Ataxia Automatic Writing. Release Date : August 10, 2004. Label: Record Collection. Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. I'm going nuts with this Frusciante stuff. The guy's on a huge creative kick, churning out these records under different monikers or with different co-creators. It's all in the same vein - airy, trembly music, gorgeously artistic, a big departure from his Red Hot Chili Peppers work. Good on him for striking on his own terms. Ataxia is a lot ot dark warbling guitars and low storylike vocals, mixed with high portions, where he tosses his voice high up the scale until you almost can't tell what words he's singing. This album's really jammy. All the music sounds like it was cut live off the floor with a bunch of musicians just going off, Frusciante yelling over top. The opening track, "Dust," is gorgeous. All this sounds so dreadfully emotional. You can really feel the words and music course through you. You become the song. He sings off the beat, which is slightly awkward, but makes the song that much more highstrung and interesting. It's almost challenging and taxing to listen to... thats a good thing though. How long can you take it??? How much do you want to be affected??? Before you crack... It's such a tornado of noise, with intermittent yells after almost a-capella whispers. Suddenly harmonizing vocals come in. Everyone's got a different melody to follow... they mingle but never perfectly fit. Dang this is cool stuff. Very open sounding, and loooong songs. "Another" is this awesome scale from high-to-low... mellow trip out music. It's a delicate dance fragile as lace. Later we hit on some reggae-ish guitar bits. Frusciante's great guitar work shines through. "The Sides" is striking, with its echoey vocalsand intense noises. There's only five songs here, but it's a pretty lengthy disc... "Montreal" goes on for eternity. This noise I heard once before on David Usher's first solo disc. Not that that's where they got it from or anything. Frusciante seems to be never-failing in putting out interesting music, and Ataxia's Automatic Writing disc is a testament to that. Let's hope he can keep it up. Song of choice : "The Sides" -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere John Frusciante website Published : January, 2005.