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: : Of
Whales and Woe : :
 Les
Claypool. Bass guitar player, became famous in the nineties as the
founder and brain behind experimental rock band Primus. Of Whales and
Woe is his fifth solo album, and the first with just his own name on the
cover.
Those of you
familiar with his previous outings probably know what to expect; but for
those of you unfamiliar with this artist: Read on.
When writing
reviews, I find it useful to make some musical references, so that
potential buyers can get some idea of what to expect. In this case,
imagination is required by the reader...Take a funky bass guitar (a bit
like the early Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitar sound), add lots of
percussion sounds, some drums and sax, and sprinkle it with lots of
whackiness and weirdness. And spice it with some experimental Zappa as
well. That should give you a vague idea of what this is all about.
The main
instrument on this release is the bass guitar. Claypool plays a hard
sounding funk inspired bass guitar, hammering/slapping quite a lot on
the strings. And to be able to enjoy this release, that is a sound you
have to like, or at least accept. Because this sound dominates as good
as all the tunes here, climbing on top of all the other strange sounds
he has chosen to populate his songs with. Populate, as there's lots of
sounds in the soundscape here, creating a nitty gritty atrmosphere where
it seems like the sounds from the different instruments are fighting
mean and dirty to be hearable; only broken up by small melodic
interludes of a couple of seconds done with what sounds most like
xylophone or glockenspiel.
Personally I find
the album to be quite good, apart from the confusing noises of the
opening track. Most tracks are generally interesting, and Claypool adds
touches from several genres into the different tracks. You can her jazzy
bits and bluesy inspirations in the songs, and in one case - the song
"Iowan Gal" - there's even elements of folk music to be heard. But
please, notice the description "elements of" when listening to the track
though.
And the sitar is
used on a few tracks as well. Funk inspired bass guitar and sitar isn't
the easiest of combinations to mix, but Claypool manages to pull that
one off as well.
As may be
indicated from the above description; this isn't music for the masses.
And I guess it isn't in any way intended to appeal to the masses either.
But if you've got an open mind, and have a liking for musical
experimentation, this release may be worth checking out.
Personal
highlights: "Phantom Patriot" - a song with a very funky bass, a dirty
blues/bluesrock feel to it and catchy lyrics and vocals of the whackier
kind. "Robot Chicken" - 40 seconds of weird whackiness that has to be
heard to be believed.
Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen
: : Visit the Artist’s Website : :
: : Discography : :
Of Whales and Woe (2006)
Purple Onion (2002)
Live Frogs: Set 2 (2001)
Live Frogs: Set 1 (2001)
Highball With The Devil (1996) |
