Nice Noise: Modifications and Preparations for Guitar is a must have book for anyone into experimental guitar. If you enjoyed the post Extended Techniques with Roger Kleier (who is name checked in this book), and want to learn more about extending your techniques, look no further than this slim tome by Bart Hopkin and Yuri Landman.
Listening to the throbbing, minimalist soundcapes on Noël Akchoté’s record, Rien [Winter and Winter] did not prepare me for the bluesy, rooted, jazz guitarist I later saw performing with the Big Four (Max Nagl, Steven Bernstein, Bradley Jones) at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. That Akchoté straddled the ground between Derek Bailey and Freddy Green with aplomb, throwing in the occasional Muddy Waters raunch and Bill Frisell offbeat elegance where appropriate. Here, the French guitarist explains how he doesn’t hear the distinction among those legendary players that others might.
New York-based Hans Tammen expands on the vocabulary of tabletop guitar using his Max/MSP “Endangered Guitar” software. By designing his own software he is able to produce uniquely personal sounds, remains capable of intense collaboration. He has performed and taught around the world.
Seattle’s Bill Horist has a range of extended techniques that is awe inspiring. In performance at the Stone in New York he turned in a perfect forty minute set that never flagged in inventiveness and musicality. His command of textures and dynamics is rivaled only by Norway’s Stian Westerhus. Here is a full set from July of this year that is a master class in looping, and abusing a guitar with a variety of implements.
Swedish-born Anders Nilsson keeps popping up on Guitar Moderne. He was part of the Derek Bailey tribute as well as the DMG party. He is also part of the Scandinavian theme that seems to be running through recent posts, joining Norwegians Terje Rypdal and Stian Westerhus in the Nordic tradition of “all genres are grist for the mill” guitar playing. His solo release, Night Guitar, ranges through quiet, lyrical meditations (“Meet Me in the Back Alley”), noise inflected atmospheres (“Breakfast Boogie Nightmare Ballad”), and Zappa meets metal fuzz fests (“Nocturne). The bio on his website delineates an interesting progression, with some wise words about the musical arts. Here he discusses some influences and processes.
