new john frusciante solo album announced!!!

here is an email i received from redhotchilipeppers.com recently:

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Friends and Fans, 

The Empyrean is my new record and will be released worldwide via Record Collection on January 20th 2009. It was recorded on and off between December 2006 and March 2008. It is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters. It contains a version of Tim Buckley's, 'Song To The Siren' and the rest of the songs are written by me. My friend Josh plays on it, as does Flea. It also features Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr and The New Dimension Singers. I'm really happy with it and I've listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides. It should be played as loud as possible and it is suited to dark living rooms late at night. 

- John Frusciante, November 3rd, 2008 

The Empyrean Track listing:

1. Before The Beginning
2. Song To The Siren
3. Unreachable
4. God
5. Dark/Light
6. Heaven
7. Enough Of Me
8. Central
9. One More Of Me
10. After The Ending

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holy crap. i cannot wait. this email makes me so happy.

john frusciante - dying song

here is a nicely done video put together by some youtube-er with john frusciante's 'dying song', which appears on the soundtrack to the movie the brown bunny, playing over the top of scenes from that movie. i love the movie, my friend charles was not a fan. john frusciante contributes five tunes to the soundtrack, although none actually appear in the film (bummer). john frusciante rules, and this is my favorite song by him.

the mars volta: my most anticipated release of the year

hail the long awaited return of the mars volta (well, technically their last album came out about a year and a half ago, but it seems like forever to me). their new album, amputechture hit stores today, and i am the most excited boy on the planet.

i won't go into detail about each individual song, but the album is 8 tracks long and clocks in at just over 77:00 minutes. it is a masterpiece from start to finish in this writer's humble opinion. cedric bixler-zavala's vocals soar to heights that i have never heard him reach, and the voice is strong throughout. the tag-team guitar stylings of omar rodriguez-lopez and john frusciante are mezmerizing. frusciante apparently plays the majority of the guitar on the album (or so the rumor goes), so that omar can focus on the production aspect. however, i can certainly hear omar's style all over the album. all in all, i recommend the album highly, and it is probably on sale for dirt cheap at most local independent record stores this week, so go buy it now (or if you like itunes...).

1. vicarious atonement
2. tetragrammation
3. vermicide
4. meccamputechture
5. asilos magdalena
6. viscera eyes
7. day of the baphomets
8. ciervo vulnerado

they are currently on tour with the red hot chili peppers, so be sure to attend. it will be an amazing show indeed.

so, if you see me driving around or sitting at my computer at work, and i am air-guitaring like no other, you can rest assured it is probably the wailing of this new album that is fueling the uncontrollable actions, including the guitar face that will be on display. you know what i mean...