Outsides

Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante has long proven to be a musician with far more interests than any single band could fulfill. He has released numerous solo albums and EPs, as well as collaborations that have defied expectations. This 2013 EP, Outsides, is true to his unpredictable form. In Frusciante’s own words, the EP “consists of a 10-minute guitar solo and two abstract 'out' pieces of music.” That’s putting it in blunt terms. However, the beauty is in the nuances, and the 10-minute guitar solo “Same” is an odd mix of fluid guitar lines, surging Pink Floyd–like “Echoes” keyboards, and either an elaborately programmed or sloppily edited drum machine that skirts jazz, funk, and rock with a sense of Frank Zappa in the air. The remaining two tracks sound more like incidental music from a lost indie-horror flick, with Frusciante particularly enjoying cheap synthesizers and random-sounding beats.