The bad news is that it appears Adrian Belew will not be touring with Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails. The good news is he is beginning a new project he calls “Flux.”
Belew explains in this interview with Nick DeRiso.
Most modern guitar sounds continue to exist in the instrument-pedals -amp world. Mark Wingfield is one of the few to explore the possibilities that spring to life when you attach a hexophonic pickup to the guitar. In his masterful use of Roland’s VG-88 and soft-synths in a laptop he remains almost alone among purveyors of the instrument. He was kind enough to take time out of a schedule so busy it doesn’t allow for Facebook (or maybe because it doesn’t) to wax eloquently on his path towards this approach to the instrument as well as modern music in general.
I hear you asking, “Guitar Moderne, where do you find all these amazing guitarists?” Well, an outsized proportion of them are found by meticulously poring over the DMG (Downtown Music Gallery) mailers. This great record store specializes in modern music, so when an unknown (to us) name is listed on guitar, we are off on a quick search of YouTube.
Recently, this search revealed an Indonesian guitarist whose blues tone, be-bop chops, and command of effects reminded us of the incredible Oz Noy. Here he is burning through some serious funk. He is also part of a band, Simak Dialog that is more Metheny-meets-Indonesian percussion.
We begin our third installment of Guitar Moderne Festival videos with the spectacular 3rd set of a live performance on 13 Sept 2012 at Einstein cultural center Munich that took place simultaneously at two venues. Eivind Aarset and Marc Ducret are playing at Unterfahrt/Einstein, sending their live signals to Jan Bang (sampling) and Gunnar Geisse (laptop) at MUG/Einstein. Bang and Geisse are processing, sampling and realtime remixing the sounds of Aarset and Ducret. There is a signal path from Geisse to Bang as well. Some guitar sounds appear to be originating on Geisse’s computer.
Continue on for sets by Stian Westerhus, Dither, and Bill Frisell Continue reading
One day I was reading Leo Abrahams’ blog when I turned to my wife and said, “I want this guy’s life.” He had been describing the week’s activities, which might include a session with Brian Eno, live gigs with the likes of Bryan Ferry and Marianne Faithful, a solo guitar gig performing tunes from his instrumental records Scene Memory and Honeytrap, composing film music for The Lovely Bones, arranging strings for Ed Harcourt, or producing an up and coming band like Frightened Rabbit. Recently, with little time for his own music, he has managed to cobble together an EP of six-songs, Zero Sum. Though not a “guitar” record per se, it is chock full of guitar generated tones that will prick up your ears. I have interviewed the British musican before, most recently for a piece on using a laptop in live performance. Here we get a glimpse of the man’s beginnings, influences, and gear.
On April 28th, Nashville/Warsaw, Poland-based composer and performer Robert Bond and guitarist Denny Jiosa presented a program of music as part of the Zeitgeist gallery’s 2013 Indeterminacies schedule. It featured a real-time musical collaboration, via Skype, with a vocal group from Ma’anshan No. 2 Middle School from China. As the choir sang a traditional Chinese song interspersed with recited poetry, Bond and Jiosa improvised chords and beats.
For the most part Europeans, and especially Scandinavians, are miles ahead of Americans when it comes to the seamless integration of jazz with sampling, beats, and electronics that is Nü-Jazz. Nils Petter Molvær brought out Khmer in 1995, while Bugge Wesseltoft, Jazzanova and St. Germain have been working this territory easily as long. Guitarists mining this particular type of fusion also seem to reside on the east side of the Atlantic: Eivind Aarset, Bram Stadhouders, Jeff Beck, Stian Westerhus, and Nguyên Lê have been long at home with the grooves of EDM and/or the sounds of experimental electronica.
Guitarist Alex Neiser, a/k/a Critical Mess represents the new generation of players for whom Skrillex is as important as Van Halen, and more important than Clapton. His eschewing of amps in favor of modelers and adoption of new technology like the Source Audio Hot Hand is indicative of an approach untethered from tradition.
The most successful juxtaposition of electric guitar within a classical context I ever witnessed was Bill Frisell performing a piece combining his inimitable sound with a chamber orchestra. It was written by guitarist/composer Steve Mackey, who has been, you will pardon the expression, instrumental in expanding the role of the electric guitar in the classical music realm. The New York Times just published an interesting piece about him, and he will be releasing a record by his new music/prog supergroup, Big Farm, in May. Hope to have a full interview at that time. Until then, here is a taste of Mackey.
Examples of live looping used in melodic post-bop jazz are few and far between. Here Aki Ishiguro demonstrates spot on technical ability in the service of gorgeous lyricism.