Since his high-profile return to longtime band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante has yielded a fruitful year, lacking in neither collaborative or solo endeavors. Returning with the first material in six years under his own name, the lauded guitarist has unveiled a new electronic album, Maya. Titled in honor of his late cat of 15 years, the nine-track record encompasses a myriad of glitchy breakbeats, breaching experimental and futuristic territories. Frusciante prepared for the production of the album through self-imposed limitations and, “rules that made the music-making process as difficult as possible.”
“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,” stated Frusciante.
Despite being temporarily halted by the pandemic, the Chili Peppers are currently writing music, according to Frusciante on a Double J interview. The four-piece rock outfit have resumed rehearsing and “are moving ahead” with new material. Frusciante also revealed his involvement in the drums has taken a different form than previously, sharing,
“I am in involved in the drums in a different way than I have been. Chad and I have an interactive thing, different than we did before. Before, I didn’t even know the difference between a ride cymbal and a crash cymbal. Now, I am a drummer in my own way through breakbeats and drum machines, so a lot of the drums are crazier than what we have done before.”
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