Primus Tracks

This lounge jazz number is an ode to the dog, in particular, Les Claypool's hound, Kazoo. It's another musical departure for the man, and it sounds like Skerik wasn't available, so Sam Bass filled in on cello. It's not the deepest track, but we don't have to get deep with our dogs, right? They love us, we love them, now let's go for a walk, a run, or a ball toss. 

For another great story about a dog, read The Mixer by PG Wodehouse.

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Do you know a boy who's taken a bite out of life? I suppose that description qualifies guest performer Eugene Hutz, a man of fire and energy whose work with Gogol Bordello has delighted audiences the world over. Eugene brings a jolt to the side two opener of Of Fungi And Foe in the form of guitar strumming (the only guitar on the record!) and unintelligible wailing mixed with what might be Ukranian phrases. Put some pep in your step with this track, and do something fun/wacky/thrilling. 




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This week, we tackle a track that could easily appear on a Tom Waits record, most notably Real Gone, which Les Claypool actually guested on. There's something about the percussive backbeat and dirty upright that screams Waits, but Les puts his own spin on it with tripped-out high register upright and clean vocals. Josh and Frankie agree that this is one of the more memorable tracks from the record so far, and the lyrical story, while a variation on the standard Claypool lyrical themes, are engaging and delightful because of how the story is told. 

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On this OFAF track, Les Claypool ponders what one of his heroes might do in numerous situations around a trip to London in which the airline loses Les's luggage, he's without UK currency, but he gets to screen a film with George Martin in the room and parties with George's son Giles until Les's pal Jason pukes on someone. It's certainly not your standard Claypool lyrical fare! Tune in to learn a bit about George Martin and why LC might hold him in such high regard, as does most everyone else in the music industry. 

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The fourth track of the Of Fungi and Foe record, Boonville Stomp was composed specifically for the film Pig Hunt, which takes place in and around Boonville in the woods of northern California. Les Claypool has a small role in the film, as well, if you're at all curious. This tune has cinematic elements to it, which stands to reason. Does it all come together as a standalone song for an album? That's the question we grapple with in this episode. Plus, we spit some boontling at you brightlighters. 



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Remember 2008? What do you mean, you'd rather not? Yeah, me either, but Les Claypool won't let us forget the person who helped define the year and the followers who molded themselves in her image, or something like that. Red State Girl is a curious track with a music video and a live performance on national TV to boot, so it qualifies for the lead track from Of Fungi and Foe, as well as the first track on the album not to be music created for another medium. It's an actual straightahead piece of music for music's sake. 



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Fungi or Foe? Both! Amanitas is another cautionary tale that has a few unexpected twists and turns. It's another tune originally intended for the Mushroom Men soundtrack repurposed for release on OFAF. Mushrooms sure are wacky! 



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Of Fungi and Foe's opening track is solidly on the Fungi side, as the music for this track is exactly as Les Claypool conceived and recorded it for the Mushroom Men video game, with vocals added to the album version. We sample the video game music, instrumentation, and get behind the story of the lyrics, and evaluate the tune as a harbinger for the record, and try to categorize it for the Claypool catalog, because that's, I guess, what our brains want to do. 

Mushroom Men soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BovgCknGwo4&list=PLE8D3E68CBA71B182&index=1



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As we chug along in the Claypool chronology, it's time to address 2009's Of Fungi and Foe, the second album to be credited simply to Les Claypool. Frankie has it on regular rotation; Josh listened to it once upon release, wasn't interested, and shelved it. WILL THIS SOW DIVISION IN PRIMUS TRACKS TOWERS? No, but it will provide a study in contrasts as the album unfolds. 

In this week's overview we provide the contemporary context for the release with notes about the album, tour, and promotional aspects. Most of the music for this record had already been composed for two disparate projects: a video game about mushrooms (fungi) and a movie about a killer wild boar (foe), so we'll examine how that affects our reception. 

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At long last, we welcome the legendary Toaster to Primus Tracks. Toaster is a prolific Primus/Les taper who started toasterland.com over 20 years ago as a respository for show recordings and a way to catalog performances for the masses. It's proved to be a priceless resource to hardcore fans, and we reference it regularly on the podcast. 

Toaster joins to share his experience at Tipitina's in New Orleans 2003, where the Frog Brigade played for 3.5 hours, ending at 4:30am. This is a favorite of Frankie's, and these two geek out on the Frog Brigade era as we samples numerous portions of this legendary show that features numerous guests, song teases and partials, and bastardized versions of some classics. 

Drop out of life for a while and have some fun at toasterland.com



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