Dave NavarroTrust No One (2001)
Genre: Alternative Rock
This is a interesting album, Dave does some cool stuff on the guitars from awsome use of pedals too old school solos, the songs are good and have some fantastic ideas that need to be little more fleshed out, the production flounders a little at moments, lyrical David struggles. The album has a industrial and glitchy undertone that sets it apart from anything that Jane's Addiction or the Chili Peppers have ever done. Some cool guest are on the album like band mate Stephen Perkins, Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson, A Perfect Circle) and Rory Mayorga ( Stone Sour, Soulfly).
Overall: 49.1
Glenn Hughes
Soul Mover (2005)Genre: Hard Rock, Funk Rock, Soul
This album is a pretty straight forward hard rocking production that at the half way point it really digs into funk and soul. Glenn is a strong and soulful singer that does a great job, he has a couple of really great sing along choruses on this production. The band really packs a punch you have the Chili Peppers Chad Smith at his best on the drums giving the song a tremendous and groovy hard rock feel. On Guitar you have JJ Marsh that is a top notch player executing some traditional and experimental solos with trippy pedals, plus you have a Ex Chili Peppers/ Jane's Addiction Dave Navarro on guitar on the first track and Glenn does a ok job on the bass. This is a great album for people that enjoy music in general and I recommend it.
Overall: 55.3
Music for the Devine (2006)
Genre: Hard Rock, Funk Rock, Soul
Man this album doesn't sound like a solo project, but like a band that matured songs over time, it has ton of little details that only bands can make. Another thing you can tell right off the bat is that there is more production on the album, its mixed better and uses string sections on a couple of tracks. Glenn's soulful singing is very impressive on this album, the dude adds a lot of feeling to the songs. Chad Smith is back on the Drums just killing it, John Frusciante guest on two tracks on the guitar, JJ Marsh does a great job as the principle guitar player of the album landing some fantastic solos.
Bombastic Meatbats
Meet the Meatbats (2009)
Genre: Jazz Rock, Funk Rock,
This side project of Chad Smith is his kick back and
relax Jazz/Rock/Funk/Jam band, and even though it isn't the most original
instrumental band out there they know how to write some hard rocking jazzy
tunes with a little touch of adult contemporary, it's a great album to put on when you are doing
stuff around the house or driving, it gets you in a great mood.
Overall: 56
Rocket
Juice and the Moon (Blur+Red Hot Chili Pepper+Tony Allen)
Rocket
Juice and the Moon (2012)
Genre: Funk,
Afrofunk, Neo soul, Alternative Hip Hop
When I
Heard that Damon Albarn, Tony Allen and Flea joined forces to make an album, I
started to gear myself up to listen a twenty first century Rhythm of the Saints
( this is a legendary Paul Simon album that put world music in center stage
during the 80’s). So when I finally got my hand on this album, I can’t explain
how let down I was, it’s incredibly mediocre, with some good moments, so here we go with my review.
Vocals and Lyrics: Damon actual doesn’t sing that much
on the album, the album relies on guest vocalist and rappers, mostly African in
origin or in dependence, in general vocals good bringing a cool African feel. 8
Instrumentation:
Guitar/Keys: Damon is on Guitar and Key Boards, his
playing is pretty functional to the songs. I was expecting more African influenced guitar work.
Bass: Flea’s bass playing is pretty lazy and basic for
a guy of his caliber.
Drums: Tony’s drums are pretty good he keeps the song
alive.
Horn Section: The brass work on this album is
probably the only interesting thing in this production, there are some killer arrangements
at moments.
Melody and/or Structure: The vocalists elevate the melodic level on the
album, while the songs are mostly just have a basic jam structure. 8
Sound, Production and Feeling: The album sounds good but
there isn’t anything to outstanding on a production level and feeling wise they
are able to transmit some funkyness. 8
Songs: A couple of good tracks 8
The Bad: this album lags a lot
Originality: The album doesn’t fall to far from Damon’s other project the
Gorillaz, if you like their stuff you’ll like this album. 7
Overall: 45.5
Flea
Helen
Burns (2012)
Genre: Jazz
Fusion, Experimental Rock
Here we
go with this very brief review of Flea’s first EP “Helen Burns”, it’s a Jazz
fusion EP with a strong rock and electronic under tone. It’s mostly instrumental
but the legendary Patti Smith sings on one of two tracks that are none instrumental.
In this project we can observe a more mature Flea that has taken a quantum leap
in his composition capabilities, and you can hear some stuff that will grow
into stuff that we can find on AMOK/Atoms for Peace, Flea’s collaboration with
Thom York (Radiohead). When a listen to this EP it reminds me of King Crimson’s
“Larks’ Tongues in Aspec” do to its experimental nature. Flea plays just about
everything, but on the drums we have guest musicians like Jack Irons (ex Red
Hot Chili Peppers/Pearl Jam), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chicken Foot
and Bombastic Meatbats) and Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint and has collaborated with
Josh Klinghoffer and John Frusciante). This is great way to get into jazz, it
grows on you and If you like this EP check out Banyan a very interesting Jane’s
Addiction side project.
Overall:
57
Atoms for
Peace
Amok
(2013)
Genre: Alternative
Rock, Experimental Rock, Electronica
I sort of
tuned Radiohead out, their experimental music sort of bored me over time, the more they experimented
the more it all sounded the same, but when I heard that Thom York had joined forces
with Flea, my favorite bass player of time, to create Atoms for Peace it sparked my
interest, how these two very different musician work together and what kind of
music would they make. So here we go with my review of this interesting album.
Vocals and Lyrics: I have issues with Thom, he seems
to all ways singing the same way over and over again, I guess he has his own style like
it or not. 8
Instrumentation: The Instrumentation is pretty interesting
especially the percussion having Mauro Refosco (Red Hot Chili Peppers) really
shining, while Flea is under used, he actually doesn’t do anything to
interesting. Thom’s Keyboards and Guitars
are pretty cool. 7.5
Melody and/or Structure: There isn’t much structure,
you can tell the song are born out of a couple of rushed jam sessions, maybe if
they would have let these concepts mature they could have been incredible,
melody wise they are very beautiful at moments.10
Sound, Production and Feeling: The production is very
lush with all kinds of stuff going, if you are a production geek Nigel Godrich
( the producer) and Thom’s work is masterful. 10
Songs: It has some great songs 8
The Bad: The album lags at moments even though it pretty
short -1
Originality: Seeing they dudes live on youtube they made a
lot more senses, if they ever make another album they should use a more
tradition band structure like they do live they are much more effective and Flea
actually play a relevant role in the band 8
Overall: 50.5
Antemasque
Antemasque (2014)
It a pretty straight forward post-punk-rock album ,the
songs are pretty scaled down compared to what
they had been doing with the Mars
Volta, and it's sort of a letdown Flea doesn't do anything interesting I
thought he would bring more to the table, I thought they would do a super
hardcore punk album, because the first song a heard was "Hangin in the
Lurch" which is pure energy blow me away, but it's the only track on the album like
this the rest of the production is
pretty mid tempo radio friendly stuff.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez plays pretty straight forward, he's not on fool on attack mode
like his Mars Volta stuff Mars Volta and Cedric Bixler Zavala vocals has
its moments where he really nails it but in general this album is a letdown
compared to these guys other projects.
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