Song of the Day: Professor Nutbutter's House of Treats (Primus)

Wow.

I'd forgotten how insane Les Claypool's bassline is in this first track from 1995's "Tales From the Punchbowl."

Most of the fast-driving groove Claypool lays down sounds like slap-and-pop (thumping a string with the side of your thumb--the "slap"--then plucking the same or another string with one of your fingers...it's all in the wrist). He's got the bass tuned to near-subsonic lows that will make your subwoofer happy and your housemates and neighbors frantic for quiet, but it's never muddy.

Add Larry LaLonde's ever-weird guitar playing and Tim Alexander's solid drumming, then top it off with Claypool's twangy nasal vocals. That's a sound only someone with strange musical tastes could love.

...and there are ALBUMS (well, CD's) full of that in their catalog.

Here's Primus doing the song back in 1995:



Not the best-quality audio or video, but if you watch Claypool's right hand, you can see the slap & pop technique (which I've always been fascinated by). He's playing a 6-string bass as if it's a plain, dinky little guitar, which impresses the hell out of me.