John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt

What do you do when you hate touring with the Chili Peppers, your friend die outside the Viper Room, and you’re going into the black hole of coke and heroin use?  Release Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt.  John Frusciante was sick of the Chili Peppers getting so big and unfortunately, he found his solace in hard drugs like so many others before him.  The resulting solo release from guitarist is a loose collection of lo-fi recordings, mostly just a man and his guitar, as well as every other instrument on the album.  It feels quite Delta Bluesy in that regard.  The songs are lyrical unconsciousness, Frusciante’s sorrowful poetry coincides with the washed out electric guitar, still preserving an odd amount of his funky taps.  To call this the ramblings of a junkie is a cheap way out.  The album sounds like hysterical confusion thrown into an early 90’s Alternative rock blender, the cheesy raps of the Peppers replaced by Frusciante’s out of tune howls.  Real heavy shit, man.  It reminds me of The Stranger, where the guy kills that other guy for no flipping reason.  Same tone.  This is the beginning of a dark period for Frusciante, an invitation into depravity’s own reflection.  There’s also a Bad Brains cover, which is dope.  The songs are pretty melodic.  This is a dark album, yet it feels important on some level I don’t fully understand.