And Usually Just a Syringe (with Conor Tomaka)

System of Systems

Artist, musician, academic, and member of legacy American experimental band ONO Conor Tomaka joins the show once more, but with a specific purpose this time around. John Frusciante is already a God-level figure in the oeuvre of Safety Propaganda, but this time we are going back to the virtuoso guitarist of the Chili Peppers and experimental solo artist's infamous and masterful first two albums: Niandra Lades and Usually just a T-Shirt and Smile from the Streets you Hold.
Both of these albums were recorded on a 4-track tape recorded in the early '90s when Frusciante was closing in on death due to intensely high and daily usages of heroin and crack cocaine. Video documents of the artist at his home show the once handsome and vivacious punk rock LA kid as a death shadow of his former self: cheeks sank all the way into his jaw, teeth falling out, ghastly white and pallid, anything resembling muscle tone vanished. He was disintegrated, and these albums are gorgeous-avant pop ballads disintegrating into the abyss.
Niandra was partly recorded in Frusciante's bedroom at the mansion where he and the Chi-Peps recoded Blood Sugar Sex Magick at night time, and the second more ambient and abstract side was recorded after he'd left the band and plunged into addiction. Smile was recorded during similar sessions, he says, and includes vocals by the ghost of the late movie star and brother to the current greatest American actor Joaquin – River Phoenix. While both albums are masterpieces in differing ways, channeling Frusciante's enthusiasm for Beefheart, Zappa, Syd Barrett, and other weirdo troubadours, it is only Niandra that is still reissued and available for purchase. Frusciante has let Smile fall into obscurity – perhaps it is just too painful for him to listen to.
Hail Frusciante.
PATREON LINK
OST (All songs by Frusciante)
"The Big Takeover"
"Smile is a Rifle"
"Your Pussy is Glued to a Building on Fire"
"Blood on my Neck from Success"
"Height Down" (featuring River Phoenix)
"The Ni**er Song"
"The Poppy Man"
LINKS:
Follow Conor on Instagram
Buy John Frusciante's Niandra
Infamous John Frusciante Heroin doc
John Frusciante live at All Tomorrows Parties, 2005