It is with great pleasure that I get to introduce you to a young guitarist called Ezra Sturm. His guitar work has an air of modern primitivism to it, meandering gently with the accompaniment of fellow guitarist (and, coincidentally, his dad and friend of the blog) Ernesto Diaz-Infante. The apple did not fall far from the tree, and with time, he will be wandering along his own path soon enough.
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Li Xing is a Shanghai-based psychedelic noise-rock guitarist who produces a sludgy, powerful album which is reminiscent of Keiji Haino’s mid-period guitar noise era.
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The indubitable Far Out Records have produced what might be my favorite record of 2023, a guitar album by Brazilian guitarist and fellow Los Angeleno Fabiano do Nascimiento. I’ll let the label’s crack promo team describe this absolute beauty of a record below: “Adopting Hermeto Pascoal’s concept of Universal Music, a rejection of nationalistic tendencies in order to express all of one’s musical influences all at once, Fabiano avoided leaning too heavily on any particular musical language, without denying his own musical roots. After studying classical piano as a child, the Rio de Janeiro native discovered the guitar aged 10.…
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Had I not known the previous (impressive) works of both Jeff Gburek and A.J. Kaufmann, I would have happily believed that this was a lost psychedelic music gem long forgotten about in a basement studio recorded during Soviet times. While the tones are dulcet, you never really get a chance to get into a groove. The music shapes and shifts, making you ever aware of its presence and demanding that you pay attention (particularly hard to do as I’m grading papers at the moment). The introduction to the album at Ramble Records’ Bandcamp site is one of the most elegant…
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Cousin Silas and his merry band of collaborators continue to impress with massive compilations of ambient music. He, and all bands associated with him, are worth a deep listen.
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Today is an auspicious occasion as this post will mark 1,000 consecutive days of posting music for my readers and friends. It’s most appropriate that number 1,000 would be someone who has appeared quite a few times on the blog, but Jeff Gburek offers an album that is as (primitive) bluesy as I’ve heard in some time. The playing is mournful in parts, but it wraps your ears up and demands your attention. Most importantly, I think this is the first time I’ve heard Jeff sing. His voice sits perfectly in the point where blues, psych and acid folk all…
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‘Beautifully lo-fi’ is perhaps the best way I can describe Jeff Gburek’s latest release on Muteant Records, a company you will be hearing plenty about on this blog.. The tracks have the rawness of the early Dunedin sound (think Roy Montgomery, Alastair Galbraith and labels like XPressway and Flying Nun Records. It’s still grounded in Jeff’s trademark guitar work, but with some elements that feel like they would be home on an ethnographic record of some culture in a hidden-away island in the Indonesian archipelago. Don’t ask why, just listen, especially to Undead 8. You can see more of Jeff’s…
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Another dear friend of the blog, Samo Salamon from Slovenia, brings along a few friends for a well-done, gorgeously recorded improvisational album. Joining Salamon on this disc are Emanuele Parrini on violin and Vasco Trilla on drums and percussion. From Samo’s Bandcamp site: “A great improvising trio session of three fantastic improvisers from three different European countries. Samo Salamon (Slovenia) has this time played exclusively acoustic guitars – 6 and 12-string string. Especially the 12-string guitar is a hugely underrated instrument in the improvising context. Naturally, names such as Ralph Towner or Marc Ducret come to mind, but still Salamon…
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We have a cause to celebrate here at the MYNTH office, as our friend, the erstwhile Bay Area guitarist Ernesto Diaz-Infante has released a new album on a label you will be hearing more about on this website. Ramble Records, an Australian label, is releasing some high quality guitar music, and has previously featured the American-Polish guitarist Jeff Gburek’s work. Ernesto’s album is more a drone-laden psychedelic trip of an album. There are lo-fi elements to it, a fair amount of minimal strumming, and the music simply sets brilliantly when heard through a decent set of headphones. No surprise from…
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Longtime friend of the blog Hector Javier Ayala collaborates with saxophonist Christophe Rieger to produce a slow, languid jazz album which has reference points in spaghetti western soundtracks and bossa nova, as well a touch of music from Mexico.