Having already put out two acid house albums and an EP using his Trickfinger moniker, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is now set to release a full album of electronic instrumentals, Maya, under his own name. What’s more, it’s dedicated to his recently deceased cat.
"Maya [the cat] was with me as I made music for 15 years, so I wanted to name it after her,” he says. “She loved music, and with such a personal title, it didn't seem right to call myself Trickfinger, somehow, so it's by John Frusciante."
The album is inspired by what Frusciante says is his favourite music: UK breakbeat, hardcore and jungle that was made between 1991 and 1996.
Discussing the making of Maya, Frusciante says: “For a full year before I started this record, I worked within self-imposed limitations and rules that made the music-making process as difficult as possible, programming for programming's sake.
“After a full year of that, I decided to make things easier, to the degree that I could regularly finish tracks I enjoyed listening to, while continuing many of the practices I‘d developed.
“Throughout the recording of Maya, I would prepare to make each track very slowly, but would finish tracks very quickly. I'd spend weeks making breakbeats, souping up a drum machine, making DX7 patches, and so on. By the time an idea came up that seemed like the beginning of a tune, I had a lot of fresh elements ready to go."
It seems that this is the kind of solo project that Frusciante’s fans can expect from him now, as he also says: "I don't have that interest in singing or writing lyrics like I used to. The natural thing when I'm by myself now, is to just make music like the stuff being released this year. I really love the back and forth with machines and the computer."
Maya will be released on 23 October on Aaron Funk’s Timesig label. You can listen to the first track from it, Amethblowl, now.
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