Swahili Blonde – new artwork, musician, song versions and single re-release
Written on January 22, 2010 in Swahili Blonde & with 48 responses
Tags: Collaborations, corridor, lemampatee, michael quinn, nicole turley, Swahili Blonde
For everyone who's been following one of a couple of known projects John's been taking part in since his departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers; here's some news on Swahili Blonde.
While the release date for the physical version of the Elixor Fixor single, which will contain a remix, is not yet known, there's (yet again) new artwork for it, featuring a cute animal from the cat family.
Even though the project was labeled an one-person-show or DIY come six months ago, at this point, there are five people participating. After John, violinist Laena Myers-Ionnita and drummer Stella Mogzawa, the fifth person to join Nicole Turley's afro-beat/tango effort is a multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn, known to the local scene and beyond for his impressive project, Corridor.
Quinn has already contributed his cello and trumpet overdubs to the most recent SB song, LeMampatee; so if you head over to their Myspace, you can listen to the song's new version. The difference is evident.
UPDATE 02nd February 2010- the 2nd version of the single is available
You can now also acquire the second version of Elixor Fixor, featuring a remix. The remix lacks the guitar and the leading track is an edit, noted to last shorter than the one previously released. For an Easter egg in the song itself, tune the last two seconds up and listen carefully. You might be able to hear someone whom you've heard before (clue: smiley at the end...).
You might also want to check out
The first news post on Swahili Blonde
The project's participation in a David Bowie tribute
The 2nd version of artwork - with giraffes
*Many thanks to Laura for heads-up on the new musician in the project and to Travis for heads-up.
48 Reactions to Swahili Blonde – new artwork, musician, song versions and single re-release
Pravila za komentarisanje:
I hope this new version isn't gonna be on the album. It's inferior compared to the original.
I think the tango thing is just because the myspace label for african rhythm is the same as tango (i.e.: you can only tag your band as african rythms/tango), in no way this ressembles tango.
I don't like how the horns fit into Lemampatee, but when I get a song stuck in my head, I don't like if it changes.
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I agree with both. Great are the skills of Corridor guy, but he is making the guitar sound shy.
Cool artwork, even a little bit more beautiful than the giraffes.
The guitar has always been shy.
I like the addition.
i think it goes either way, the addition of trumpet and cello make it more unique in my opinion.
Here is an interesting thing, perhaps:
Speed dealer moms and Swahili blonde ... somewhat similar names (Same number
of syllables at least) : )
On the whole i can't wait to hear the whole album. : )
If this is what makes John happy more power to him, but I do not think any of this sounds good. It sounds like stuff we used to make with those keyboards that included lion roars and zapper guns. I mean, his guitar playing rocks as always but it is surrounded by crap. ( that is just my honest opinion not trying to ruffle any feathers, if you really like this music I think that is awesome for you. but I think many simply like it because John plays on it and if it was another guitarist they would not give it a second listen)
"but I think many simply like it because John plays on it and if it was another guitarist they would not give it a second listen"
i second that...
I third that, adding that they may not even realize that john's part in this is minimal. Nicole plays almost all the stuff, and probably writes almost everything.
I 4th that man.. U could tell john didnt wanna be in the pepps no more after hearing this.... well I have to say it crap.. for some reason and I hope not, I feel john is going into a dark place again in his life hes all away from the media doing this stuff.. and hes on drugs again...nothing good comes from that as weve learned.. but Johns my guitar hero and always will be one of them. Just hope he releases some solo stuff soon that sounds like Shadows Collide with People
he's on drugs again where the hell do you get that info, you don't know him!
no he's not in a dark place he's really busy
collaborations with rza & arron funk
currently exectutive producer for omar lopez's new film
he quit the peppers a year ago he says on his website and it was purely because he wanted to other things he found more interesting.....
its understandable that john doesn't want to play the same backcatalogue at shows go through a long recording process then a long tour media ect ect after all in the last 10 years he's been on tour for 5 of them
he owes us nothing he's just a muscian not a god ect ect so to be honest its his life if he releases a new album great if not i'll still listen to the 20 or so albums i've already got with him playing....
so lets just watch this space and be positive about his departure, also klinghoffer is an awesome musician so i'm sure their next album will be quality
WORD to your first sentence. How do they know that and how dare they make that assumption!
And Roy said "he's all away from the media"...well maybe that's a GOOD thing. He doesn't seem to enjoy it. He worked his tail off with the Peppers, did what he had to do, made some great music with them, and now he has the opportunity to do what HE wants on his own and he's taking it. His way. Not having to deal with the media is something he earned. People who want his music know where to find him
And I'm going to sound like a broken record but if you don't like his music now I'd suggest stick around and maybe you'll like the next one. There is nothing wrong with having a personal preference, IMO. However, he is obviously someone who feels strongly about the music he makes and take a lot of pride in it - he had the guts to leave a successful band TWICE partly because he believed so strongly in his artistic vision. So there IS something wrong with telling someone like John that they should make music this way or that way. It's just not going to happen. If you don't like something, just accept that it's not your thing, but that doesn't mean he's sold out or whatever. It's so amazing to me that it comes from both sides...the indier-than-thou people hate anything he does that's even remotely mainstream. And then there are the people who want him to only do rock guitar solo oriented stuff. At least be happy the guy is still making music, that he isn't artistically dead, and the possibility of something you might like in the future is actually pretty high if you keep an open mind.
what do you mean where am I getting this info about drugs?? its on this website on his bio and in a bunch of interviews when they ask him is he still clean he would say Im not gonna say Im clean because that would be a lie... and he said I just cant let it get out of control again.. sooo
and I fricken 5th that. we all know john because we first knew the peppers and loved them, and liked that style of music. i consider myself an open minded person, and i listen to many styles of music, but it's very hard for me to like this bizarre satanic-ritual like songs they have. if john wasn't there probably non of us would ever listen of this band.
Everybody *considers* themselves an open minded person. But your "bizarre satanic-ritual like songs" comments just make me giggle, and I can not take you serious. Sorry.
You are fucking retarded.
"I write, play, sing, record, and mix everything myself – actually, everything except guitar – my boyfriend’s been doing the guitar stuff. It’s been really fun and creative" nicole turley/ swahili blonde
is this john's new girlfriend?
well, everybody's saying that
but... has John actually said Nicole Turley is his girlfriend???
I saw a fotoshoot of her at John's home
well, I'm kinda jealous :$
Please, keep the gossip away from this website. It's not like this topic didn't get extremely immature either way.
And what makes a difference for you if she is? We're here to enjoy his and now also her music!
My recent post Jedina crvena jabuka / The Only Red Apple
Please, keep the gossip away from this website. It's not like this topic didn't get extremely immature either way.
And what makes a difference for you if she is? We're here to enjoy his and now also her music!
My recent post Jedina crvena jabuka / The Only Red Apple
Please, keep the gossip away from this website. It's not like this topic didn't get extremely immature either way.
And what makes a difference for you if she is? We're here to enjoy his and now also her music!
My recent post Jedina crvena jabuka / The Only Red Apple
Funny--Michael used to played with Warpaint and Stella does now....one happy tangled up family I guess.
Some more examples:
Quinn currently joins the stage with Aska Matsumiya of Moonrats, who recently collaborated with... Flea! Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint also plays bass for Moonrats, it's her sideproject. Moonrats used to tour with Warpaint. Aska, Emily, Theresa and Flea's wife Frankie Rayder are all part of the LA Ladies Choir. Paul Beahan of Manimal Records refers to his employees, artists and associates as "the Manimal family" (I think he's awesome).
well I can agree that swahili blonde is not the standard commercial stuff you hear every day you put on the radio, but I can respect it. I mean, it's really experimental and stuff but who cares. And btw to that roy guy, john is on drugs again? wouldn't know where you got that info dude. All I know is that he does smoke and drink stuff. well I'm gonna buy the swahili blonde record when it comes out just for the awesome riff of lemampatee, it's really funky.
=D
well I can agree that swahili blonde is not the standard commercial stuff you hear every day you put on the radio, but I can respect it. I mean, it's really experimental and stuff but who cares. And btw to that roy guy, john is on drugs again? wouldn't know where you got that info dude. All I know is that he does smoke and drink stuff. well I'm gonna buy the swahili blonde record when it comes out just for the awesome riff of lemampatee, it's really funky.
=D
what do yall mean you dont know where Im getting this info about drugs?? its on this website on his bio.. and in a couple of interviews they would ask him if he was still clean and he would say, Well Im not gonna say Im clean because that would be a lie... he also said I just can't let it get out of control again...
*puts the admin cap on*
Looks like we got to the point where you're holding me responsible for picking bits from a couple of interviews et cetera. And I feel uncomfortable because I obviously made you (and perhaps more people, too) blow it out of proportion. Then again, if it was not so, people would blow the straight-edge myth out of proportion. I don't know which is worse.
One thing I know is for sure: you cannot accuse anyone of being an addict based on what people have seen. Addiction goes far beyond that. Please, do not take things literally and do not go online to argue with people. Have some respect for the person we're discussing and the entire community. From what I can realise, you are very young and that's just another reason to ask you not to take things so literally.
Deal?
My recent post People throw everything away these days
*puts the admin cap on*
Looks like we got to the point where you're holding me responsible for picking bits from a couple of interviews et cetera. And I feel uncomfortable because I obviously made you (and perhaps more people, too) blow it out of proportion. Then again, if it was not so, people would blow the straight-edge myth out of proportion. I don't know which is worse.
One thing I know is for sure: you cannot accuse anyone of being an addict based on what people have seen. Addiction goes far beyond that. Please, do not take things literally and do not go online to argue with people. Have some respect for the person we're discussing and the entire community. From what I can realise, you are very young and that's just another reason to ask you not to take things so literally.
Deal?
My recent post People throw everything away these days
Im not really holding anyone responsible for this, its not only on this site I have a total guitar magazine where he says this.. I understand not taking things literally and Im not calling him an addict, but IMO and only IMO I think hes in a bit of dark place in his life just from the pics Ive seen of him like the Empyrean ones where he looks 60 years old and the music on his collaborations of very weird experimental music.. that doesnt make since to me.. I didnt mean to start a comment war, just expressing my thoughts..
IMO and only IMO I think we should let him live his life how he wants to.
I need to agree with there. Afterall, apart from being an amazing artist, John is a grown man, an adult, one who has a mind and life of his own
By your logic, since I'm finished with school and don't go out much, I must be doing drugs too.
well I got to give roy some credit here, I mean the promotion fotos for the empyrean album weren't that great. John didn't look so well, and besides that he doesn''t perform or goes out in public alot. So it is logical that roy thinks john isn't in a great place right now. But dude just don't forget, that John is an artist that understands his relation to the public. He just doesn't care about what fans want and that is how it should be. So he will come out and yes he will release new songs, but only if HE is ready and if HE feels like it.
You were doing great until you said how John apparently "doesn't care about what fans want." From there on, your ass started taking over the keyboard.
I don't know where to post this so people will see it, and you can call it a rumor all you want, but it is true. John is going to be playing Bonnaroo this year.
Can you please email me at iva@invisible-movement.net with your source IF you actually have one? I cannot post anything that's unofficial just like that and, from what I have seen so far, there's no official source for this and Bonnaroo lineup is to be announced later today.
Also, can you please not post off-topic comments in future?
I mailed you months ago but you never answered.
People have the effort to write you and you don't answer...
That's disappointing...
Here on your homepage you write that you always answer...and why do you delete my critical comment???
There was nothing offensive in it.
I did not delete anything. I have no idea what you're talking about, perhaps the commenting system handled it as spam, which happens every now and then. But I would gladly delete this one, believe me. The only reason I'm not doing so is because there would be no other way to respond to you, as you used the big bad anonymous internet person identity instead of actually leaving a contact address.
Also, you have to get your facts straight here:
1) This is an off-topic comment. It's actually rude to the band whose work is discussed in this topic. It even says "keep on topic" underneath the comment form.
2) I am not a celebrity. I am not a celebrity's press officer. I am not a celebrity's manager. I am not someone whose job is to reply to everything, immediately.
3) In addition to this, my life's been hell for the past 10 months or so and I am not obliged to justify that to anyone (Back in April, I tried to and I got the comment in the lines of "I don't care if your father almost died, I want you to feature my band, the XYZ site would have done it better than you!")
I owe people mails, yes. Someone sent me one of the most beautiful emails I have ever read around the time I wrote the long support entry people posted hearts in response to, but I had no time for anything, as I finally found a job after six months of being unemployed. And if I really DID get your email (once again, I've got no idea who you are) , it could've also been that my response was not delivered to you or, that I never got it.
Priority is given to people who send in news as well as those who have trouble accessing specific part of the site.
Either way, if you do not believe all this, you might want to start a scarily large website with a complex structure, deal with people who have the stuff you need for the archive, organise task lists as there are too many contributors and too many contributions, handle social media, optimise performance, follow web standards in terms of the site's layout and coding and, in these circumstances, be the only one who's handling it.
Please, do not be so bitter. And if you have anything else to say, email me. Really. I have four large projects I actually earn my daily bread from going on and I'm writing the script for my first film, but I will do my best to respond to you.
My recent post People throw everything away these days
I had no idea that you are so extremly stressed out and I didn't know that about your father.
I'm sorry for that. I did not want to annoy you...I was just a bit disappointed, because I didn't know why you did not take a few minutes just to answer that you haven't much time to respond...But now I understand...So I'm sorry.
I had no idea that you are so extremly stressed out and I didn't know that about your father.
I'm sorry for that. I did not want to annoy you...I was just a bit disappointed, because I didn't know why you did not take a few minutes just to answer that you haven't much time to respond...But now I understand...So I'm sorry.
Once again, I definitely don't have a message from you...if you have a web.de email address, that might be the reason.
My recent post Njegova majka, oblak / His mother, a cloud
I did not delete anything. I have no idea what you're talking about, perhaps the commenting system handled it as spam, which happens every now and then. But I would gladly delete this one, believe me. The only reason I'm not doing so is because there would be no other way to respond to you, as you used the big bad anonymous internet person identity instead of actually leaving a contact address.
Also, you have to get your facts straight here:
1) This is an off-topic comment. It's actually rude to the band whose work is discussed in this topic. It even says "keep on topic" underneath the comment form.
2) I am not a celebrity. I am not a celebrity's press officer. I am not a celebrity's manager. I am not someone whose job is to reply to everything, immediately.
3) In addition to this, my life's been hell for the past 10 months or so and I am not obliged to justify that to anyone (Back in April, I tried to and I got the comment in the lines of "I don't care if your father almost died, I want you to feature my band, the XYZ site would have done it better than you!")
I owe people mails, yes. Someone sent me one of the most beautiful emails I have ever read around the time I wrote the long support entry people posted hearts in response to, but I had no time for anything, as I finally found a job after six months of being unemployed. And if I really DID get your email (once again, I've got no idea who you are) , it could've also been that my response was not delivered to you or, that I never got it.
Priority is given to people who send in news as well as those who have trouble accessing specific part of the site.
Either way, if you do not believe all this, you might want to start a scarily large website with a complex structure, deal with people who have the stuff you need for the archive, organise task lists as there are too many contributors and too many contributions, handle social media, optimise performance, follow web standards in terms of the site's layout and coding and, in these circumstances, be the only one who's handling it.
Please, do not be so bitter. And if you have anything else to say, email me. Really. I have four large projects I actually earn my daily bread from going on and I'm writing the script for my first film, but I will do my best to respond to you.
My recent post People throw everything away these days
Given the songs a good few listens I find this highly invigorating, new, original music. Very charming shamanistic sounds, and good recording quality too. Just go into it without expectations.
Exactly. This website covers John Frusciante and if he's not in Red Hot Chili Peppers, I simply don't post any news on them...and I actually don't follow them myself.
My recent post Jedina crvena jabuka / The Only Red Apple
yes I knew that, but I thought since klinghoffer was involved it should make it to this site, but that's not my call . thx for the reply =)
Im sorry im a newcomer here but i cant see whats wrong with you really.. What was discussed about josh here anyway? I love johns solo work and love how he involved all the way up to the empyrean. For me john taught me stuff im not eager to discuss here because of the mood just formed.
See.. saying about how we(or me? dont know who you are referring to) cant open our eyes to john's projects feels like taking a hit and my nature says defend back thats why im posting this anyway.
You are definately right about josh is totally irrelevant with this topic. But i dont see why a suggest like this, is treated like this. Im pretty sure you posted news about other artists covering johns work before, so again i dont see why is josh' work on John irrelevant.
As said im attending this website long time now but felt something really wrong here that pushed me to comment on something. Im sad about how this whole thing evolved and again this whole think might be irrelevant and im willing to accept this, but dont tell me josh is irrelevant with john. You from all should know better.
Im sorry im a newcomer here but i cant see whats wrong with you really.. What was discussed about josh here anyway? I love johns solo work and love how he involved all the way up to the empyrean. For me john taught me stuff im not eager to discuss here because of the mood just formed.
See.. saying about how we(or me? dont know who you are referring to) cant open our eyes to john's projects feels like taking a hit and my nature says defend back thats why im posting this anyway.
You are definately right about josh is totally irrelevant with this topic. But i dont see why a suggest like this, is treated like this. Im pretty sure you posted news about other artists covering johns work before, so again i dont see why is josh' work on John irrelevant.
As said im attending this website long time now but felt something really wrong here that pushed me to comment on something. Im sad about how this whole thing evolved and again this whole think might be irrelevant and im willing to accept this, but dont tell me josh is irrelevant with john. You from all should know better.