The Claypool Lennon Delirium Contemplate “Meat Machines,” Previewing ‘The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy’
The Claypool Lennon Delirium, photo by Jay Blakesberg
The Claypool Lennon Delirium have shared “Meat Machines,” the third single from their upcoming album The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy. Arriving on May 1 via ATO Records, the oddball psych duo of Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon’s third record, and first since 2019’s South of Reality, revives their wild hybrid sound with a narrative world of AI-powered optimization without conscience and revolution through untamable idiosyncracy. Like the title track, the latest cut comes coupled with an eye-popping visualizer, drawing on the project’s companion comic by Rich Ragsdale.
“Some people think humans are just biological machines,” Lennon said. “They think free will is a hallucination and we’re destined to be replaced by robots. Not only are they happy about this, but they’re actively trying to make it happen as fast as possible. Some of us think we still have a choice. We think there’s something special about living, breathing and feeling. We believe we can shape our own destiny, because we know we are more than just ‘Meat Machines.’”
“Meat Machines” builds out the sonic architecture of The Great Parrot-Ox with a stark turn from the title track’s operatic freak-funk and the dizzying psych-pop of “WAP (What a Predicament).” A cold bed of reversing synth darts and keyboard chorus shimmer before a syncopated ska-stroke kicks in with Lennon’s needful, paranoid vocals. He asks, with Claypool echoing, “Is there more to us?”
“The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy was over three years in the making and was the most labor-intensive recording I have ever been involved in,” Claypool said of the album crafted at his Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County and Lennon’s The Farm in upstate New York. “The results are something Shiner and I are very proud of; a relevant concept piece accompanied by a colorful, phantasmic comic book.”
The Claypool Lennon Delirium will take their outsider sound on the road this summer with the Claypool Gold tour, sharing the stage simultaneously with Claypool’s other beloved outfits, Primus and the Fearless Frog Brigade, on an unprecedented tour. From May 20 to July 4, the bassist and bandleader will lead his ensembles on a 30-stop trek across the country, promising a “mind-melting musical experience” and “fluid show featuring wildly different setlists and surprises.”
The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is available to pre-order and pre-save now. Watch the “Meat Machines” visualizer below and read on for the album’s full tracklist.
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The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy – The Claypool Lennon Delirium:
1. Pro-Log
2. WAP (What a Predicament)
3. The Wake Up Call
4. Meat Machines
5. Troll Bait
6. Simplest of Deeds
7. Heart of Chrome
8. Through the Horizon
9. Mantra of the Manatee
10. The Golden Egg of Empathy feat. WILLOW
11. Cliptopia
12. Cliptron Scuttle
13. Melody of Entropy
14. It’s a Wrap
