October 16, 2020 is a banner day for modern guitar releases. Two new generation legends in the making, Mike Baggetta and Anthony Pirog  have albums dropping. Baggetta’s band mssv (with Mike Watt and Stephen Hodges) is also doing a live stream tonight under the aegis of the much-missed Big Ears Festival. Look for interviews with both artists at guitarmoderne.com soon. Subscribe so you don’t miss them.

mssv

Baggetta joins bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges) and drummer Stephen Hodges (Mavis Staples, Tom Waits, David Lynch) for the first mssv studio album, eponymously titled Main Steam Stop Valve [Big Ego Records]. mssv was formed after the Wall of Flowers tour last year. Hodges had been  brought in as the legendary Jim Keltner, who played on the Wall of Flowers album sessions, doesn’t tour anymore. Following that tour, Watt, Hodges and Baggetta decided to become a band. They put out a live album last year on Striped Light Records (with special guest J Mascis), and then did a short tour of California before recording this debut studio release.

Videos for the record were made by Los Angeles experimental filmmaker Allen Glass II.

Anthony Pirog

After releasing two records and touring the world with post-Fugazi power trio, Messthetics, guitarist/composer Anthony Pirog again joins Michael Formanek and Ches Smith for his sophomore solo album, Pocket Poem [Cuneiform Records], a masterwork of guitar synthesis explorations. When Pirog partnered with acoustic bassist Formanek and drummer Smith for his first solo session, 2014’s Palo Colorado Dream, he found a special chemistry, so he summoned them back to the studio for his second solo project. After reaching new heights with Messthetics, including stellar shows I was privileged to witness at Big Ears and in Nashville, he has returned to the trio that initially showed the world the range and reach of his guitar gifts.