RareNoiseRecords presents a slew of new records:
Merzbow/Haino/Pandi An Untroublesome Defencelessness
Japanese electronic maestro Merzbow (aka Masami Akita) joins countryman, guitarist Keiji Haino, and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi for some extreme sonic experimentation that transmits its own rough beauty.
The new release Star Babies from The Tetrahedrons features an all star aggregation that includes modern guitarist Knox Chandler (REM, Depeche Mode, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, The Golden Palominos); Chris Palmaro (Michael Franks, Marc Cohen, Joan Osborne) on piano, synths and horn arrangements; John Conte (Billy Joel, Rosanne Cash, Ian Hunter, David Bowie) on “bass guitar with full frequency modulation”; and Tony Beard (Go West, Foreigner, Steve Vai, Roger Daltrey) on drums and percussion. It is rare that musicians on this technical level get together to let their musical and sonic imaginations run free. This crew made their first record, Cydonia Suite, as the Swinging Tetrahedrons a decade and a half ago, which makes this release something of an event. Knox was nice enough to go into detail for Guitar Moderne about the making of the record.
Another abundance of riches with new recordings from Tim Brady, Rez Abbasi, Harvey Valdes, David “Fuze” Fiuczynski, Pat Metheny, Mike Baggetta, and more.
As I write this, I am not even halfway through this record and we are not even halfway through 2016. Still, Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 already rates as one of the best Roots Moderne records of the year.
When I interviewed Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz about Guitar in the Space Age for Premier Guitar in 2014, they had just finished recording with Williams for Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. They appear together on a couple of tracks on that record, but Frisell told me at that time there was an amazing record in the can, made up entirely of the two guitarists interacting live with Williams and her rhythm section. The Ghosts of Highway 20 is that record.
Early Lucinda with a another pair of great guitarists, John “JJ” Jackson (Bob Dylan), and Kenny Vaughn (Marty Stuart) who studied with Bill Frisell as a young man in Colorado.
Great new releases keep on coming and there are also some older ones that fell through the cracks here,
Record Picks is a periodic offering from Guitar Moderne: a listing of recordings brought to my attention that I feel are momentous enough to bring to yours. These are not reviews. Feel free to submit recordings, but they must be purchasable worldwide, reflective of modern guitar (again subjective, but no blues, classic rock, be-bop, country, etc.), and on a par with the ones below to rate a mention. Many of these are available from DMG in NYC. If you have sent me a recording, feel free to remind me.
Stian Westerhus Amputation [House of Mythology] Amputation is as epic as one would expect from this master of modern guitar tones. Look for an interview soon.