Experimental guitarist Joel Gilardini is based in Zurich, Switzerland. His projects include experimental doom-metal, ambient loops, and industrial-noise. His music has been lauded by Eraldo Bernocchi, Nik Bärtsch from Ronin, and Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree. He was kind enough to give GM a detailed rundown of his cool rig.
When I checked out the videos Matteo Liberatore sent me in his contact email, I was blown away by his take on creating abstract music in a similar way to early Stian Westerhus; that is, conjuring up highly electronic sounds without using a laptop or iPad, solely through the imaginative employment of effects pedals. Matteo was kind enough to consent to a Reader’s Rig, where explains his process in detail.
You may know Ted Drozdowski’s name if you were a fan of the late, lamented Musician magazine, or read his articles in Premier Guitar magazine and his posts on the Gibson website. A respected music journalist, Drozdowski has also studied Mississipi Hill Country Blues with masters like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. With his band, The Scissormen, he keeps the flame of this elemental blues style alive, while adding a modern psychedelic aspect that only adds to the music’s mystery.
Last month we did a Spotlight on Imagho A/K/A JL Prades , where he briefly discussed his gear. Here he goes into depth, including how he uses his four loopers. Be sure to check out the linked videos for examples—and for his amazing music.
Ian Smit is a self-avowed David Torn fan. But Torn is just a jumping off point for him. You can check out his solo excursions at his cleverly named YouTube site, Racketlauncher. He also plays with an interesting seven-piece band named Monkeyworks around the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border. For his Reader’s Rig contribution, he goes into detail about his elaborate system and offers some sage advice about gear.
