I was going to wait for the next Guitar Moderne Festival post, but it is too good. Though the concert is from 2014, the video was just posted in May and the camera work and audio are excellent.
I immediately pegged Magnet Animals’ debut, Butterfly Killer [Rare Noise Records] as a shoe-in for one of the best records of the year, but whether under Guitar Moderne or Roots Moderne was up for grabs. The twang and blues elements seemed to lean toward the latter, while the noise-guitar and free-form vocals ultimately pushed it over the edge to the former. Either way it is a must-have recording, and an interview with its instigator Todd Clouser was a must have as well. Clouser’s efforts with drummer Jorge Servin, Abraxas guitarist Eyal Maoz and bassist Shanir Blumenkranz reveal a musician thoroughly grounded in technique, while ignoring it as any kind of end—my kind of player.
Most loopers who do time based loops tend to work alone. If they use bass and drums as part of their act, they layer the instruments themselves. Rarer are loop-based performers who work with a live bassist and drummer. Teddy Kumpel has perfected the art of looping with a rhythm section through his steady gig at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. It helps that his locale offers him a menu of the best rhythm sections in the world to work with. Kumpel was kind enough to explain how he keeps the sections in sync, before leaving on tour as guitarist for Joe Jackson.
Ryan Fiegl is not into heavy self-promotion, but he did send in a picture of his rig. With a little detective work, I discovered he is in Denver Colorado, and does both epic, ambient solo looping and interesting improv with a trio. You can garner some more info at his website, and from his description of his rig.
