Antipop is the sixth full studio album from Primus, and so far is the last. While Les Claypool insists there will be more from Primus, I believe that Antipop is the final chapter in the Primus book. I hope he proves me wrong though, because Primus is one of the best modern bands out there, and while I doubt anyone would choose Antipop to be their favorite, I must say that it is an excellent cd, and wouldn't find a problem with someone deciding to buy it as their first Primus cd. The reason I say Antipop is the final chapter in the Primus book is because of the way things are set up on it. The cover features all of the sculptures from the previous albums, making it seem like Antipop is "summing it all up". There have been three songs on the previous albums that make up the Fisherman's Chronicles, and Antipop features a song called "The Final Voyage of the Liquid Sky". It doesn't necessarily relate to the other songs, but you have to wonder. And the multi-part segues that make up "Eclectic Electric" may signify "beginning, middle, and end". The last song is "Coattails of a Deadman", does that mean Primus is dead? Is Les Claypool able to do his solo albums mainly because he is riding on the silent success of Primus? After "Coattails" is over, a hidden song that was originally performed on their very first live album, "Suck On This", is the song "The Heckler". This may mean what had started is now at it's end. Hey, I just though of all this stuff right now off the top of my head. Cool. Antipop seems to be a more serious album than the previous, and while the songs still have humorous topics, like "Greet the Sacred Cow" and "The Ballad of Bodacious", they have a deeper and more meaningful feeling to them. Les still cranks out his kickass bass lines with a variety of effects and styles, and Ler is still smashing all the glass in your house with his heavy guitar banging. Brain is only working on his second full length Primus album, and I think he does better on this than he does on the Brown Album. He used to start off every song with just drums, and it seemed like he was trying to make too big an impression. "But please welcome the psuedo mexican, Bryan 'Brain' Mantia". When I say Primus has gotten deeper, listen to "Eclectic Electric" for an idea. The bass and guitar aren't as impressionable on this album, and you may not like it very much the first time you listen to it, but if you really just sit down and soak up the songs, take time to learn them, you will find this to be an excellent album. I give Antipop 5 out of 5 handclaps.
Intro
A short little ditty that's actually part of the intro to Coattails of a Deadman, but instead of leading into that song, it leads into...
Electric Uncle Sam
People tend to like this song, mainly because of the comical "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah-hay" that appears throughout the song. It seems to be about a monarch, or mocking the US government and calling it monarchy. To tell you the truth, I really have no idea what the hell it's about, it's just a cool song. Tom Morello from Rage guests on guitar and produces this song.
Natural Joe
Matt Stone, one of the creaters of south park directed this song, it's a humorous song about a seemingly friendly guy who sneaks out at night to do his evil biddings, off to the liquor/porno/video stores. It reminds me of "Moyda" by Adam Sandler. This song is somewhat moderately paced and funky.
Laquer Head
Produced by (boo!) Fred Durst of Shit Shitzkit. Oh well, I guess Les didn't have the heart to shove this little son of a bitch off, because you can sort of tell Primus doesn't like them. It's a song about various kids who do odd drugs, like sniffin paint and carburetor cleaners. It's anti-drug, I would say, but with Primus I really have no damned idea.
The Antipop
Sort of a goofy song, Les actually has a low voice in this one, it's about him growing up to hate pop culture on the radio and tv (sound familiar, anyone?). "I am the Antipop, I'll run against the grain til the day I drop. I am the Antipop, the man you cannot stop."
Eclectic Electric
It's an 8 minute epic with 3 parts, "Part I: Blinded By The Sun", "Part II: Sanity Is Coming To Town", and "Part III: Pressing Onward Towards The Light". This is my favorite song on the cd, and one of my altogether favorite Primus songs. EE features James Hetfield of Metallica and Jim Martin, who I don't know but apparantly him and James do dueling guitars at some point. The first part is sort of mellow, quiet and dark, talking about a childhood, and how he was blinded by the sun (i don't think permanently, just that blindness you temporarily get while staring at the sun). It goes on like that for a while, then it suddenly rips out with one of the heaviest Primus riffs I've ever heard on "Sanity Is Coming To Town". After that, you're led back to the awkward dark, taunting mellow style of Part I, but a repeated chorus of "Pressing onward through the night, pressing onward towards the light" makes up part three. You are then brought back to the place in part I, "Better shield your eyes now little baby", repeated over and over until the end. You are left silent and confused, until you wake up at...
Greet the Sacred Cow
There is an audio sample of some guy who sounds like a missionary or a tour guide or something while some foreign chant is going on in the background. I'm guessing it's Indian, because cows are sacred in india. I don't know what the song is about, but he mentions radiation. But it doesn't add up to me. The bass is fairly addicting, I've found myself unable to stop humming it.
Mama Didn't Raise No Fool
Tom Morello producing and playing guitar on this one again. The song seems to be about a concentration camp of some sort, or just generally being controlled, but once again, Les is fingering himself in his own hidden world. He does refer to the antagonists as "Eunuchs in their prada, and gucci flavored clothes", but I don't know what the hell any of that means. Maybe it's all metephors for cencorship or something along the lines, but Les has stumped me again.
Dirty Drowning Man
This song has a funny touch, with odd lyrics and strange vocal melodies, but it is probably one of the coolest songs on the album because of these touches, and the bass and guitar are great on this one. Stuart Copeland, ex-police drummer and member of Les Claypool's Oysterhead directs this song.
Ballad of Bodacious
A remniscent of Primus's funny story songs such as "Jerry was a Racecar Driver" and "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver". It's about a bull named Bodacious who is the biggest, meanest and toughest bull out of all of them, and it's an ode to him. This is probably the funkiest song on Antipop, with slap galore. It's also not as dark as the other songs, of which this album has a general feel for.
Power Mad
Tom Morello again? This is another funky song off of Antipop, I guess about some renegade child or man. While it has a bit of funk to it, it also has a bit of heavy rock mixed in with it. What's going on isn't really that clear, the verse is spoken in first person and the chorus is spoken in third, and it gets confusing if you try to analyze it. Does anyone else notice a general feel of Electricity to this album?
The Final Voyage of the Liquid Sky
The intro has Les playing his bass with some very wierd effect to it, making it sound like water, and actually gets very close to sounding like it in the verse. It's very slow, until the first verse is over, then a short funky interlude comes in, then back to the slow verse. Then the interlude comes in, but it then launches into the one of the most kickass parts of the cd, the chorus. There's a very strong feeling to it, sort of emotional I suppose. It adds to the feeling I get that this is Primus's final cd.
Coattails of a Dead Man
Sounds like carnival music. The legendary Tom Waits (I know, you haven't heard of him), who supplies the voice of Tommy the Cat on Seas Of Cheese, produces this song, and does the mellowtron, the carnival organ sounding instrument. It's a story of a man who gets famous and marries, but he goes into depression, and when his wife doesn't care about it, he takes himself out with a shotgun. So the wife pretends to be sad, "the bigger the camera, the bigger the tear", but she is actually living high off of her husband's success, and she's as happy as can be. You won't believe how much this song pisses people off until you hear it yourself, I've set a roomful of people into a frenzy with it.
The Heckler (The Hidden Track)
Originally from 1989's Suck on This, The Heckler has a somewhat slow and quiet verse, but launches into a crazy chorus of "It's just a matter of opinion." It's a great song, I just can't wait till Suck on This is rereleased (along with Frizzle Fry) on 4/23/02. Less than a week, it's 4/19 right now.
This has been Kal, reporting live from Idiot HQ, Matt-O-Mac.
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