MONOLITH OF PHOBOS

Les Claypool, the wacky and utterly distinct bassist of Primus has been quite prolific in his several decades as the progenitor of funk metal and experimental weirdness having engaged in a ridiculous number of side projects including Oysterhead, Sausage, Beanpole and Blind Illusion not to mention the several others that has his own name in the title. Well, here's one more for the list however this is a strange one even for Mr Claypool as it involves none other than Sean Lennon, youngest son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This project was a result of Primus touring with The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger, a project in which Lennon contributed vocals, guitar, drums and well lots more and the two hit it off so much so that Claypool invited Lennon to try to craft an old school psychedelic album in the vein of the 70s. Lots of adult beverages and who knows what else later, the two cranked out a bunch of tunes and THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM was born.

With the luxury of being born to rich parents, Lennon has always been able to drift in and out of any project that suited his fancy including The Alien Demon, IMA, Mystical Weapons, Peace Choir, Plastic Ono Band as well as a cameo with Cibo Matto. His affinity with the indie side of things has been the only common denominator and with a primo bassist like Claypool, how could things not go well? To be honest nobody really would know what to expect from either of these two unpredictable personalities however after some serious brainstorming and honing the chops this duo crafted the rather interesting debut album MONOLITH OF PHOBOS which finds the two in perfect tandem to create a nice psychedelic treat of eleven well-crafted cuts that straddle the line between melodically hook oriented and boldly experimental with jazzy psych escapades into the lysergic zone.

With his goofiness on hold, Claypool delivers some seriously reserved bass chops that initiate the backbone of these psychedelic treats but in THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM also takes up the mellotron, drums as well as co-vocalist. Lennon on the other hand also contributes drums, mellotron as well as his keen sense of guitar playing and serves as the primary vocalist who amazingly like his half-brother Julian sounds a lot like his dad. In fact his Beatles sensibilities apparently in his very DNA offer a lot of the Fab Four pop hook structures that play well with Claypool's more abstract and esoteric style. While many such collaborations tend to be watered down versions of the members involved, the duo of Lennon and Claypool has the exact opposite effect with each bringing his respectable strengths to the table and thus created a compelling fusion of indie pop melodic hooks enshrouded by the hazy heavy psych of the classic early 70s timeline.

What really makes this one work so well is that both of these musicians are really talented. Lennon is a born guitarist for this type of melodically driven psychedelic rock and also has a knack for creative uses of the synthesizer and mellotron sounds. His melodic pop hook sensibilities keep Mr Claypool's bass abusing tendencies in check which allows him to craft the stronger bass grooves that create more dynamic counterpoints than just merely punctuating the beat with a mere bass note. Not at all, this is Claypool with each note adorned and crafted into a veritable a musical scale! This collection of songs is quite diverse as well as it allows melodic grooves reminiscent of "Strawberry Fields Forever" style Beatles sounds integrate into a more progressively designed psychedelic haze which works quite well actually. Just check out "Ohmerica" and tell me you can't hear the Beatles circa 1967!

Claypool's projects can be somewhat hit and miss but on MONOLITH OF PHOBOS this duo hits all the right notes with some seriously hilarious humor injected, yeah "Oxycontin Girl," i'm talkin' bout you! This album is chock filled with all kinds of cool sounds that surround the basic melodic developments which coming from Sean Lennon give the sound of authenticity that Beatles-isms are OK but they're not overdone either. While there's always a sense of the ghost of Sean's father lurking behind the scenes, this project stands on its own as a unique psychedelic rock album with prog overtones. One of Claypool's most focused projects and while not as wildly insane as Primus still showcases his keen oneness with his main instrument of choice. In short, much better than i thought this was going to be. A keeper for sure.