Science Faxtion Living on Another Frequency

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

Call them eccentrics, eclectics, bafoons, geniuses, or simply a band without focus, but Science Faxtion’s debut release certainly doesn’t follow conventions – stylistic, instrumental or any other. Buckethead on the guitar and Bootsy Collins on the bass apart from handling their instrumental parts and writing the music certainly also lend their instantly recognisable names to the project, but the door closes as easily as it opens when you try to understand where all the demented stuff on this album comes from. There are samples, hip hop grooves, scratches, computer bleeps and industrial-sounding percussion sounds making “space-age metalloid funk”, a description the band has given to its music, the best classification for this record.

While the opening track “Sci-Fax Theme”, introduces the mix-and-match eclectic cyborg vibe, by the second song, “Lookin’ for Eden” another theme starts to transpire – Seventies-style hard rock with big chorus and shred guitar leads running on top of a tight rock groove. Singer Greg Hampton doesn’t have much range but makes up for it by sounding spookily like Hendrix – his laidback intonation channelling Jimi’s vocals on those iconic chilled out moment on “Electric Ladyland”.

Weird electronic noises, hip hop rhythms and techno beats continue throughout the record but behind it all there is a great deal of nostalgia not only for classic hard rock, but also late Sixties psychedelia, Seventies funk and even Nineties pop. As Claudia Schiffer once said, “The difference between the girls today and models of the past is that we are not only interested in fashion: we are going in so many different directions at once.” Or, to quote Dr. Seuss, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” This album does all that. If they also knew their ultimate destination, they could have hit the jackpot.

Label: Mascot Records

Track Listing:
1. Sci-Fax Theme
2. Lookin’ for Eden
3. At Any Cost
4. Chaos in Motion
5. Famous
6. L.O.A.F.
7. Gone Tomorrow
8. Life-IS IN-DeLiver
9. Take You Down
10. What It Is
11. Fatally Flawed Flesh
12. I See Rockets
13. ZIONPLANET10

Hardrock Haven rating: 6/10