of the world’s great unheralded guitar heroes even though he may not have lived up his full potential. Outside of his dabbling in the origins of P-Funk he had only one album that wasn’t released posthumously².

The song draws you so deep into its funk – to use the word in another way – that the arrival of ‘Can You Get To That’ is unexpectedly jubilant. Big sing-along verses, tight drums and Ray Davis’ almighty baritone and all of that is followed by the whacked-out ‘Hit It And Quit It’. This one-two hit is Clinton’s brand of funk in full flight. Picture the craziest 70s party imaginable; bizarre costumes, dancing girls, alien motherships descending from the skies. Funkadelic might melt your brain but they still wanna make you dance. The only problem you get with an experimental album made under the influence of early 70s drug culture is that it must have been hard to tell when you had gone too far. Case in point is the nonsensical ‘Wars of Armageddon’. It is a long, rambling jam filled with garbled voices, sounds of a domestic disturbance, and thoroughly pointless lyrics (the key lyrical motif is “More power to the people / More pussy to the power / More pussy to the people / More power to the pussy”.

Sure, Maggot Brain was not their first album (that honor goes to their 1970 self-titled album) nor is it their most diverse (that would be 1970’s Osmium, released under the name Parliament). As the years went by the Parliament-style good time music would eclipse Funkadelic’s unstable psychedelia and open the way for Clinton’s solo electro-funk recordings. Maggot Brain represents a high-water mark and the band at their potent mind-opening best and in my opinion reigns as one of the greatest records of the golden age of psychedelic rock. Have you tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe?

Maggot Brain in all its glory

¹ This is clearly a joke.

² Check out Games, Dames, And Guitar Thangs from 1977. It includes a stellar cover of The Beatle’s ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’

Album Review: Ministry - Relapse

Coming back from what seemed like a permanent break up at the time, Ministry are back to their old tricks – hence the album’s title, Relapse. The question is can Ministry maintain relevance in the post-Bush era considering he was the square focus of their last three albums. The answer is a resounding “Hell yes”. Opening track “Ghouldiggers” rides the repeated refrain of “I’m not dead yet” in a song that references the music industry’s knack for selling the deceased piece by piece to consumers. It is a tightly wound, furious number and that is a damned good thing considering that Ministry has always run on vitriol. You can expect wall-to-wall snarling riffs, jackhammer drums, and of course the deranged ramblings of old ‘uncle’ Al Jourgensen. Everything about this record screams “aggression” at top volume. Their bloody-knuckled assault is as blunt as it has ever been; nobody ever need accuse Ministry of going soft on us. The title-track is the album’s beating black heart, with Jourgensen crying “I’m filthy rich and I’m horny” amidst quotes from Vietnam war veterans. It is a line that is as poignant as it is plain daft. Aside from the occasional dalliance with retirement, Ministry are becoming one of the music world’s constants – that is, they are constantly pissed off. When it comes to political nihilism look no further than these industrial stalwarts and they are as agitated as ever.

Country: USA

Recommended Tracks: Ghouldiggers, Relapse

Rating: B-

Album Review: Grinderman - Grinderman 2 RMX

Remix albums are tricky propositions, doubly so for anyone who is a fan of the original material. Will a series of remixes shine any new light on something you enjoy or will it create an endless stream of inferior versions? I have been a Nick Cave fan for years and also thoroughly enjoyed his rock and roll diversions in Grinderman, so how would myself (and others like me) feel about Grinderman 2 RMX, an album full of remixes from 2010’s excellent Grinderman 2 record.

For this record Grinderman have gathered a diverse array of remixers and collaborators such as Nick ZInner, Matt Berringer (The National), Cat’s Eyes, and Silver Alert. They are a strange group to be sure and the results are also appropriately strange. “Hyper Worm Tamer” (by UNKLE) is a revelation, transforming what was arguably one of the original album’s weaker songs into a full blown James Bond theme. A Place To Bury Strangers on the other hand amplify the song to haggard neo-punk levels of sonic intensity. Obviously not every reinterpretation is a resounding success. “Mickey Bloody Mouse” (by Queens Of The Stone Age’s Joshua Homme) is toothless and frustrating as it squanders that song’s primal scream down to a muddled twitch. Perhaps Cat’s Eyes seductive rendition of “When My Baby Comes” is more your speed, all cooed vocals and feedback.

The album is bookended by unremixed tracks. The first is “Super Heathen Child” which finds Grinderman joined by King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp on guitar. As an enormous King Crimson fan nothing could warm my heart more than these esteemed gentlemen laying down a dark, heavy jam that rivals the original track in sheer awesomeness. The new solo in the outro is utterly goose-bump inducing. At the other end of the record is a demo version of the song “Evil” called, what else, “First Evil”. Is Grinderman 2 RMX essential, even to a die-hard fan? Not really but does offer a series of thought-provoking remixes by a motley crew of cult heroes and musical luminaries.

Country: UK / Australia
Recommended Tracks: Super Heathen Child, Hyper Worm Tamer

Rating: B-

Album Review: Soulfly - Enslaved

American / Brazilian metal mainstays Soulfly seem to be reconnecting with their heavy roots step-by-step with every album that passes. Dark Ages rediscovered frontman Max Cavalera’s love of American thrash, Conquer indulged in epic doom metal fantasies, Omen had dalliances in modern hardcore. So with Enslaved, their eighth album in total, what we have is their heaviest record to date, one that owes a debt to death metal and grindcore while still being quintessentially Soulfly. That is what makes them so damned endearing; you want to hear what new landscape that Soulfly find themselves in with any new release.

With the garbled ramblings and pneumatic beats of “Resistance”, the album starts on a strong note. From there every track bleeds attitude and kicks like a heavy metal mule. Longtime guitarist Mark Rizzo has yet another star-making turn on “Plata o Plomo” (“Silver or Lead”), his rubbery leads meshing beautifully with flamenco guitars on this volatile Latino thrash-fest. As has also become customary there is a new line-up and a slew of guest appearances on board. New to the group are Borknagar drummer David Kinkade and ex-Static-X bass player Tony Campos. The vocalist cameos are also very telling of the album’s overall tone. DevilDriver frontman Dez Farfara is at his throat-shredding best on “Redemption Of Man By God” and deathgrind figurehead Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation) out-heavies the already heavy “World Scum”. “Revengeance” also has some interesting personnel involved namely Richie, Zyon, and Igor Cavalera Jr; Max’s three sons. 

Ultimately Soulfly is all about the venerable Max Cavalera. At this point in his career he knows exactly what the people want from him and he delivers it in spades. Between the new Soulfly album that inevitably comes out every two years and Cavalera Conspiracy (Max’s band with his famous drummer brother, Igor) being an active band as well it would be very easy to get Cavalera fatigue. Max argues his case with his music which is always to a high standard. It sure helps that Enslaved is one of the heaviest albums he has been involved with since Sepultura’s late 80s heyday. If you are in desperate need for a serious headbang throw on Enslaved and do your stuff!

Rating: B

Album Review: Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction

Arkansas may not be the first place you would associate with heavy metal but Pallbearer might just make all of that change. Their debut album Sorrow And Extinction is making waves throughout the music world for being a breath of fresh air in the musty world of plodding doom-centric metal. The album consists of five long passages; no track is under eight minutes and each is an epic ballad in its own right. The gentle acoustic intro to “Foreigner” (which is thankfully a lot better than the band Foreigner) teases the arrival of the electric guitars. Opening your debut album with a twelve-and-a-half-minute metallic slog might seem a little unfriendly but Pallbearer start out the way they intend to finish: heavy as hell. Some songs devolve into long sub-Sabbath grind fests (“Devoid of Redemption” in particular) but the fact that they can return from these passages to tunefulness is all a part of Pallbearer’s glum charm. See how the sweet vocal harmonies on “The Legend” drag you back out of the mire. Uplifting doom metal? Has the world gone mad! Ok, so it isn’t uplifting in a traditional pop music kinda way but every time they pull out of a tailspin into darkness the melodic levity is palpable. Never fear, bludgeoning heaviness is never far away – at the end of the day they are still all about the heavy fucking metal. The album closes on the gothic “Given To The Grave”, an almighty ten minute jaunt that ends proceedings on a high note. Sorrow And Extinction is a strongly realized debut album from this quartet from Little Rock.

Rating: B+

Album Review: Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

After the suffocating might of Angel of Darkness, Demons of Light Part 1 in 2010, Dylan Carlson’s ambient doom project Earth have finally unleashed Part 2. It is a 45 minutes, five song set that highlight everything that the current incarnation of Earth does so well. They favour long expanses of emptiness between the sparsely played notes over filling the empty spaces with noise which gives their music a detached melancholy. Opening number ‘Sigil of Brass’ hints at more dangerous music just around the corner, full of wistful gloom. Electric guitars compliment the acoustic ones on ‘His Teeth Did Shine Brightly’. You wait for that brilliant moment of rapture to shine through the bleak clouds but it never comes to fruition. That is what Earth does best; play with the expectations of the listener. Drums and string instruments feature more heavily the further you venture into the album. The rock-solid (but slow tempo’d) percussion on album closer ‘The Rakehell’ perfectly frames the esoteric arrangement of the other instruments. Some might be intimidated by some of these ten-minute-plus soundscapes but they are so gorgeously realised that it makes for a more pleasant pill to swallow. Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light Part 2 is a rambling journey through the untamed wilds of the soul. 

Rating: B

Album Review: Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour

Band Of Skulls certainly know how to make a good first impression. Their 2009 debut Baby Darling Doll Face Honey was the work of an enthusiastic young band trying to find their feet and getting it right more often than not. It was buoyed in no small part by lead single “I Know What I Am” that made a serious dent in radio airplay and has been featured in TV shows and movies ever since. The last few years have been very kind to Band Of Skulls it seems. They are absolutely more focused on their craft, and the song writing has grown in leaps and bounds. The end result is a joy to hear: wearing their influences prominently while still forging their own identity.

The band has a tendency to come across like a more touchy-feely Black Keys, at least how the Black Keys used to be when bludgeoning blues riffs ruled over stadium-sized choruses. There is still a thrill to be had within the gutsy rock power trio format; sweet tunes being scowled right back to sourness. I guess that explains the album title then - Sweet Sour. The tough guy vs. tough girl shtick is in full force on the title track that opens up the album. Thank God these songs are so likeable or they might well have succumbed to some of their more drab elements. Such meaninglessly clever phrases as “sour by the minute but you’re sweeter by the hour” (again from the title track) or “Lies are the truths that you tell to yourself” on “Lies” pepper the album and threaten to drag the whole affair into the territory of lazy melodrama. It’s a good thing that these lines (and others of the like) are married to a commanding performance that makes them a lot easier to buy into.

While they dabble in coy party anthems (“You’re Not Pretty But You Got it Going On”) and strident rock (“Wanderluster”) songs like the gorgeous “Lay My Head Down” expose the emotional heart of the whole album. The dreamy, serene textures and bewitching vocal interplay between Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson raises an unlikely comparison: Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’. Obviously “Lay My Head Down” is about 17 minutes shorter than that prog classic but a line like “Was I asleep / did you save me from disaster?” is delivered with the same wistfulness as “Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air”.

Of course, the elephant in the room is the inevitable comparison to The White Stripes – an unfair spectre that haunts every modern garage rock band with both guys and gals in it. It’s easy to hear a little Jack & Meg White interplay in all of this if you are straining to find it. While at times it can all feel a bit derivative after the fifth or sixth riffed up howler, the moments of smirking joy that burst through are so damned infectious you hardly care. To trot out an old chestnut; are Band Of Skulls the saviours of rock’n’roll? Any true fan knows that rock’n’roll never asked to be (or even needed to be) saved.

Rating: A-

New Release Wrap-up: February - March 2012

Hello loyalists! It is simultaneously awesome and kind of sad that I don't have enough time in the day to give every album released my full attention - what a world that would be if I did though ... Instead I will be writing a series of short reviews to keep you clued in on the good oil and will try to post these wrap-ups every month or two. 2012 is well under way and the awesome just keeps on coming.

#1 - Crippled Black Phoenix – (Mankind) The Craft Ape (UK)

If there are two words I could choose to summarise Crippled Black Phoenix they would be ‘bleak’ and ‘odyssey’. They play other-worldly prog rock and they have the chops and credentials to pull it off. It is an expertly crafted saga that reveals its true nature over the course of 86 gob-smacking minutes. Sure it’s a little long-winded but (Mankind) The Crafty Ape rewards the patient listener. It all appears to be very concerned with the inhumanity of man and our inevitable demise (especially on the poignant ‘Operation Mincemeat’). The comparison with Pink Floyd has always dogged Crippled Black Phoenix but they do very little to downplay it either. Taking any track you can hear as much or as little of the famous London quartet as you like. I recommend just enjoying it for the crafty apes.

Rating: A

Recommended tracks: The Brain / Poznan, Release The Clowns, Get Down And Live With It

#2 - WZRD - WZRD (USA)

Chart-topper Kid Cudi aims to lowball his audience’s expectations with the tame but audacious WZRD. No samples, no rapping, no bad language (with the exception of “pussies”, i.e. cowards), no top 40-baiting guest appearances from the likes of Kanye West or Rihanna. What it does have is a dour atmosphere in spades, impossibly downtuned guitars, awkward melodies, and a cover of a timeless folk song ('Where Did You Sleep Last Night?' as made famous by Nirvana in the 90s). Reinvention never sounded so uncomfortable which I guess was the point; Kid Cudi refuses to be pigeonholed.

Rating: C

Recommended tracks: High Off Life, Brake

#3 - Dirty Three - Toward The Low Sun (Australia)

Post-rock’s venerable old farts explode out of the gate in a veritable fireball. Opening track ‘Furnace Skies’ threatens to consume and melt any stereo it is played out of – a magical mess of discordant guitars, violin stabs, and clattering drums. Things cool off from there but there is still a hint of menace lurking just behind a calm veneer. ‘Sometimes I Forget You’ve Gone’ has the sort of swooning destabilized beat that would make Radiohead blush. Toward The Low Sun is another chapter in Dirty Three’s journey from alpha to omega and what a ride it has been so far.

Rating: B

Recommended tracks: Furnace Skies, Sometimes I Forget You’ve Gone

#4 - The Men - Open Your Heart (USA)  

A coy indie rock record that celebrates youth while simultaneously contemplating getting older. Yuck, where can I get off the bus? Fortunately, Open Your Heart can be judged by the quality of the songs not the daft meta-meanings it has been prescribed by hipster music journalists. What is immediately striking about this record is how un-single focused it really is. Excluding the first two up-tempo numbers the songs tend to sabotage their own pop status at every given opportunity. Instrumental tracks, borderline-country songs: this is a party record for people who hate parties. All of this mid-life angst is fuelled by the ever beating heart of rock’n’roll. An odd beast, indeed.

Rating: B-

Recommended tracks: Country Song, Turn It Around

#5 - Soen - Cognitive (USA / Sweden)

Soen sounds like a great idea on paper. The art-metal primal scream of Tool, the angular experimentalism of early King Crimson, the jackhammer precision of Fear Factory, and the detached intellectualism of Porcupine Tree. What could possibly go wrong? The major stumbling block that Soen has on its debut Cognitive is the lack of a clearly defined self, which is a pity considering the talent behind the group. Former Opeth / Amon Amarth drummer Martin Lopez and metal bass virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio are joined by a pair of Swedes and the rest is history. They show a lot of promise I just hope that by the next album we getter a better sense of who Soen are so we can drop the Tool comparisons once and for all.

Rating: C+

Recommended tracks: Fraccions, Last Light