PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone

PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone is the ninth studio album by John Frusciante, released on September 12, 2012 in Japan, in Europe on September 24, and internationally on September 25 on Record Collection. The album was released in multiple formats, including CD, vinyl, 32-bit digital formats and cassette.[1]

PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone
Studio album by
John Frusciante
ReleasedSeptember 12, 2012
Recorded2011
GenreArt pop, electronica, experimental rock, lo-fi, drum and bass, breakbeat
Length36:58
46:17 (Japanese release)
LabelRecord Collection
ProducerJohn Frusciante
John Frusciante chronology
Sect In Sgt
(2012)		 PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone
(2012)		 Outsides
(2013)

Self-produced by Frusciante, the album was preceded by the EP Letur-Lefr (2012) and the free download "Walls and Doors".

Background and recording

Frusciante spoke about this album and his previous album Letur-Lefr by saying "I consider my music to be progressive synthpop, which says nothing about what it sounds like, but does describe my basic approach. I combine aspects of many styles of music and create my own musical forms by way of electronic instruments. The tracks on Letur-Lefr are from 2010 and PBX was made in 2011. Letur is a compilation, a selected portion of music I made that year while PBX was conceived as an album, the songs having been recorded in succession. The records are very different from each other."

On 15 August 2012, the song "Walls And Doors" was released as a free download via Frusciante's official site. Frusciante added that this song marks the point at which he began combining 60s and early 70s production styles with modern electronic production; as well as balancing pop music with abstract forms of music; which further allowed him to combine the pop part with the more adventurous part of himself.[2]

Album name

Following is what Frusciante said on his blog: "PBX refers to an internal communication system. There is a natural version of this, wherein the 'business or office' is a person. A funicular involves two trams connected by a cable, one going up while the other goes down. All music perpetually does this on many levels simultaneously. Intaglio is a technique in sculpture where one works on the opposite side of the image, whereby the image will eventually appear to the spectator in relief, but the angle the sculptor works from is the negation of that. In music that I like, an approach analogous to this was employed, the more so the better. Zone refers to a state of mind wherein the rest of the world seemingly disappears, and nothing matters but the union of one's immediate surroundings with one's feelings. These four words linked together go far to describing my creative process."[3]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Consequence of Sound[5]

Allmusic's Fred Thomas gave the album a mixed review, stating, "The ever-winding path of John Frusciante's solo career is a confusing one to say the least. [...] The thing is, there's no doubt that Frusciante is sincere in his expression with this incredibly warped music. There's no easy explanation for these sounds, no context for a lot of the choices he makes with the rapid-fire style changes and jarring production choices that come one after another after another on almost every song here."[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Frusciante.

No.TitleLength
1."Intro/Sabam"2:40
2."Hear Say"3:47
3."Bike"4:24
4."Ratiug"6:26
5."Guitar"2:17
6."Mistakes"3:50
7."Uprane"4:55
8."Sam"4:21
9."Sum"4:18
Total length:36:58
Japanese Bonus Tracks
No.TitleLength
10."Ratiug" (A Capella)5:15
11."Walls and Doors"4:01
Total length:46:17

Personnel

Musicians

Recording personnel

Artwork
  • John Frusciante – cover art and design
  • Julian Chavez – cover design
  • Mike Piscitelli – photo

Charts
Charts (2012) Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers 38[6]

References
  1. "Letur Lefr EP in July, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone LP in September!". invisible-movement.net. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2012-08-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-19. Retrieved 2012-08-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Thomas, Fred. "PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  5. Fray, Bryan. "PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone". consequenceofsound.net. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  6. "John Frusciante - Chart History". Billboard.
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