PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone
(2012)
why you'll love it: lots of weird computer sounds to rot your brain with
why you'll hate it: poorly composed and mixed. Inferior to previous releases.
This month is going to be mostly holdovers from last year. Stuff that didn't really leave an impression on me; but hey, gotta do housekeeping sometime. First to get to is the latest from former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist, John Frusciante. Like most solo efforts, Frusciante's releases are plentiful, and sometimes a bit more artistically ambitious than they are enjoyable to listen to. Some of my favorites are the more straightforward ones like the rock driven Inside of Emptiness (2003) and ballad-filled Shadows Collide With People (2004).
His latest LP straddles between entertainment and art. Coming off the heels of the Letur-Lefr EP (something I probably should have reviewed instead, as I like it a whole lot more), Frusciante continuities to experiment with electronic noise, hip-hop, and trip-hop. As much as I love bleep-blorps and amen breaks in music, that is pretty much the only thing keeping me coming back to this LP. Letur-Lefer was snappy, unpredictable, and had a vibrant production. PBX is definitely not that. Almost everything sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. Even the electronics have this flat lifeless mix to them. All the layers in the songs sound way too distinct from each other, especially the vocals, which sound like he's singing in another room with the door closed.
So despite having the coolest album title I've heard in a long time, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone is not that special of an electronic album. Even the way the songs are composed, there is no satisfying flow from melody to melody. Unless you are a discography completionist, or an absolute sucker for any electronic music, I recommend you pick up Letur-Lefr instead.
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