Califormulaic

I will never be the girl to blaspheme the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My love affair with “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” began almost ten years ago, and to this day, the album remains a relentlessly funktastical iPod favorite. The guys’ newest production, “I’m With You,” certainly isn’t the gritty product of the 20-somethings who once pranced around stage with socks on their pale white chili peppers.

They’ve matured. However, instead of sobbing about the stability they gradually traded their socks in for, I want to praise them for their standardized success.

Josh Klinghoffer, Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Chad Smith all nail this album with their impeccably resounding Chili Pepper sound. It’s evident that these guys did not set out to produce a cerebellum-shattering, genre-splitting disc, and that is fine.

I think they’ve discovered their groovy niche in a sonic space that incubates their expected noise, and I like that about them.

Kiedis’ spontaneous vowel spewing on “Ethiopia” authenticates the bands ever-present loony spunk after more than twenty years of music making.

Prattle on, Peppers.