Former Jane's Addiction leader Perry Farrell gave South American fans a

peek at the world-music/electronic bent of his upcoming solo album last

weekend at a sold-out club show in Maresias, Brazil.

The hour-long gig, billed as Farrell's first solo performance, included

four songs slated for the singer's still-unscheduled solo debut, tentatively

titled Songs Yet to Be Sung.

"It was definitely Perry's next level [of music making]," New York

promoter Matt E. Silver said of the event at the 3,000-capacity Club Sirena. Silver said the show featured Farrell on vocals, backed by a

local conga player, a DJ, a backing track of prerecorded music and two

dancers.

"It was a way for Perry to experiment with his new style, and he was

overwhelmed with the reception from the crowd, who'd obviously never

heard the songs before," Silver said. "It was Perry in pure form, mixing

electronic music with that classic Jane's sound."

Farrell played "Happy Birthday Jubilee," "King Z," "Through Me" and

"Nua, Nua," all slated for the solo album, according to Farrell's

co-manager, Aaron Chasen. Farrell followed the brief performance with a

DJ set that included a mix of house, trance, drum & bass and electronic

music.

After more than a decade of making music with his bands Jane's Addiction

-- the pioneering '80s art-rockers -- and Porno for Pyros, Farrell (born

Perry Bernstein) recently decided his next album would be credited to

his name alone. It was originally slated to be issued under the enigmatic

name Gobalee.

Farrell began work on the album soon after the end of the 1997 Relapse

tour by Jane's Addiction. Speaking from his Venice Beach, Calif., studio

a year ago, Farrell said the new project was "about collaborative music."

The artists who have contributed to the album so far include Rage Against

the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John

Frusciante and bassist Flea (born Michael Balzary), as well as famed dub

artist the Mad Professor (born Neil Fraser), according to Farrell and

Chasen.

Farrell is preparing to mix the 10 tracks that already have been recorded,

and he hopes a number of high-profile artists will assist him, according

to Chasen. To that end, Farrell has sent out requests to Prodigy leader

Liam Howlett, rave promoter Brendan Hawkins, the Mad Professor and the

members of soon-to-be-splintered art-rock band Love and Rockets. Former

Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro also is expected to work on the

album.

Former Jane's Addiction/Porno For Pyros drummer Stephen Perkins originally

was involved in the project, but he amicably ended his participation in

July. Some of the early material Perkins recorded may be included in the

final version of the LP, Chasen said.

Among the songs Chasen said Farrell has completed for the album are

"Shekeina" (Hebrew for "female holy spirit"), "King Z," "Through Me,"

"Rev," "Nua Nua" (a song about rainbows), "Ishah" (Hebrew for woman) and

"Happy Birthday Jubilee," a track dedicated to Farrell's infant son, Yobel.

Farrell has spent much of the past year performing gigs as a DJ at venues

ranging from an opening of an upscale clothing-store in New York to impromptu

late-night club shows in Venice Beach.

Chasen said the new material is immediately recognizable as the work of

the author of such psychedelia-inspired songs as "Ocean Size"

(RealAudio excerpt) and the funk-rock workout "Been Caught Stealing"

(RealAudio excerpt). But, he added, it also owes a debt to the electronic/rock

hybrid of songs such as "Kettle Whistle"

(RealAudio excerpt) from the 1997 Jane's Addiction odds-and-sods collection

of the same name.

"There's a song on [the new album] called 'Ad Matai,' and it's about

what Moses told the Israelites to scream to the heavens when the pharaoh

wouldn't let them leave Egypt after the slaying of the first born,"

Chasen said. "It's about the idea of, 'When can I change?' [I]t's a really

powerful song that has a ... vibe that's closer to Perry's alternative-rock

roots."

Farrell described the sound of his new project as a combination of

technology, ancient spiritual music and a search for peace on Earth.

"We arrive now at this beautiful age of technology," Farrell said. "And

so you've got man having a love affair with machines, and it's beautiful.

... I want to use the best elements of the day. ... I'm trying to pull

the oldest melodies in the world and I'm trying to marry them with ...

technology."