Folk 441 Items

Niandra LaDes And Usually Just A T-Shirt is the first solo record by John Frusciante. Between 1990 and 1992 the guitarist made a series of 4-track recordings, which at the time were not intended for commercial release. After leaving the band Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, Frusciante was encouraged by friends to release the material that he wrote in his spare time during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions.

Originally released on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label in 1994, Niandra LaDes is a mystifying work of tortured beauty. Frusciante plays various acoustic and electric guitars, experimenting with layers of vocals, piano and reverse tape effects. Channeling the ghosts of Syd Barrett and Skip Spence, his lyrics are at once utterly personal and willfully opaque.

Frusciante’s rapidfire, angular playing shows how key he was in the Chili Peppers’ evolution away from their funk-rock roots. His cover of “Big Takeover” perfectly deconstructs the Bad Brains original with laid-back tempo, twelve-string guitar and a fierce handle on melody.

The album’s second part—thirteen untitled tracks that Frusciante defines as one complete piece, “Usually Just A T-Shirt”—contains several instrumentals featuring his signature guitar style. Sparse phrasing, delicate counterpoint and ethereal textures recall Neu/Harmonia’s Michael Rother or The Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly.

On the front cover, Frusciante appears in 1920s drag—a nod to Marcel Duchamp’s alter-ego Rrose Sélavy—which comes from Toni Oswald’s film Desert in the Shape.

This first-time vinyl release has been carefully remastered and approved by the artist. The double LP set is packaged with old style tip-on gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves.

The debut-EP of this Anatolian psych-pop sensation consists of four heart-melting gems in which Turkish folk music meets groove and electric action! Singer/multi-instrumentist Derya Yildirim teams up with fantastic drummer Greta Eacott (G-Bop Orchestra, One-Take Records) and three-quarters of Orchestre Du Montplaisant (Antonin Voyant, Graham Mushnik and Andrea Piro). With members originating from Turkey, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, Grup Simsek encapsulates the Outernational generation. Unlike in western pop culture, Turkish pop music is often focused on traditionalised songs and endless ways of reimagining these. Grup Simsek take the righteous and rich Turkish poetry to the future whilst not losing awareness of the past.