A delightful combination of new and old faces. Stalwarts Stian Westerhus, Todd Clouser, Eyal Maoz, Álvaro Domene, and Killick Hinds join recent discoveries Colin Fisher, Dean Sanromieri, Craig Chin, and Jeremy Baysse for a spate of great sounding recordings. Lockdown or no lockdown, Covod or no Covid, music will be made!
Sanromieri/Farhadian Duo Red Blue [Black Copper Editions]
Guitarist Dean Sanromieri and violinist Thea Farhadian wield their prepared and pure instruments in the kind of structured/free improvisation that begs the question which is which.
Colin Fisher Reflections of the Invisible World [Halocline Trance]
Fisher processes both his guitar and saxophone with vaporous electronics to create a unique meditative voice.
Álvaro Domene Heptad [Iluso Records]
Domene’s latest solo effort retains the extended range of his 7-string electric but favors a cleaner sound than usual, filtered through reverse and looping effects. Also retained is his excellent sense of dynamics and compositional arc.
Killick Hinds & Álvaro Domene Hocket Pulsar [Iluso Records]
Domene has also made a terrific duo with another Guitar Moderne stalwart, Hinds. Fantastic sounds and a dynamic range from minimalism to maximalism (is that a word?) make this a consistently engaging outing.
Warped Dreamer Live at Bimhuis [Consouling Records]
Stian Westerhus in one of Belgian drummer Teun Verbruggen’s many projects, here featuring Verbruggen on drums and electronics, Arve Henriksen on trumpet and electronics, Stian on guitar and electronics, and Jozef Dumoulin on Fender Rhodes and electronics. Read more and see the rest of the video here.
Errant Space Slow Wave [Bandcamp]
Guitarist Craig Chin, performing and recording as Errant Space, has released what he calls weird sounds for weird times. Though he is right about the latter, the former will not likely be considered weird by Guitar Moderne fans but rather lush and soothing, a balm of release in this age of tension.
Chad M. Clark Cashmere Spheres and Time Tidal Disruption [Distant Taxa]
Torturing an acoustic archtop with fingers, scrapes, and implements is not new. What sets Clark’s performances apart is the thoughtful layering and placement of those layers in space.
Jeremy Baysse In C and Ecorchure [Créative Sources Recordings]
French guitarist Baysse has a pair of releases. For Terry Riley’s “In C” he overdubs various electric, acoustic, and 12 strings guitar run through effects, as well as banjo, bass, glockenspiel, maracas, cymbal, mandolin, digital and analog synthesizers, percussion, and drum machine. On Ecorchure, his trio with Jean-Luc Petit on saxophones and drummer Fabrice Favriou freely improvise in a dynamic, musical way more seductive than assaultive.
Magnet Animals Fake Dudes [Rare Noise]
The music in Guitar Moderne rarely features vocalists, but Todd Clouser’s passionate spoken-word musings on the state of the world fit right in with the post-modern guitar sounds he and Eyal Maoz’s create. A triumph of passion and inventiveness. Rock and Roll for our time.
Record Picks is a periodic offering from Guitar Moderne: a listing of recordings brought to my attention that I feel are worthy of being brought to yours. These are not reviews. Feel free to submit recordings, but they must be purchasable worldwide, reflective of modern guitar (subjective to be sure, but no blues, classic rock, be-bop, country, etc.) and on a par with the ones above to rate a mention. Many of these are available from DMG in NYC. If you have already sent me a recording, please feel free to remind me.
