Red Hot Chili Peppers Light a Match To Vanquish The Dark

Certain things heighten on the excitement scale when you see the working parts fall into place layer by layer. For example the anticipation for a new burger joint builds if its soon to be constant patrons get to take mental ownership of it from the start. From cement to bricks, to logo, to groundbreaking ceremony it's fun to see a new project assume its final shape especially if the hangout's hotly anticipated. Funk metal maestros The Red Hot Chili Peppers are back to bowl you over with a piping hot sandwich for the senses. First we get a guitar teaser. That would be the mandatory mustard ketchup condiments for the new single "Dark Necessities". We musical gourmands need not worry that this flavor is teasing filler alone. Next comes Flea to enchant us via a very intellectually probing piano sequence. Don't pay the bill and leave the diner yet folks. Chad Smith stands waiting to box your ears behind the drums. He knows exactly where his elbow grease is best employed. The Peppers have shown a flair for percussion dramatics in eras past but here art politely nudges ahead of aerial assault. Don't think we've forgotten you Anthony Kiedis. His voice represents the cornerstone for the Peppers audio empire. You can't sell the finer elements of funk metal to mass audiences if your band's vocalist won't eat, sleep, and breathe the funk characteristics. His pipes remind us The Red Hot Chili Peppers, regardless of what behind the scenes tension, are a tightly loyal brotherhood dedicated to making art you don't chuck in the wastebasket after one nonchalant listen. "Dark Necessities" leaps up and down the chord landscape and what we get in return is in song bursting with metal tinges that doesn't condemn the funk roots to the back of the bus. Not knowing what note combinations Josh Klinghoffer is going to spring on us at any given moment assures boredom's not on this particular menu. Anthony's always been a pretty laid back tonsil flasher, even on sweat churning nuggets like "Give It Away". He's not out to play ladies man. He's way too self-assured to think he needs his ego washed and waxed. Sure his band will uncork a plethora of double CD overindulgence like the appreciated yet exhausting "Stadium Arcadium" but Anthony wants to lead you down back alleys Mom warned you about. As of this effort Anthony can rest easy knowing he's the first person I know who has given a supposedly neutral shadow the ability to smile. No bad side of town detective would ever convince you that's possible. Anthony doesn't paint the self portrait of a guy women would be totally at ease confiding in. "You got sneak attacked by the zodiac" lingers out in that defiantly insane place where the buses don't run. The refrain won't make you eager to take off your coat either. Some musings are best left on a psychiatrist's couch. How do you not get the shakes around "Yeah, you don;t know my mind. You don't know my kind. Dark necessities are part of my design. Tell the world I'm falling from the sky. Dark necessities are part of my design." OK, Anthony. I'll pay for this meal. The sooner the better. Need a shrink? I can hook you up. Pulse pounding exploration of language but a bit spookier than would be advisable. I salute their chord experimentation. We visit other neighborhoods without having to turn off the iPod. The complexity reminds us that even am intricately wired group of swinging funk masters can grow riveting new spots. "Dark Necessities" is slated to be the first cut from June 17th's "The Getaway" release. The Peppers extracted some unquestionable illumination from this brand of darkness.