Bleep

Speed Dealer Moms, the live electronics outlet comprising cross-genre iconoclasts John Frusciante (Trickfinger, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares), is over a decade into its idiosyncratic run. On ‘Birth Control Pill’, only their third release, the boundless potential of the chaotic and elegant project snaps into focus.

If there are virtuosos programming synthesizers and drum machines, then they were in the room when these two tracks were recorded. The epic title cut is perhaps the most ‘functional’ track Funk and Frusciante have released thus far. This is ruffneck dnb business, but it’s also Speed Dealer Moms, so there is the requisite descent into chaos. The track’s precise melodies are unceremoniously dunked into Funk’s signature, ripping breakcore. The drums pick up speed until the crash test dummies hit the wall; a thrilling, extratone breakdown.

More madness lurks on the B-side, ‘Benakis’, which seemingly nods to the visionary Greek composer. With its unconventional time signature and intricate melodies, this one slides in like a lion and out like a lamb, cycling through breakcore and hard techno before eventually giving the listener a reprieve by way of a dreamy, beatless outro.

Speed Dealer Moms drive their own, crooked road built on friendship and a telepathic musical connection—the collaboration and encouragement of Funk ushered Frusciante into the dense world of hardcore machine funk. The results of these sessions don’t sound quite like anything else but feel spiritually connected to iconoclastic ’90s work by the likes of Bogdan Raczynski or Andrea Parker—punkish electronic records made in fearless pursuit of the new. Funk and Frusciante follow ideas to an illogical endpoint, and this hurtling approach now results in the best, most concise Speed Dealer Moms record yet. The road to wisdom, after all, is paved with excess.