review page for new guitarists, especially raga-guitarists

Robo Rec.Mauro Antonio Pawlowski : Secret Guitar (B,2003)****

Pawlowski is relatively know in Belgium through various of his rock groups (Evil Superstars,..). Hans from HoBo Records, owner of a specialised recordshop in Antwerp asked Mauro to try something very individual, without any commercial considerations. After having heard a demo soon recorded after this, Hans being surprised by its originality, immediately agreed to release it, 600 only, with a specially designed hand printed cover.* They sell relatively quickly. Two raga-drenched guitar pieces with a certain rough guitar sound, ("At the House of Lightning" and "Evening Girls") have an inspired improvisation play in a realm reminiscent of early Takoma raga-guitar pieces. "The Danced letter" in a same (raga) rhythm has a completely odd and annoying dissonant repeated drone ; being played in an equally fitting even more rough acoustic punk scraping-the-guitar technique, it is convincing. "Corsola" which follows is more quietly evolving still with eastern flavoured improvisation. Second side starts with another very different interpretation of a raga-like technique ; very experimental it touches different chords, drones and sounds, esoteric, then blending, on the edge of an openness towards the avant garde, but within a structuring shape with a unique technique keeping its balance from within. Also the next, title track, "Secret Guitar", in an opening improvisation tuning, seems to be lead by that same surprisingly self-constructiveness. The last track, "Rock'n Roll damage" played with relaxed ease and openings, has the most clear falling back on a chord structure, still entirely in a different way from a common rock instrumental.

* PS. Each cover is different.

Info release : http://www.mauroworld.com/various/secret.htm

Info artist : http://www.mauroworld.com/

bman@euronet.nl Ordering contact : roborecords@pandora.be

Eclipse Records description :

"Refusing the comfortable pillars of notation and structure, as much as swimming against the stream, will take a little while to wrestle to the ground. Deeply rooted in honesty and rubber gloves touching the inner most soul experience, the seven non-amplified semi-acoustic guitar improvisations may be difficult to wrap your head around. Almost pastoral in their ethereal beauty and brimming with spontaneous energy. Never in search for lost chords you will hear the strings squeak, detailing the darker sides of life. His definite choice for independence offers ample proof that self reliance can be made to work in your favour, as this is by far his most intricately personal and spiritual work yet. Strongly focused excorsism, the kind that seeks surrealist heaven in armpits. Secret Guitar toughens into a diamond resonating pool of choking enchantments, no bedtime lullabies or sandman campfire songs but discordant exhausted emotion exploring similar mindsets, not unlike Derek Bailey or the late great John Fahey. Infusing those weirdly unhinged strings with ethnic lightning excursions and tuning structures in the vein of Seattle’s mystic torch carriers Sun City Girls. Punches in the face are hard to resist for anyone wondering along the shores of fire music. Painstaking underground hocus pocus from the alien giant of belgique pop culture. God help us."

Cuneiform Rec. Various artists : 156 Strings, 19 totally original acoustic guitarists (VAR,2002)**°°'

This project started after the discovery by Henry Kaiser of Steffen Basho Junghans, having heard some experimental improvising music by Basho from a project with an untuned 12-string guitar, entitled "The Virgin Orchestra No 1", in 35 parts. Thinking back to the early Takoma inventions and of Fred Frith's guitar solos series he decided to make a compilation of some interesting new guitarists in the Fahey and the Fred Frith vein. Some of them were mostly electric guitarists but also they composed acoustic tracks for this album.

I am not a guitarist myself, so I am at one hand not blinded by any technique presented. I can only judge any music (after having heard a lot of variety and legendary expressions before) that speaks immediately to my heart and that is clear and fresh in its expression, or that appeals as fresh to me in a different way, feeding my curiosity and expressing new territories convincingly.

I will only choose to review my favourite tracks (and artists) on this album, which are actually most of the listed ones :

Gyan Riley surprised me already a lot with his tremendous album "Food for the bearded" (see review beneath), in a style based upon classical guitar playing but with an opened up blend of a very original and fresh and skilful guitar styles. His contribution here proves his talent once more ("Eyes of Orion"). Raoul Bjorkenham plays his "Lullaby heart away" in a sliding hand guitar technique as if he plays an Indian instrument with a slight American blues touch. Richard Thompson plays a fusing folk guitar style of a traditional with varied tempos and other changes. The technique of Jean-Paul Bourelly sounds very interesting to me too ; the particular sounds his guitar piece brings forth seems to be a living creature on its own, spontaneously crawling through a lot of technical 'tour de force'. At first he seems to play pingpong and guitar at the same time. At some other point there seems to be born simultaneously "islands" and "layers of melodies" so interwoven as a throughfully three-dimentional patchwork. Janet Feder creates a different vibrant "free" sound with drone effect, with a melodic evolution, by skilfully and melodically, simply by pushing the strings with her finger/nails before she creates another original melody of fingerpicking and vibrating nut-end-of-the-strings. A track from a genius, througoughfully created, called "Lightning strikes", with vibrant and very subtle flashing effects. Richard Leo Johnson plays a skilful & fast and compressed-by-time-schedules fingerpicking track (called "Hazard Pay") with a certain blues (?) influence and with inspiration possibly developed out of musically knowing the guitar instrument inside out. Duck Baker's playing starts more modestly and relaxed, with the sound of the particular guitar he's playing, with the natural echo of the his guitar playing skills, then closing again with the original theme. Rod Poole plays a muted snares, thumbpiano-like, fingerpicking rhythm. It reminds me of the experiments Luigi Archetti (former Guru Guru) did on "Das Ohr" back in 1992. Mike Keneally's fingerpicking track hovers between the recognisable & the esoteric, while the two following artists sound even more esoteric and avant garde, in their compositions. The closing track, by Steffen Basho Junghans I mentioned before. It sounds like chords that search their way towards self-tuning, because of the first human touch, the master of the guitar, followed by fingerpicking that sounds like playing a prepared guitar ! , very much recalling John Cage, in a different way. The composition is made by playing skilfully and with an open musical ear towards the self-prepaired guitar, instead of John Cage's deliberately preparing the tuning and making a composition for it. -I wonder how much Cage himself not coincidentally came to his prepared piano compositions himself.- It is a new kind of playing, highly enjoyable. Steffen proves here to be even more a genius than I already took him to be.

A very interesting compilation with lots of enjoyable, impressive and original tracks.

Info : http://www.rattaymusic.de/releases/Cuneiform/156Strings.html

& (with sounfiles) : http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/156.html

Other review : http://www.amzmusiczine.com/10_02/156strings.htm

& http://www.forcedexposure.com/bin/search.pl?search_string=156+strings&searchfield=keyword

& http://folk-music.mainseek.com/17/16-19038/Various/156_Strings/page0.html

The Communion Label Ben Kunin : Acoustic adventures (US,2002)****

It's clear with guitarists like Ben Kunin, that the first generation of interesting guitarists is not the last. Where groundbreaking guitarists needed to delve and dig a bit harder, starting from more rough material and sounds to break their way through, the new generation has the advantage of their historical predecessor's views, with guitar heroes that work now like fathers, for their new guitar sons. These sons start from a much more comfortable situation. It gives them time for a refinement in style. No steel-string melodic exploration, but a tasteful nylon string, for pastoral, meditative and naturally sounding creations, like the clearest blend of all, water. Ben Kunin learned sarod at the famous Ali Akbar Khan school. His guitar technique has this perfectly integrated style derived from Indian raga and western improvisations scales, presenting nature's landscapes, with more clear and structured forms than in just an impressionistic way. We hear a western kind of raga guitar expressed as like an impression from a train, watching wide colourful farmland and natural landscapes passing by. Endless, but never really abstract. Only "Julie" has something of a song, in fingerpicking style.

Audiofile : "Brindavan", "Pastoral Suite Pt. 1", "Meditation Of The Heart", "The Crossing"

Label's entry (with more sound fragments) : www.midheaven.com/bin/search.cgi/datedartist=ben%20kunin

Review : http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/219 & http://www.sfweekly.com/...

See also review at www.aquariusrecords.com (use search engine there)

Newer release of Ben Kunin is reviewed on http://psychevanhetfolk.homestead.com/east.html#anchor_92

New Albion Rec. Gyan Riley : Food for the bearded (US,2002)****'

After having heard a small soundfile on the Cuneiform Records webpage about the 156 Strings compilation (which I ordered just a day before) I immediately recognized a huge talent, and looked for the homepage of the artist. After checking it out I did not need much time to decide to order his release. But even then I was still surprised by a freshness in individual interpretation and by his subtle fusing style based upon classical (contemporary) guitar music. It was not until after I heard a couple of tracks, that I looked closer to the booklet and details of the homepage that I realized Gyan was the son of Terry Riley, founder of the minimal music genre, a contemporary composer supposed to be heavily influenced by Indian music in developing his own style. I don't know Terry Riley so much except for some 70's improvisations and his overmentioned "in C", but it is clear Gyan had his own very independent evolution. After interest in some pop and rock examples classical guitar actually became a somewhat unexpected emphasis through winning a music contest.

I've rarely heard such perfect, unpretentious, correct and modest and spontaneous playing of the classical guitar, with such a fresh individual interpretation. What happens here, only another guitarist can describe better, so I won't try. I can only say the maturity and clarity of the playing is amazing. Although this is only Gyan's first album, and it's clear he will have a lot more in his pocket, I'm sure this will become a classic.

I wondered what would come out of his future music if he would work with equally gifted musicians.

It hasn't happened much in history that such groups have had the chance to exist. Some of my favourite groups I know of with classical guitar influences came from Latin America (like from Argentine,..) and since I knew Gyan is very open to lots of genres I wanted to ask Gyan what he thought of some recordings. He responded to me that he actually has a guitar ensemble that will have a release out soon. For this release two additional musicians, which appear on one track only, were not exactly meant as a bringing together of equally inspired musicians for attempting new challenges, but for the contributive aspects. The additions on "Yubalatation" are with some simple but moody improvisation violin by Tracey Silverman, with sparse percussion by David Doll, not uplifting the level of Gyan, but respecting its gentleness. For the last two tracks Gyan's father participated. On "Drift" he plays piano, gentle and accurate. Obviously they seem to have played together before, and both musicians open their tunes for each other, very minimal and relaxed in expression. On "Balama" Terry sings, in a somewhat Indian way ; this reminds me very much of (the meditative) Stephan Micus, as sung by an older voice.

Other Soundfiles : "Piedad", "Quasitremelodo","Sinspiration"

The New Music Label's entry : http://newalbion.com/NA119/

label's contact : ergo@newalbion.com

Info : http://www.gyanriley.com/bio.html & http://www.rfpresents.com/html/classic/bio/gyanbio.html

Other review : http://www.guitarramagazine.com/reviews/riley.asp

Home Made Music Eric Wallack : Grendel (improvised solo guitar) (US,2002)***°'

I remember Eric Wallack for his experimental improvisations with Greg Segal (see small review at the soft progressive experimental guitarists review page) and became very curious as to his other works. I was suspicious to read "recorded intentionally on failing audio equipment! This compact disc will reveal substantial flaws in the original master tape!" with in the booklet "intentionally recorded in mono on an ailing reel-to-reel tape machine", with a bit more information on the recording : "Grendel" was recorded in one take and is presented here in real time. No editing or splicing has occurred. Track numbers have been added for convenience." All dangerous territory. It needs talent to convince in a 45 minutes improvisation. Every thought counts. Every failure, a disaster. First part surprisingly succeeds the test very well. On the second part Eric wants to get more out of his guitar and box, starting off with exorcising like playing, that I at first believe would have sounded better in stereo and with some edited echoes. It's free music and expresses the battle with the mythical beast called Grendel explained as "I freely improvised this music on "Grendel", my late 40's Silverstone acoustic guitar, so-called due to its monstrous implications. Like the mythical beast that bears its namesake, Grendel is big, ugly and dangerous-to play as it is to battle with it. ...This project is about seeing opportunities within disadvantages... This recording is my attempt to document my relationship with Grendle in a single, multi-movement free-improvisation". Grendle is a living creature and Eric gets control over it. "I'm ripping it's arm off" he says. Not really, but the winner at the end is Eric, controlling him eventually. The odd sounds transform one by one, in all with a certain ease, to part three. A part that would have been nice in a different way too, with the best equipment, but the essences are still there, thrown back to a mathematical abstract degree or level in describing new sounds of a mood (made on the edge of usual or more recognizable or expected sounds in a guitar).*(partly it reminded me of the Jean-Paul Bourelly track on "156 strings"). This new area gets even more variation and forms by increasing the speed in fingerpicking, in a scratching and itching way. In the next part, he (even) gets a bluesy rhythm, without taking refuge in any repeated form. It is instead very varied in its play. The guitar at the end growls or grimaces a last time when the control over it becomes complete, and as derived from the guitar viewpoint- as a creature, as from a genius being a superconscious entity.

Eric Wallack has succeeded with this release in creating a document of a performance that goes even beyond what he describes in the booklet ideas.

Distribution : http://www.homemademusic.com/artists/ericwallack/ with reviews :

http://www.homemademusic.com/shop/656.html & http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue22/ericwal2.html

Contact : ewallack@owens.edu

Interview : http://wormfood1.tripod.com/thetapedcrusaders/id18.html

Lonely Whistle Vermis (Eric Wallack) (US,2002)***'

Music for the littlest creatures. Music for worms, crickets, leaf cutters, fireflies, ..or trippy trailer tracks about them. I especially like these tiny wonders in the tiniest outcorners of the guitar, with the sliding through melodic parts, like on "Cricket". There's a similar guitar sliding with a thumb piano like droning rhythm, with a meccano like cello, on "Aphid". "Centipede" is a fine American styled fingerpicking guitar track. The combination of slide guitar, fingerpicking and distant distorted noises sounds like a movie for insects, organic with a "human" form, or let's say creature / that watches it all, on "Firefly". Also "Cicada" is American styled fingerpicking track, almost banjo-like. Also "Woolly Bear" combines fingerpicking and slide guitar again. Except for a couple of strange tracks that I cannot place immediately, this release sounds like a novel in music, and could be "the book of insects" for various reasons. There are many favourite tracks. First of all

I prefer to see this project being visualized. The worms on the cover might have more layers of significance. These work as the finger of Adam trying to touch the finger of God of Michelangelo, here as the worm of a musical direction pointing forwards to reach a different angle of similar inspirations. Eric Wallack has the talent to create islands of inspirations that can be easily be visualized. I wonder what would happen if he worked with other musicians that were able to create that too.

Reviews : http://www.homemademusic.com/shop/488.html

Contact : ewallack@owens.edu

Locust Music Various artists : Wooden Guitar (var,2003)***°'

Another release that proves that there is another generation exploring guitarists in a follow up of what happened with, for instance, the Takoma releases. Jack Rose (from the group Pelt) recorded a splendid spinning wheel finger picking track to lick your fingers on, "Red Horse II", -based upon an earlier composed track-. This creates a feeling of American Highlands-goes-back-to-the-native-origins, reaching hands with their old acquaintances. German guitar specialist Steffen Basho-Junghans who knows the guitar as his interwoven third hand, recorded two tracks for this album. "A North Thuringian Raga" fits nicely with the track from Jack Rose. It is more gentle, in a settled down but still present passion, describing areas for a more easy integration with nature and the environment- almost as a small documentary with every detail translated into music-. In a fingerpicking raga style. The Japanese guitar improviser Tetuzi Akiyama recorded a track, called "Time Between", that sounds like a slowed down medieval melody, minimilized to echoing chords, made by an odd use of string picking, stretching and waning. Mathematically it repeats time intervals and evolves somewhat in between the playing. If we would have heard the echoes only, this would have been an semi-acoustic ambient piece. The playing itself is harsher. "Time Between" is a surreal world, as a mechanical environment that crawls, moves, but remains stable in space but at the same time, pulsing. Hidden in a clock unknown and unexpected sounds from a mechanistic repetition is freighting, but hearing it repeated the surrealness of it becomes a new expression, another aspect of describing. In almost 21 minutes it is rather long to make only this point, but it is able to convince, in at least that particular aspect. On the second track by Steffen Basho Junghans, "Smiling Penguins" his guitar sounds like a modernised thumbpiano. Interwoven here and there are more recognizable guitar finger pickings. It is a small track that creates a new world, exotic, with musical maturity. The label owner clearly is one of the fans of the Sun City Girls, an underground avant garde group, and released various albums. One of the reasons to include a contribution from Sir Richard Bishop. (PS. I especially liked Richard Bishop's cooperation with Cerberous Shoal which I reviewed at the mindexpanding acoustic music review page). "Corpuscule" has (or starts with) a more modest playing than the other guitarists. It is interesting from a different angle. It sounds like a personal late night improvisation in an undisturbed room, maybe shared with friends. A moment where everybody goes silent, maybe some of them are slightly stoned, and the moment is fully enjoyed. Something like that. With some arabesque elements. For this release only 1000 were printed.

Info : http://www.locustmusic.com/woodenguitar.html E-mail : info@locustmusic.com

Other reviews : http://www.fakejazz.com/reviews/2003/woodenguitar.shtml

More info on Steffen Basho Junghans at my seperate page about Steffen Basho-Junghans

Jack Rose solo albums are reviewed at page 3 for new guitarists

Sir Richard Bishop afterwards released a solo CD on the label too. Review on page 4.

demo Currituck Co : Ghost man on First (US,2003?)****

This release contains more interesting guitar playing, with references to great artists like Fred Neil and Bert Jansch, than in other releases by Currituck Co. (see also the reviews of other releases at the poor minstrels review page, & the acid folk review page). "A Raga called Nina" is more Indian flavoured raga guitar, "Requiem for John Fahey" with a skilfully fitting reference, and a nicely evolving melody in a Fahey like raga-like improvisation. "Raga called Pat Cohn" has a more repetitive and meditative droning pattern, with harmonium and voice instrument in a acoustic psych way. "Dedication : Fred Neil" has a combination of guitar styles from various early artists (Drake, Jansch, Neil,..), and is seemingly an improvisation with an evolving melody on a repetitive pattern. "Silly Woman" from Bert Jansch has received an original eastern flavour through the guitar style, singing, and perhaps an eastern instrument ?. "Bumbling through the Tropics" is a creative descriptive or narrative melody with fingerpicking guitar. After all these similar or fitting moods a strange change happens with "March of the people who do not know you", a track with very distorted effects on the sounds of electric guitars in a heavy underground Hilliebilly Psych Rock style. A track that possibly deliberately is meant to disturb people who live by expectations. In an odd way it's still musically interesting throughout all the disturbing noise it creates and the simple recognizable facts that remain. From the moment it would really annoy me it abruptly stops and continues with a bluegrass ? banjo traditional. These two tracks awake the listener. At the moment I wonder if it wouldn't have been better without them it's all over, a memory of earlier subtleness has somewhat disappeared. This makes this release more clear as being from an artist that prefers no description, boundaries, limitations. Instead it collects habitless musical ideas, a bit more instinctively and spontaneously than labelled guitarists, but with seemingly commonly interesting results.

PS. The album was released shortly after the review by Lexicon Devil.

Another update : I saw that the Lexicon CD is sold out now, but it has been reissued with a different cover by Track & Field.

Later I found out there's also a follow-up, the Ghostman on Second (2 volumes ?) published by Troubleman Unlimited (cover here).. No clue how these sounds like..

Audio : http://www.juno.co.uk/products/234104-01.htm

Info : http://home.earthlink.net/~kb8000/

& http://www.andrewbannon.net/currituckcounty/press.html

First official release (done after the review only) : http://www.myspace.com/lexdevrecords & http://lexicondevilrecords.blogspot.com/2005/07/lexdev010.html

Other reviews : http://www.tonevendor.com/item/10577 & http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/currituck.co.html & http://www.midheaven.com/artists/currituck.co.html & http://www.tonevendor.com/item/10577

& http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/currituck-co/ghost-man-on-first.shtml & http://gravitygirl.shafted.com.au/0504/008.html

& http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1836638,00.html

& http://arts.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329544964-117421,00.html

& http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Ghostman_On_First_Currituck_Co__6579405