William Ryan Fritch – Cohesion

William Ryan Fritch’s lastest disc is the, “second in a three-part series reflecting on the many calamitous water crises affecting life on this planet.”  Cohesion is a bit darker than the previous album, Polarity, but there is a more organic feel to it.

From Fritch’s Bandcamp site:

“In contrast to ‘Polarity,’ which was largely created by synthesized and electronic signals being transformed into acoustic phenomena. ‘Cohesion’ was constructed solely from acoustic instruments (baritone and alto saxophones, oboe, contrabass clarinet, bassoon, tuba, etc) mic’d and processed live to behave and sound like synthesized and/or sequenced sound sources. Using multiple contact mics, filters and overdrive circuits, even faint breaths and valve clicks are given a weight and presence that can anchor massive, heaving rhythms. The rattling irregularities of each horn are accentuated and fore-fronted in ways that make them behave like wholly new and grisly things.”

 

Jeff Gburek – The Art of Prepared Guitar Volume One

Jeff Gburek’s recent instrumental guitar album is a a wonderfully disjointed trip around his sonic weapon of choice.  It’s a truly wild work, but Jeff weaves his vast musical influences together with hints of a broken kind of blues, free jazz, improvisational skronk and psychedelic rock.

In Jeff’s words, which you can read in full at Ramble Records Bandcamp site:

In attempting to move into the future of the guitar or the post-guitar (as in the case of Kevin Drumm or Annette Krebs where the guitar became deconstructed and/or displaced into other electro-acoustic processes, if you will), I also discovered aspects of earlier ethnic music, blues and tonalities that hinted at other mysteries of acoustic resonance ecologies, bugs and ghosts in the machinations.”

As is the case with George Christian and Santiago Fradejas, I find few guitarists who play so well, both within and outside the rules of their instrument that it feels like an extension of their hands.  A masterful work.

Rest Day

Today is a rest day as I’ve not had a day’s break since returning to Beijing. Back to posting tomorrow.

Golden Age Of Music

Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution – Golden Age of Music

Arjen Lucassen is peerless in the Dutch progressive rock scene. His latest album is yet another conceptual opus with not only the sound that made his ban Ayreon legendary, but you can hear influences of peak-era Deep Purple as well.

Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us

A big and hearty thanks goes out to my dear friend and brother in music, Hubert, for turning me on to this album.  Brìghde Chaimbeul plays smallpipes, a wonderful instrument criminally neglected in comparison to its more famous cousin, the Highland pipes.  These smallpipes have a more ethereal sound to them, and in the hands of a master piper like Brìghde, they sound as elegant as any orchestral instrument.

[Article] Omega — “Utazás A Szürke Folyón”/”Journey on the Grey River: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 20, 2023

As I will be busy on Sundays for the forseeable future, I will be posting articles on other blogs, or podcasts I find on Youtube, for your entertainment.  Today’s installation comes from the blog Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations, a great read for those of you who like weird psych music.  Today’s installment covers Omega, Hungary’s greatest progressive rock band.  You can read the article here.