It's been a rough year-plus for '90s alt-rock giant Perry Farrell. Last September, the latest reunion tour from Farrell and his old band Jane's Addiction ended in spectacular fashion when Farrell physically threw down on bandmate Dave Navarro mid-song. The show ended early, the rest of the tour was immediately canceled, and the other three guys are started working on new music without Farrell. Navarro says there "no chance" that the rest of the band will ever play with Farrell again. Farrell and his ex-bandmates are currently suing one another. Now, Farrell is making his first steps toward an artistic life after that version of Jane's Addiction.
Last month, Farrell announced his first performance since the punch-up that ended Jane's Addiction. He's expected to take part in Robby Krieger's 60th Anniversary Doors Celebration in Los Angeles later this month. Today, he's released his first new music since all of that, though he's not the lead artist on this record. Instead, Farrell is the guest vocalist on "Joya," the new single from pioneering UK house and techno DJ Carl Cox. Farrell was a relatively early adapter to rave culture. He tried his hand as a DJ after Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros first broke up, and DJs were a big part of the Enit Festival, the short-lived tour that Farrell attempted to launch in 1995. So this isn't out of character for him.
"Joya" is a swirling, celebratory dance track, and it exists in the same basic mold as something like the Chemical Brothers' "Setting Sun." Farrell's voice still sounds powerful, but his ebullient psychedelic lyrics feel even weirder now than they would without the context of his current public life. In the single's Bandcamp decription, Farrell says, "It means the world to me that we’re making people so happy with our music.. Joyaaaaaah!" See what I mean? The song is nine minutes long, but there's a shortened radio edit if you don't have time for all that. You can hear it below.
The "Joya" single is out now on Cox's Awesome Soundwave label.
