ILX Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday (new post-Fahey folk for ppl posting in Takoma/Tompkins Square threads Pt II)

Lots of new releases lately but other thread getting big and unwieldy and a resource hog. So! New thread for weird Fahey-esque instrumental folk guitar.

What did we have so far this year? Highlights for me:

William Tyler- Lost Colony (the kraut-country thing gets me going)
Steve Gunn- Way Out Weather
Nathan Bowles- Nansemond
Chris Forsyth- Intensity Ghost (think overall I liked Solar Motel better but I'm glad this one seems to be taking off)
Tashi Dorji- S/T

Seems like a lot of these folks made it into the limelight this year! And new Six Organs looks to be a monster.

Can we keep the Youtube embedding to a minimum in this incarnation? You can prevent them from embedding by having "https:" as opposed to just "http:" in the URL

thank you! I'll post a link on the old one unless someone does it first

am I correct that the Tashi Dorji S/T is older stuff compiled? really liked the new EP on Bandcamp page.

re: Richard Dawson, was gonna say that I hear a lot of Bill Orcutt's influence/style in his playing, anybody else? (sorry if this was noted previously)

― some kind of terrible IDM with guitars (sleeve), Saturday, December 13, 2014 11:41 AM

also ppl were talking about richard dawson, don't want to derail!

lol no worries there

doing some EOY catchup and I am not feeling this Steve Gunn at all, threadban me if you must

liked the Solar Motel (2 tracks on Spotify), really liked the new Tashi Dorji EP.

am I correct that the Tashi Dorji S/T is older stuff compiled?
yeah, pulled from several years' worth of cassette iirc. kind of a "greatest hits," i guess. he really is great, seems to get better every time i play his stuff.

sleeve - yeah a ton of orcutt & not to be super cynical but he seems to be getting a lot of praise from ppl I don't get the sense really know Orcutt

But i do like him

I just think it's a little like how when I finally heard gang of four reissues after growing up a fugazi fan

Oh hey folks.

Sleeve, that Gunn record definitely is a very specific kind of cool to me, I get why it wouldn't appeal to you. It is mostly very low-key and its charms can be extremely subtle, but I have personally found it to be deep and varied enough that I return to it pretty frequently. Maybe it'll grow on you, but it is definitely a song-based record that doesn't try to push the musicality as far as a lot of records touched on in this thread (and many of Gunn's other records do).

yeah i was actually wondering recently what I would think of gunn's latest if it was the first record of his I had heard. the context of his gradual development into a more straight-ahead singer-songwriter adds some flavor I think (if that makes sense). love the latest but at the same time, i hope he hasn't left behind his more avant leanings -- those gunn-truscinski records are still my faves out of everything he's done.

hey i have a question -- how do you pronounce cian of the name cian nugent?

rather how does one pronounce cian accurately

i thought it was like cyan but then realized it could be sean or shee-an or idk what and i would like to know

Kee An

i thought it was just pronounced "sean" for years though.

Like Ian preceded with a /k/ ?
Good to know! I have been meaning to ask this question for months.

yes, exactly!

haha apparently lots of blog posters and show hosters feel the need to lay this to rest too:
http://i61.tinypic.com/vgmyht.png

The Gunn/Mike Cooper and Gunn/Gangloff records both came out this year I think, and both contain a good range of playing outside of his "Way Out Weather" mode. It will be interesting to see what side of the divide the upcoming Gunn/Black Twig Pickers record will ride, but my guess is I will dig it. Hope some of it revisits this territory though:

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Black_Twig_Pickers_and_Steve_Gunn/NATCH_1/Salted_Caramel

Global mentioned notable records from this year, and I wanna bring up Bachman's "Orange Co. Serenade". Really enjoyed it & definitely revisit it pretty frequently. Feel like he is growing and really may be just hitting his stride now, though who knows. New record on Three Lobed apparently out in April or May. Saw him Saturday night and the new songs were great, no reason not to believe that this next record will be anything other than really good.

dammit I forgot about that in my EOY listening binge this weekend, will check it out!

fwiw my introduction to Gunn was his side of the "Not The Spaces You Know..." comp, which I loved

oh yeah, shouldn't have forgotten the Daniel Bachman one! I think I've come around on that one, seems like the most cohesive release he's done so far.

Also Charlie Parr doesn't usually fit in this thread but he did a release this year that definitely does. It's called Hollandale- some really nicely recorded exploratory fingerpicked instrumentals. All on a National resonator, which sounds awesome/immense at times. Some cool sounds and textures added... anyway, may have been overlooked in this thread... It's on Spotify

Has this been shared yet? HD video of Tashi playing on WFMU, last September.

vimeo.com/wfmu/review/106853495/6f23ec5808

gamelan for guitar

awesome

Whatever he's got there on the neck is partially under certain strings and on top of others. He accidentally bumps into it at one point and it seems very loose. I thought it was a capo at first. Such crazy sounds coming out of that guitar.

Watching the video as I'm commenting, probably not the best idea. Still don't know what that is, even with the close ups.

I thought it was a hairclip, it loops round the top string.

Think Ogmor is right, looks like a large barrette, the cheap kind you can get at CVS etc.

coupla good tashi things over on the FMA: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tashi_Dorji/

for the record here are my fave ilx-brigade kinda things of 2014. the usuals!

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band - Intensity Ghost
Nathan Bowles - Nansemond
Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather
Daniel Bachman - Orange Co. Serenade
William Tyler - Lost Colony
Tashi Dorji - s/t
Don Bikoff - Hallowed Ground
Mike & Cara Gangloff - Black Ribbon of Death, Silver Thread of Life
Alvarius B. / Sir Richard Bishop - If You Don’t Like It … Don’t!
Bill Orcutt - VDSQ
Sir Richard Bishop - VDSQ
Anthony Pasquarosa - VDSQ
Robbie Basho - Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 12 & 6
Smoke Dawson - Fiddle

more singer-songwriter-y things, but joan shelley (feat. nathan salsburg on some tracks) and ryley walker LPs are recommended too!

shit i forgot about bikoff

also you might say me and global are slightly excited about playing this show

http://first-avenue.com/event/2015/01/americanprimitive

nice!
yeah, if you ignore the bikoff cover art, it's a really nice record.

that amy in quebec track is so close to wine&roses/red pony/approaching of the disco void its almost a cover

was watching some fahey live on youtube last night...here's an 81 gig, with apparently Michael Hedges opening (sorry folks no records available didn't get pressed in time)...Fahey is being really smarmy in his banter, the set itself verges from awkward to hypnotic, found his flopping down combover hair kind of distracting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP08Y3DsJvs

this is a 2000 set, he does a lot of dicking around/joking around at the beginning, but about the 7:40 mark on he gets going and it's actually pretty cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5jXrutGt2U

We going the "https:..." route to skip embeds? Not that I don't love opening this thread to shots of Fahey at his weirdest ....

oops sorry

A leaner/meaner thread for 2015 I guess. I'll miss the Fahey gut though.

Transmissions Fest footage is new to me, awesome. I wish more people openly talked about his later work without full on the talk of "well, I don't know about this, but look at what he used to do." The only thing that I can't fully grasp is the Hitomi material, some of it is played in that Transmissions Fest video. Kinda feel like it goes down easier when you get to watch him play like that, on record is another thing. There is another noodley electric gig on youtube that actually does have a lot of syncopation; and getting to hear old styles on an electric is pretty nice. There aren't many artists that went so far in the other direction, let alone an instance where you get to watch past material with a new technique. Defiantly would rather have had Fahey do all that then not. I dig The Mill Pond lots. It's not too different than some of the stuff that is out there today. Womblife gets so zonked in parts you can't help but grin.

Loving this Glenn Jones tune, "The Teething Necklace (For John Fahey)"
xxx.youtube.com/watch?v=6qd7pWITPQQ

Couple things I put together,

John Fahey's Adelphi Sessions, the Dance of Death outtakes. Uploaded as MP3's, posted on my blog:
http://broadcastsfrompoorfarm.tumblr.com/post/105403178308/john-fahey-adelphi-sessions-the-dance-of-death

Scanned my copy of the mail order catalog from Fonotone Records, interesting curio. Includes the numerous early Fahey comps Joe Bussard curated for Fonotone.
http://broadcastsfrompoorfarm.tumblr.com/post/105401770173/fonotone-records-mail-order-catalog-pdf-booklet

I finally put together some new lapstyle material and wanted to share it here. "Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur" sits as is, in a sorta demo state. I didn't want to forget all the new ideas I've been having, yet also told myself I wouldn't record again until I bought a nice microphone. Of course, I got impatient, so here we are. Before they find a home somewhere, I do want to properly record them.
http://raglore.com/album/blue-for-al-watawit-of-yashkur

Link for the MP3's are posted here,
http://broadcastsfrompoorfarm.tumblr.com/post/105403934713/rag-lore-blue-for-al-watawit-of

Look forward to checking this stuff out

Cool, thanks Neal! Actually already listened to your "Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur" tracks (Mr. Avant Ghetto threw them up on twitter yesterday), really enjoyed them. First track sucked me right in, so yeah make a recording you are happy with and I am on board!

neal - or others - what microphones/mic pres do you guys use? this coming year i need to get serious about recording an album

like your new stuff neal

the only Tashi Dorji song on Spotify is a cool little curio, electronic remix featuring his guitar of a song by some psychey dude name Al Lover

http://open.spotify.com/track/2HxzI5VuTvgdbTGolZ7x7G

Thanks dudes, I have always just been using a portable digital Tascam recorder from B&H Photo that I bought a while back. It fits in your pocket so I've used it while out and walking around, but it's not a good choice for recording guitar at this point, I loved it at first bc of how much of an improvement it was over using the internal MacBook mic. I sold my two amps (+all other musical electronics) years ago during collage, which I regret now. As I would like to record traditionally with a mic and amp set up. Either using the sound hole or install a pick up. How about USB mics? Been talked about here before I think. Decent clarity from the models available now?

I think the solution is to just meet someone in town with a set up :) - that way I can avoid all of this.

I've posted things upthread recorded with the Blue Yeti (120 new but you can def find a ton of these used on ebay, got mine for 80 on craigslist)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=857749&gclid=Cj0KEQiA8MSkBRCP5LaRlcOAusMBEiQAiqldkgFeoLzZuCr_Hg1GQ03TBk1qSggFdqEqo5fQpNn1jLgaAgF98P8HAQ&is=REG&Q=&A=details

you can hear the stuff i've done, which is minimally processed, a bit EQd and maybe compressed slighty with some audicity plugin reverb on it, but overall I'd say USB mics have come a long way

of course, I'm just plotting about how I want to get a USB DAC/Mic pre unit and a better XLR mic so I suppose one is always unsatisfied.

gonna check out yr new thing neal! i've dug the rag lore things i've heard so far.
just got hipped to this thing via soft abuse's twitter -- maybe it was mentioned on the old thread? https://moonbros.bandcamp.com/album/frijolillo - kind of low-key/dreamy/fieldrecording-y/acoustic action. i like it!

Neal there is also a USB model of the Blue Spark which is supposed to be great on acoustics

Nice yeah, I remember reading a while back about you UMS using the Blue Yeti for your material. If you search a phrase like 'USB mic acoustic guitar' on youtube the Blue Yeti seems to comes up the most, also something called the Snowball. Though, I think based on the sound samples the Yeti comes out on top. I'll look into that Blue Spark too.

No other time than now to get a project down. Should defiantly put together something. Stick it on a tape and send it to people, flinging around links is nerve racking sometimes though.

I used to work at the main public library of Virginia and was hired at the perfect moment where they were getting rid of all the old analog stereo equipment and vinyl records. It was a dream to hoard of that kind of stuff. I got a working reel to reel, but haven't yet grabbed any tape to use it. Would love to have it up and running.

Reel to reel would sound great

Grandavis did you end up heading to the hometown Daniel Bachman gig in Fredericksburg? A full video of it was posted a few days ago - includes some of the new material that should be coming up on the Three Lobed Record.

vimeo.com/114599709

Nah, I had to skip it as it was early in the day and I had too much to do. Watched the video already though! Wanna reiterate that I really like the new tunes that'll be on the next record. Bachman is chugging along into some sweet territory. The lap stuff is a real joy live too.

listening to that new Bachman right now, loving it, getting some sweet "Paris, Texas" vibes off of "Coming Home"

btw global is gonna be opening for bachman in mpls in the new year!

Very good shows happening in mpls these days, would love to catch that Metzger one (w/ Global and UMS) as well. Have fun with that.

Pretty nice playlist here from John Mulvey (his Uncut series). Lots of stuff hit up in this thread, but throwing more kudos towards Neal's Rag Lore "Blue For al-Watawit of Yashkur" tracks. Cool to see folks from here getting out there and bringing it. Hope you get that record made this year UMS!

my goal is to upgrade to a small basement studio, been scoping out gear and i think i get get a good setup going for less than $500

so easy to get obsessed w/researching gear/recording stuff but you also gotta remember that you won't ever make anything 1/2 as a good as a blind blake record that was recorded at less fidelity than the microphone on your iphone

i use my phone to record and i think it sounds pretty good!

for a basement recording with a device not built intentionally to record music

i am usually amazed by how good those iphone recordings come out. i mean, obviously not pro quality or anything... but good!

fwiw I once again voice my preference for separate threads for making this music / listening to this music. I'd frequent both, but these threads get p unwieldy as it is without microphone reviews and stuff.

merry christmas guys

"hello there, uh John Fahey here.."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJQystmyl8

I thought "https" was supposed to block video embeds?

Oh well :/ still wishing well to everyone here anyway!

Alright, ventured into test threads.

Both "http" and "https" will embed viewable youtubes for me in Safari and Chrome.
If I use "www" as well as no URL prefix at all, the video won't embed.

Though, if I head back to the old thread, "https" links are still the way they were: not embedded.
That's all I've got, maybe this isn't the case for everyone else, but I'll leave out all http(s) going forward.

Always nice to spin the New Possibility during Xmas

this track here sounding awesome. wish records from these folks weren't so expensive to get shipped to the states... they're all so great!!

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2013/12/10/black-dirt-oak-wayawanda-patent/

http://www.thefader.com/2014/05/01/another-country-folk-newcomer-myriam-gendron-sings-the-heartbroken-poetry-of-dorothy-parker

hey my wife came across this LP bc she's a massive dorothy parker fan and we mail-ordered it, it's music set to lyrics taken from parker's poetry. i think it would appeal to a lot of you guys.

heh, i just sold that to somebody. i liked it, but found i wasn't returning to it very often.

was listening to "the new possibility" last night and realized i don't really like it all that much. it seems very staid and unexciting compared to other fahey albums of the era. not the same heady mix of influences except in a few isolated passages. how to fahey fans rate those xmas albums anyway?

i think it sounds like a good idea on paper but it's a bit flat overall. especially as he kept on doing more and more of them. i think definitely an attempt to get some crossover money from the windham hill/leo kottke 'hot tub music' crowd.

don't really need to listen to it when i've got the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack

the crossover money must have worked for him, pretty sure every single fahey section in used record stores around town is stocked with multiple copies of those. i'm always hopeful when i start to rifle through and then i see a dozen xmas lps and one battered to shit copy of 'after the ball'...

The second Fahey christmas album is way better than the first because it sounds less like a christmas album and more like a proper Fahey album.

yeah, i do like that one better... ironically (?) that one is harder to find, i think it's OOP.

Speaking as a fan of Fahey and a fan of Christmas music, I don't listen to them much either - they sound too dry, austere to bring me much joy.

i th ink of them as being more conventionally pretty but less engaging than other fahey albums.

it's also sort of jarring to hear a lot of fahey's 'tricks' and picking techniques applied to something so straightforward as a christmas song you've heard a million times

"christ's saints of god fantasy" is a legit great piece, I like the slightly ridiculous russian christmas overture on the second album a lot too. all the best fahey duets are on old fashioned love imo but the ruskin ones aren't bad. I like some of the standards esp silent night on slide guitar, that's so gorgeous. the last piece on the second album is a bizarre mix of fahey in brooding bola sete mode and festive cheer that's my kind of christmas tune

^Agreed about "Christ's Saints of God Fantasy". From what I can recall, there were more than a couple moments that I do dig on the New Possibility. Maybe it's that all those moments came from this tune + "Silent Night".

The New Possibility (1968)
Christmas With John Fahey Volume II (1975)
Christmas Guitar - Volume One (1982)
Popular Songs of Christmas & New Years - with Terry Robb (1983)

I've always confusingly stared at inclusion of "Volume One" on the 1980 release, maybe it's because Varrick envisioned an entire series of "Christmas Guitar" on their label? Come to think of it, I've never listened to the 1983 release with Terry Robb. Not exactly a Christmas album, but "Yes, Jesus Loves Me - Guitar Hymns" (1980), could be included in this vein as well, and I'd say it's a pretty good one. Fahey is probably the only Christian music I've loved this much, hah! Imagine if his only recorded output was the Christmas albums and albums of hymns. What would our contemporary look like?

**I've always confusingly stared at inclusion of "Volume One" on the 1982 release

IIRC the playing can get a little sloppy (or "goopy" IMO) on yes, jesus loves me, but it's still somehow one of the better fahey albums, just because he draws a lot of inspiration from those old hymns.

i wonder why the 2nd christmas LP hasn't been properly reissued/remastered.

I was taking a look at discogs for that post and noticed Takoma & Rhino combined both Christmas volume 1 and 2 for a CD and cassette reissue in 1993. Then in 2012 Burnside Records cropped melodies and combined material from what looks like all the Christmas albums for a compilation generically titled "The John Fahey Christmas Album"... and in the process used a variation on the "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" album art for the cover of their comp. Man, if his catalog isn't one confusing thing after another.

Another bit of odd info is that Fahey used one of Ragtime Ralph's (credited as Ralph Johnston) compositions on the "Christmas Guitar - Volume One" album. I've always been bummed that Ralph's work still remain's officially unreleased at this point in time. Thankfully he used the resources of the internet though and has shared all his stuff with us that way. He says he's got a new album "Delta Slider Blues" ready for next year on his self-release label Empty Square.

I guess I'll be the one to stump for the New Possibility, where I can understand why people don't like it as a great Fahey record, and it is very autere and fairly unadventerous for him but I guess I sort of grew up going to a Lutheran church so I kind of find some kind of odd power in those fusty white key hymnal melodies and I think something in them resonates w.Fahey as well, whether it was greed driven or not it certainly wouldn't be the first or last time someone created art while trying to make a buck

but yeah it's very stately and sort of mournful to me, which i guess could be gloopy or overly staid to another's ears but something about it resonates w/me

it's definitely one of the most "uncool" Fahey records, maybe aside from the corny parts of Old Fashioned Love (which I kinda like too actually)

but yeah xmas hymns sort of resonate in some way back part of my mind being a little kid and going to "candlelight" xmas eve services w/my grandma or mom, where they turn the lights down and everyone gets to hold a candle which seemed really eerie to me in a way that stuff can only seem when you are very little

but yeah xmas hymns sort of resonate in some way back part of my mind being a little kid and going to "candlelight" xmas eve services w/my grandma or mom, where they turn the lights down and everyone gets to hold a candle which seemed really eerie to me in a way that stuff can only seem when you are very little

I have the same exact resonance with tunes like "Silent Night" and childhood church experiences. Can remember some seriously extended versions (that would be primarily instrumental) that would go as long as it would take for the candle-lighting to make its way to the back of the room. I got lost in that moment for sure, both eerie and beautiful and heavy all at once. Still love that tune (as evidenced by the cover I posted last year).

I will also rep for New Possibility, my mom would play that during the holidays when I was young and I've always loved it, it is certainly a different beast though

i dig the new possibility, austere is a very good word for it though

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1846960-Ralph-Johnston

Over the past day or so I went all in and submitted all of Ralph Johnston's Ragtime Ralph/Blind Brand X projects to the Discogs database. Good lord is that a tedious process. But I wanted to make sure his solo guitar discography is noted alongside his past efforts as a member of various surf (!) and experimental bands. Then, when I visited the profile page for the surf band he founded in 1989, I came across this gem:

Vancouver’s The Surfdusters were founded in 1989 by lead guitarist Ralph Johnston and rhythm guitarist Rich Hagensen. The played their last live appearance in November 2001.
Eleven of their instrumentals, all from the ‘Save The Waves’ CD, have been featured in various episodes of SpongeBob Square Pants.

haha wow! good work too. had no idea he was into surf guitar too, glenn jones too of course, anyone else?

degrees of separation between spongebob and skip james just shrunk considerably

Sorry to break topic here, but what is the opinion on Alexander Turnquist? I just picked up Flying Fantasy. It's very orchestrated Leo Kottke-ish on acid, kind of. Does he fit in with this crowd?

I say he fits. I enjoyed Flying Fantasy but I think I liked the previous one Hallway of Mirrors more.

yeah got to see him play last year at the Old Famliar Chime fest, def fits....I like Flying Fantasy a lot, he almost verges into Steve Reich/Glass type territory but for guitar at times....like him a lot

Ryley Walker signs to Dead Oceans for new album

Title track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96qBM4LL2ps

wow that cover is vintage early 70s haha

is that a step up from tompkin's square?

heh heh gotta be going for this
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/591/MI0003591918.jpg
i like that new song a lot! totally cool sound...

Ryley seems like the most marketable of any of this stuff in a lot of ways, he seems to have quite a personality on twitter and he obviously sings as opposed to wm. tyler or bachman

yeah i don't know if dead moon is a step up from tompkins necessarily, but it might get him in front of a somewhat different audience.

Dead Oceans has much better reach / PR / visibility / money, and doesn't have a terrible reputation, so I'd say it's a good move for Ryley.

Definitely a step up visibility-wise but for some reason when artists I like sign to DO they seem to start sucking so I tend to be wary of this label now. BUT I do like this song a lot so maybe he'll be the exception to the rule.

ha does tompkins have a terrible reputation? my only issue is that they are awful at tagging their promo mp3s #firstworldproblems

i have heard some kinda sideways comments about the proprietor of certain labels that were similar in tone to jimmy's from others in the know

(but yeah i guess i like the shit they put out a lot....fwiw i've heard the nvm3r0 gr0vp dude is completely insane)

Chuck Johnson got some new stuff too

http://i.imgur.com/6gj2Gne.png

woah fred frith dudes

nice! date palms record from last year is great, too.

JAMES BLACKSHAW: Summoning Suns CD (from Forced Exposure newsletter)
IMPORTANT RECORDS (United States) / IMPREC 407CD
release date: 2/17/2015
https://soundcloud.com/jamesblackshaw/confetti

DESCRIPTION
Summoning Suns is James Blackshaw's tenth studio album and the first recording to feature his voice and lyrics. Drawing inspiration from '60s and '70s singer-songwriters, baroque and orchestral pop, and folk music, while still sounding contemporary, Summoning Suns is Blackshaw's foray into more traditional forms of songcraft. Blackshaw sings in a gentle but assured voice while his words combine his personal experiences, neuroses, and fantasies through many layers of abstraction, poeticism, and dark humor. While the deft acoustic guitar fingerpicking of Blackshaw's previous recordings is still a prominent part of the sound, the songs are lushly and intricately arranged for drums, bass, piano, violin, flute, and pedal steel guitar and feature contributions from Simon Scott (Slowdive), Annie Nilsson, and Japanese musicians Mori Wa Ikiteiru and Kaoru Noda (with whom Blackshaw duets in Japanese on one song). LP pressed in a first edition of 500 copies.

TRACKLISTING
Disc 1 (Disc 2 isn't indicated)
01.Averoign
02.Confetti
03.Failure's Flame
04.Nothing Ever After

05.Summoning Suns

06.Towa No Yume

07. Winter Flies

not new by any means but i have really really been digging that pelt album "pearls from the river"

Yeah man that Pelt album is great!

I have that but never clicked w/it, will try again

I looove Ayahuasca and Empty Bell

Definitely a fan of both of those too sleeve, but yeah give "pearls from the river" another shot. Maybe doesn't hit the weirdo highs as much as "Ayahuasca" or some other tracks, but really dig "Road To Catawba". Any folks looking to do some digging in can hear some here:

http://www.vhfrecords.com/catalog/pelt-pearls-from-the-river-cd-vhf76

yea i like those other two albums a lot, though i've always found 'pearls' more immediately accessible and engrossing than 'ayahuasca', if due to nothing else than its length tbh, 2 hours is a long record! i definitely need to listen to ayahuasca more.

i think the 2nd and 3rd tracks of 'pearls are especially spectacular - the title track just maintains such a wonderful tension in its drone with all this sadness and fear just simmering throughout, it's really great. 'road to catawba' is just so reflective and peaceful and becomes really joyful at the end, the guitar just interacting with the drone just wonderfully

Yep

those pelt records are kind of perfect music.
kind of on topic, here's the official word on the upcoming gunn/black twig pickers LP
Steve Gunn and The Black Twig Pickers are key figures in the current resurgence of American traditional and folk music. Gunn’s songwriting and inventive guitar playing are driven by his restless mind, having released 9 solo and collaborative albums and appeared as a guest on nearly as many since his debut in 2007. The Black Twig Pickers play a fervent form of traditional music from their Appalachian homeland. The group performs often forgotten traditional songs, especially from their Virginia stomping-ground, creating a living history of old time music. They also have an ongoing residency at the legendary Floyd Country Store. Their individual works have received extensive praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, the BBC, Mojo, Uncut, Maverick, Elmore, and Pitchfork. Seasonal Hire, their first full-length collaborative release, combines Gunn’s circular, meditative guitar playing with the Twigs’ energetic mastery of old time instrumentation in a purely acoustic environment resulting in a warm,
energetic, and exceptional album.

Seasonal Hire collects four original tunes and one traditional piece, with Gunn and The Black Twig Pickers’ Mike Gangloff and Sally Anne Morgan all taking turns with lead vocal and songwriting. Like all of the Twigs’ albums, it was recorded live, without overdubs or amplification. Gunn fell right in with this aesthetic and threw down guitar parts like he’d been sparring with banjos and fiddles for years. The majority of the album was recorded at Joseph Dejarnette’s Studio 808a in rural Topeco, Virgina, where Gunn and Gangloff recorded Melodies for a Savage Fix, an improvisational masterpiece of pan-cultural meditations. Echoes of Melodies can be heard on Seasonal Hire’s titular b-side, an extended, beautiful ramble equally indebted to old time music and Indian ragas. Additional recording was done closer to Gunn’s New York home at the famed Black Dirt Studios. Black Dirt has been the home for many groundbreaking records by artists such as Charlie Parr, Jack Rose, Bill Orcutt, Expo 70,
and Tom Carter. The album was mastered by Patrick Klem. Seasonal Hire shows the impressive range of some of the most talented and imaginative musicians that have made a name for themselves experimenting in folk forms today.

Steve Gunn and the Black Twig Pickers will continue to perform throughout 2015, and hope to carve out time for some collaborative tour dates. Nathan Bowles of the Twigs is currently on tour with Steve Gunn as his drummer and banjo player.

Oh man, definitely looking forward to this but would love to see a live incarnation!

^^ sounds great

love pearls on the river. that, effigy, and stone for... have been my main pelt listening. suppose i've gotta dig into ayahuasca next. feel like i need to listen to those records in an empty house on a quiet afternoon.

marcus from DFBM posted this on FB today, pretty cool spin on this style (a lot of chops on display, but always in the service of the song):

https://samuelgrayedmondson.bandcamp.com/album/suite

pelt fans will be very pleased with the 16-minute title track from this gunn/pickers LP.

Nice! I imagine that this record will be pretty close to the Gunn/Pickers Natch stuff, and if so I am gonna be happy indeed.

pearls from the river is close to a jack rose album but ayahuasca is much 'heavier'/hard drone, love them both though

another good player apparently living in the same city as me & global! followed me on soundcloud and i followed back, v stately i like this

http://soundcloud.com/marcus_eads/snowsquall

yes those pelt albums are perfect music. i find them so deeply spiritual. i think i am gonna burn some incense tonight and put on ayahuasca, lol, light some candles! my son's asleep and my wife's at work. i need that right now. you really do need a quiet house for this kind of droney stuff, or else a good long walk.

i had this amazing commute to work when i first got into all this post-fahey stuff. rose, pelt, basho-junghans. it was this perfect 30 minute walk along a reservoir, in the middle of winter everything would freeze over and it was so perfect to put on these sparse reflective drones and take a good walk.

where to start w/pelt?

you could jump right in w/ ayahuasca, but as mentioned above i did find pearls from the river an easier entry point. you listen to a ton of this kind of music though so ayahuasca might not seem overwhelming to you.

you know who i have really been digging and find a wonderful complement to 'pearls from the river' and other pelt (and no doubt a major inspiration for those albums)? zia mohuiddin dagar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia_Mohiuddin_Dagar

cool thx marcos

only have empty bell ringing in the sky but it's very awesome and droney! ashamed to say the one time i saw a jack rose lp in a shop i didn't pick it up, think it was kensington blues (regrets)

you know who i have really been digging and find a wonderful complement to 'pearls from the river' and other pelt (and no doubt a major inspiration for those albums)? zia mohuiddin dagar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia_Mohiuddin_Dagar

― marcos, Thursday, January 8, 2015 7:38 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

second this recommendation, enthusiastically.

Yeah! Any recorded material from the Dagar family is a must. The entire dhrupad facet of raga playing is probably the most referenced style in the experimental community. Slow, loooong alaps, really great stuff.

^^ yeah think someone (musta been marcos) in previous thread recommended him and it's amazing stuff. thanks for the reminder! also something i wanna listen to when nobody is around, just turn it up and zone out kinda

Slow, loooong alaps
this sounds very appealing but what does it mean? real q.

If you want to know what alaap means, not only will the glossary offer a simple definition, it will also play a little something for you.
INDIA TODAY (1997)

(that's the best thing my google-fu could conjur, i think it's just a word for an instrumental indian classical piece?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alap

complicated! but basically:

the opening section of a typical North Indian classical performance. It is a form of melodic improvisation that introduces and develops a raga.

and yes i definitely feel like those zia mohuiddin dagar ragas just develop so wonderfully slowly

Could be a great thread focused on music that shows this influence. As Neal astutely points out: "The entire dhrupad facet of raga playing is probably the most referenced style in the experimental community". There are whole bands who kind of sit in that territory for large chunks of time, Pelt certainly being one of them.

ILX Nu-Raga 2015

are we talking about the kidn of thing that's happening on pelt's road to catawba?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5GS9dule1o

aw shit sorry for the embed...

No big deal, and yeah, that whole searching lead-up thing is pretty much it.

how do you just post a youtube link again? i thought having the s in the https did it ...?

haha i know i feel like it took be so long to figure out how to embed but now i just want to link and i can't remember how to do it

Hit the "Show Formatting Help" link below, but you can simply bookend the links with ... to provide them directly.

Hah! It didn't display the text/code, just the ellipsis representing "content", sorry. There are url tags that allow you to post a linkable url in the text, so yeah, hit the "Show Formatting Help" link and it'll show you the options.

you can also test yr posts out over on the HTML Playground board, or here:

I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO PUT THIS SO I'M PUTTING IT HERE

Nathan Bowles live on WTJU right now (with Elisa Ambrogio as well). Show will be archived for a couple weeks but tune in now if you can:

http://www.wtju.net/

thx for the heads up. tuning in...

Man, so psyched for the Elisa/Nathan/Chris Forsyth & Solar Motel Band show tonight. Holy crap.

have fun, totally jealous

Oh man, should be a blast. Hopefully my taping buddy will be there with his A+ game in tow!

ohh yes please

I will report back and try to get the relevant parties to pony up any recordings if they happen, there is a pretty high probability it'll happen.

u wouldn't happen to have a recording of the Michael Hurley show at Twisted Branch, would you? it was a while ago...

Nah, I do not. When was it? It is possible my buddy was there, but the only Hurley I remember was in like 1999 at The Prism. I must have been out of town (or living somewhere else) when that happened. I can check with my buddy though.

thanks! always looking for Hurley boots

fyi on embedding

HTTP: will embed video
HTTPS: will embed video

WWW (without http): will not embed video
NO URL PREFIX AT ALL (youtube.com/x): will not embed video

Based on some testing I did a few weeks back, these were the results. Best bet for me was to not any reference http(s) at all.

Sorry that I slept on those responses, gonna head back to the raga talk real quick --

Sleeve got it down in regards to what the alap of a raga is. The improvised 'intro' that is explored before to the performer heads into the 'composed' section of the piece. I put composed in quotes bc the latter half of a raga is still a variation of improvisation. An alap is much more clear in instrumental pieces. If percussion is used, the alap ends when the tabla starts to kick in. Dhrupad is all vocal, and is known for being incredibly slow. So slow that it was kinda lauded. Which I didn't see until reading that ZM Dagar wiki marcos posted above. ZM's son said "Dhrupad? Who'll listen? Rudra veena? Play something else. Long alaaps? So boring!"

The Dagar family's alap performances feel pretty monochromatic, there isn't tons of drastic changes in pitch. Slightly down a half note, slight up a half note, over and over. There's a couple instances where Jack Rose references loving the Dagar's, so that style of raga seems particularly influential to the direction of Pelt and similar groups.

There is quite a variation in how ragas are played, I didn't really discover the Dagar type stuff until after listening to Ali Akbar Khan and similar instrumental performers. I uploaded to YouTube a Dagar alap from this really great comprehensive overview of 1950's classical Indian music. This 3LP boxset that is apparently the first official release to reach serious western audiences, was first put out in 1955.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=unpzOat1JsA
The rest of the boxset is here:
http://broadcastsfrompoorfarm.tumblr.com/post/32723337445

Oh wait :)
I thought "to laud" meant to disapprove of.

That's very informative and thorough -- thank you!!

Defiantly, I by no means know much beyond the basics, but all it takes is a person who can slowing introduce the components of a raga and anyone should be able to understand. They say most beginners start out with the raga called yaman, it's a good introductory raga. IE Jack Rose's "Yaman Blues"

This English guy here that I found on youtube is really good at communicating the intentions of playing raga yaman for guitar; clear and subdued.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUBvPtCSMI0

Promo vid for Seasonal Hire is sounding hot, I can't wait for this.

JAMES BLACKSHAW: Summoning Suns CD (from Forced Exposure newsletter)
IMPORTANT RECORDS (United States) / IMPREC 407CD
release date: 2/17/2015
https://soundcloud.com/jamesblackshaw/confetti

― dow

Even though the press release warns us about the changes I really didn't expect this to sound like that. Tbh I'm not 100% ruling out the possibility that I'm listening to someone else's album.

yah i don't know how to feel about that

one good thing about this type of music (this thread's type of music) is man, writing lyrics is tough, or writing good lyrics is tough

Yeah, writing lyrics is definitely not in the cards for everyone. Gunn pretty impressive in how well he incorporated them.

Show last night was great. Gotta say the highlight for me was Nathan Bowles, his stuff from the new record all translated incredibly well live (much of which I had heard him nail before) and the final track on the record was so transportive I started grinning goofily at the majesty of it. Primo stuff. The song Tom Carter joins in with on the record was augmented by Elisa live, which was very cool. I imagne as the tour goes on that song will continue to expand and get pretty righteous.

Elisa was really good, but this was the first show of the tour and I think she is still figuring out how to inhabit the songs live a bit. Nathan played drums on pretty much all of them, but the songs themselves were pretty straight, not much of the usual Elisa/Magik Markers style guitar throwdowns, but nice to hear the songs work as songs. I imagine her sets will open up a bit down the line as well, as they are touring together for 3 weeks. Would definitely like to see where they end up by the end of the tour.

Forsyth and band were really good, started off super hot then maintained a pretty good energy throughout. "Ballad of Free Hollow" and "Intensity Ghost" both highlights, but the "Calvary Cross" cover probably was my favorite moment. The new guitarist fit right in and played some cool stuff (definitely more varied rhythm work, taking the jams in some new territories), but for some reason I still miss the Paul touch, he and Chris had really complimentary styles. Nick was definitely a good foil though, I am sure they are gonna be a good tandem too. The rhythm section was super good throughout, really is a pleasure seeing them play. Peter Kerlin especially played some really amazing passages, might be my favorite part of the band.

All of these sets were recorded, but not sure when I'll get em or how well the recordings will come out. We'll see.

thx for the report! dug hearing bowles and ambrogio play together on the radio together, an interesting combo for sure.
and yeah as you know, i hope a tape surfaces....
more 2015 steve gunn news -- a split LP on three lobed w/ kurt vile
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B62P2xqCYAA-OgH.jpg

me & global's show w/paul metzger is tonight! pretty excited, have practiced to the all-important point of being totally sick of all my songs

Hah, good luck man! Wish I could make that.

another guy from minneapolis, sounds like he's been around, opened for peter lang, kottke apparently had him open a whole tour...phil heywood

real pretty stuff on the kottke end of the spectrum, love the melodies on this

....www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsTvw7CkoRs....

global and i had our show with paul metzger last night, super fun night, global had made some nice fliers and hung them up (btw one person i know was there because of that flier just so you know global they were worth it)

but yeah really good crowd, basement lounge of the turf club was really full. i felt like i played a pretty good set, did a couple new ones that went well, global was great...but maaaaan metzger really floored me, the crowd was dead silent just rapt at attention....i capture a bit of it with my phone, not the best quality and i reached my file limit right before it got super great, this is a more mellow part of the set (he played about 45 minutes straight no breaks) - the percussive part he starts at about the 4 minute mark is really fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0DEKTKo0s

haha ok honestly this embed thing i put those [url] tags in...

metzger is incredible, three improvisations on modified banjo is one of my favorite records in this type of music

Last night he just blew me away I would love to have a good recording of it

he was insane, my favorite was the microtonal shit he was doing in tandem with the bow, coaxing out all kinds of harmonic frequencies up and down the neck. so good. probably the best set i've seen him do

May not be totally appropriate for this thread, but since W Tyler produced it and it's out on PoB, thought I'd mention that the Jake Xerxes Fussell album is really strong. Been listening to that one on repeat. Great guitar playing, natch, but more blues-derived than anything mentioned here lately.

i see he's on paradise of bachelors which that label is pretty much gold in terms of this thread, had not heard of him, thanks

gotta check out metzger -- where should I start?
and yeah digging that xerxes fussell record. feels like a grower.

q: when you guys perform, i gather that you have songs and practice. when you get up there, what does it feel like when you start playing? do you get to a point where you feel you're in a/the zone or are you fully conscious of your movements? other?

global and ums -- you're both relatively new at this iirc, and i am curious about the experience for personal and professional reasons. if you don't want to post for privacy or crap up the thread, pm is a-ok.
any responses (esp from beginners) appreciated. it's for work lol!

i'm generally pretty nervous performing, i guess sometimes i feel like i'm playing better than others, but not really "in the zone" or unselfconscious sadly

i used to feel more in the zone playing bass in a band though, more people onstage with you and the loudness and drums cover up a lot of sins, doing straight acoustic fingerpicking is pretty high on the list of live music where fuckups are totally glaring

but overall i do enjoy it and i feel like the process of practicing and then performing in front of a crowd no matter how small is worth weeks or months of practice at home IMO

gotta check out metzger -- where should I start?

i'd start with three improvisations (2005) and go to deliverance (2007)

also in a way, actually searching youtube for metzger, you can find some decent filming and sound quality concerts from europe and stuff, but he's kind of amazing to watch as well as listen to and i honestly didn't get in to him nearly as much before i saw him live

thanks! interesting variations in the answers i'm getting too!

just posted a new recording. I hope to get serious about recording an album this year and so i bought a new recording set up.

***jimmywine avert your eyes***

this is the bundle I bought from B&H Photo, it's got pretty much everything you need for $259 -- mic, stand, Focusrite USB mic interface, DAW, XLR cable.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=869051&gclid=CjwKEAiAxNilBRD88r2azcqB2zsSJABy2B96YTyYG44sxmgJZ_5nOMYMwwGgMIiMS3WQLxHwvWM2-hoCYOvw_wcB&is=REG&Q=&A=details

****gear talk over*****

but anyway this is a song I've always felt really good about it, it just flowed very easily when I was writing it, almost felt like it wrote itself and it's just a very simple melody that I like. I posted this in the old thread but I listened to that version and was a phone recording and I was playing it way too quickly and rushed feeling. This is slower and the sound quality is better, though I'm still working out the new equipment etc.

anyway as always any feedback welcome esp as this was more a recording test (this is probably my easiest song to play so it's good for doing as a recording test song when i'm figuring out mic placement, how all this software and hardware works, etc)

http://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/new-setup-test-compressed

Sounding really good UMS, pacing nice and relaxed and recording is crystal clear. This kinda thing works really well for me, keep rolling em out like this and I am fully on board.

yea pacing is wonderful and the sound is great!

yeah, very nice! getting that meditative danny paul grody vibe.

thanks y'all. i'm feeling like i can probably do something that's good enough quality recordingwise w/this new setup.

learning these programs is hard though, just getting my head around Reaper.

to bring it back to real shit & not me me me, this is that Jake Xerxes Furrell track jimmywine posted about upthread (w/william tyler apparently)

tyler has this been on aquarium drunkard's radar? seems up yr alley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8898tHKjeOo

yeah! wasn't actually crazy about that particular song at first, but the album as a whole is growing on me.

Jake Xerxes Fussell is a great post-fahey name

haha no kidding it sounds like a made up american primitive dude name in a christopher guest movie

couple gems from the Drag City soundcloud

Sir Richard Bishop - this is just fucking jaw-dropping IMO, so gorgeous and well played. Funny, for a guy who's art rock/avant garde cred is off the chain, I actually prefer Bishop in his more trad moments, this is some lovely spanish/middle eastern -- actually almost classical in parts - fingerstyle playing. forget how outstanding this guy is sometimes.

http://soundcloud.com/drag-city/sir-richard-bishop-frontier

Alasdair Roberts - been listening to some Jansch and Pentangle lately so this is right up my alley, such a beautiful recording, great fancy pants UK folk

http://soundcloud.com/drag-city/alasdair-roberts-artless-one

I liked it UMS-personally I would like a little more room sound, but that's just personal taste.
The other thing I thought was aren't Snark's the greatest?

xp

fwiw the SRB 10" from 2014 (Road To Siam) was top ten on my ILX ballot, really great, too bad it was a vinyl run of 400.

psyched for the new album w/the new guitar

I liked it UMS-personally I would like a little more room sound, but that's just personal taste.
The other thing I thought was aren't Snark's the greatest?

― campreverb, Wednesday, January 14, 2015 12:01 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool thanks for the feedback, the "room" is my untreated basement so honestly if it's gonna be spacier sounding it will probably have to come with a little more reverb added

and yes, I feel like a sucker for all those years I didn't buy a Snark and used plug-in tuners

love that SRB tune "frontier"

i also prefer bishop when he's doing classical guitar/acoustic stuff. all those acoustic-heavy albums are my favorite - fingering the devil, improvika, though i very much like WMGVB

That's a great tip on the bundle from B&H, UMS. It's sounding really great - clear and concise. Comforting when notes seem to fit in line perfectly, without excess either.

Really looking forward to the new Rick Bishop, I dig this kind of stuff much more too.

I've been checking out the back catalog of Mike Cooper's stuff and have been slightly floored on how understated his songwriting talent is, not to mention the guitar playing. There was a track called "House Of Knowledge" on Steve Gunn's first big full length, Boerum Palace. And I had always wondered how to trace that kind of tune back to it's previous incarnations. Seems that you could follow some of it's qualities back to Mike Cooper. Mike's second album, Do I Know You?, is in full on youtube. Digging the multi-dubbed slide playing + vocals on "Thinking Back":

youtu.be/N5O6TEcXS3A?t=11m10s

re the Snark: I bought one a few years ago to try it out. The band I was in gave me hell for it at first when I brought it into the studio, saying it looked like a guitar with 'headgear' or a 'hearing aid,' etc, but one by one they started borrowing mine and now they all own Snarks of various colors.

I am glad there is no Snark bias here.

They are cheap and there are few better ways of tuning an acoustic in a loud room.

That said, they break easily (I'm on my third or fourth) and according to a musician friend of mine they aren't quite as accurate as, say, the Korg Pitchblack or even the classic TU-2.

See, you guys got me talking gear after all.

Yeah mike Cooper is kind of unbelievable -- like that long track on trout steel "I've got mine"? Wow!

new pedal steel-y tune (w/ band) from chuck johnson. i like it...
https://soundcloud.com/chuckj-1/everything_at_once

Just chiming in to say that I am a Snark proponent as well, works fine on an electric. Always hated pedal tuners, much happier having a goofy thing on my headstock over another pedal to carry around/plug into.

Xxxp jimmywine that's the spirit! We'll be chatting about vintage compressor modeling plugins before you know it

Ryley Walker live on Madison student radio right now
http://wsum.org/player/

mostly tuning his guitar

my stars...so controversial *fans face*

Ryley walker ‏@Ryley_walker 6m6 minutes ago
Leo kottke "Vaseline machine gun" is the limpest guitar song ever put to tape get real

so challopsy
this new william tyler covers session is very nice if you haven't checked it yet: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/01/20/the-lagniappe-sessions-william-tyler-covers-ry-cooder-blaze-foley-more/

blaze foley!

yeah i need to stop following ryley on twitter i like his stuff a lot but he's starting to annoying me with his "ain't i a dickens" routine

just posted a new track, probably the last thing i post in a while because i need to do an album and buckle down, this represents hopefully a little better sound quality i'm getting with my new setup and plugins and stuff, trying to keep things simple

http://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/blues-for-d-boon-1

(the d. boon thing is just a private joke i had w/myself because i realized i liked the song better when it just went through its changes one time and then quit right away which always reminds me of a lot of how the minutemen used to write songs)

was perusing some the year-end lists on that thread and found something that really knocked me out David Pritchard - Among the Missing

he's definitely on the new age end of the spectrum but i don't think he ever falls into being too corny

lots of amazingly detailed interlocking parts, just waves of pattern, i find this to be amazingly gorgeous...i guess the closest comparisons on this thread might be people like Danny Paul Grody or Alexander Turnquist....apparently some of the pieces are performed by a guitar trio of him and 2 other dudes (see 'em chilling out by a waterfall!)

but yeah man i am super into this right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhN7RHw3quw

this is lush, would be fun to play something like this with other people

that sounded super nice but i never ever want to admit to anyone that i watched that with my own human eyeballs

btw m@tt that is a top-shelf username, can't wait for yr crew to play the cedar

While watching this I couldn't help thinking 'this guy looks so Greek'

http://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/2pbIWTlMvF90LLwWW1DCpx

^nice, some new stuff in there for me, thanks!

Thoughts on DADGAD.. I don't know why but up until a week ago I never thought I'd be interested in messing with DADGAD, I'd always assumed it was better for vocal accompaniment and am honestly not too sure if any noteworthy Jack Rose/etc songs use the tuning. If anyone does happen to know if it's used on a contemporary record somewhere.. hoping to get further into it.

I didn't know I'd get anything out of my recent woodshedding, but there seems to be some ideas in here I will work with further, certainly a really fun tuning to play in on your lap.
https://soundcloud.com/raglore/january-16-2015

I like that
I play dadgad more than anything
Great tuning IMO also plenty of super important players use dadgad on the uk folk side, Davy Graham pioneered it (Anji is in dadgad), Jansch, Renbourne, Page, Wizz Jones, Thompson, etc

xp - it sounds like florian fricke overdubs being played by three men sitting near a waterfall

Yeah I could see the more pastoral side of Popul Vuh.

Just three bros throwing down some tasty licks at the local waterfall

Yeah I'm certainly into all the guys from across the pond there. Off hand I'm not aware of any players in the vein of Rose and Fahey who have something written in that tuning. I'm sure there's gotta be like a Chuck Johnson tune in it. Not to mention all the albums coming out now. Contrary to it having that distinct sound, I'm not sure I'd be able to recognize it.

Yeah Chuck I could see. Maybe 6 organs?

Neil Young uses it a lot

Pretty sure I heard Daniel Bachman get asked about a song tuning at a show and heard him throw out DADGAD. Can't remember which song though.

dadgad is the best tuning, i've pretty much given up standard tuning for it

I hate playing in standard tuning now, except for single note lead type overdubs

Lying down in bed with the flu, the new Ryley Walker album is hitting all the right spots.

Hmm I've got to try DADGAD. I've finally hit another stale spell with DGDGbBE

amazed that there is no band named DADGAD, there is a record title and a label and a Butthole Surfers track though

i like the new ryley walker song on spotify a lot but it's kinda funny to have a "smokin' weeeeed is sooooo mind blowing" song in 2015 haha

Enjoying this Wes Tirey tape. Really good afternoon music, and some cool slide moves on track 1:

https://twinspringstapes.bandcamp.com/album/gnostic-hymns-of-the-blue-ridge-mountains-vol-i

He has a pretty aggressive attack at times, which I think is a nice move. Hammers/accentuates the patterns etc.

will investigate

also realized today i hadn't spent enough time with Hayden Pendigo's album, a tour de force and so many big tymers as guests

Yeah, I need to give that Pedigo album a listen as well. The pile is always growning ....

Speaking of which, there are a couple of nice videos (with good audio) from a recent Daniel Bachman show available here:

http://www.indyweek.com/music/archives/2015/01/28/video-jenks-miller-and-rose-cross-nc-strike-an-intimate-balance-with-daniel-bachman-at-the-artscenter

Some nice understated playing from him at times, good stuff. I think this upcoming Three Lobed album is gonna be really good.

Yeah fully agree regarding the new Bachman material. Sections within part 1 (of the 2 videos) are very Days Have Gone By, and knowing that Vol. 6 is his favorite of Fahey's, I'm sure this material doesn't come lightly. Those huge gaps of quiet and silence were few and far between throughout his early material. I especially dig the extended song writing, having multiple passages and re-referencing notes played 10 minutes prior. Reads like a book, or a long narrative.

man, Ilyas Ahmed's With Endless Fire never gets old

Speaking of which, new press release from Immune about a new Ilyas record:

Ilyas Ahmed returns with I Am All Your Own, set for release on March 24th. Listen to the first track below! Available to pre-order now on deluxe or standard LP, cassette, and digital

http://i.imgur.com/gnlTsHL.jpg

Earlier today FACT Magazine premiered album track "Come On". You can listen to it below:

http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/i-am-all-your-own/

I Am All Your Own was mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk in Portland, OR and cut to vinyl by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering in Brooklyn. The LP is pressed on virgin vinyl and packaged in a full color jacket featuring Ahmed’s distinct artwork, a two-sided artworked insert and free download card. The first 200 copies are pressed on opaque red vinyl.

We have a limited deluxe versions that includes a unique signed and numbered collage made by Ilyas Ahmed. The collage measures 6″ x 6″ and is a one of a kind piece of art made by Ahmed. Only 100 exist and each one is signed and numbered.

“Ilyas’ music is in service to dream investigation, at once still and impermanent as an August cloud and then sweeping like a strange breeze through your thoughts. I Am All Your Own will wrap you in serenity but is aware that any second now you may escape. Music of a sweet morning, and unforgettable.” - Thurston Moore, London

Ilyas Ahmedʼs songs exist in a sublime moment of suspended animation, calmly dwelling in between modes of music making both timeless and contemporary – deeply imbued with stillness and peace. On I Am All Your Own, his first album in three years, Ahmed employs strategies gleaned from experimental and ambient musicians, such as Lawrence English and Fripp & Eno, and applies them to song-based guitar music. Building slowly and purposefully, each individual track adds to the albumʼs overall, scrupulously-forged contour. His most direct work, Ahmed’s voice is brought to the fore and unobscured. Like the best work of his friend and collaborator Liz Harris (Grouper), as well as classic touchstones such as the Velvet Undergroundʼs self-titled third album and David Crosbyʼs “If I Could Only Remember My Name,” Ahmed’s latest is sentimental and emotive, while remaining hushed and understated. I Am All Your Own is a record for late nights and early mornings, those times spent in solitude and reflection.

Written and recorded entirely on 12-string and electric guitars, I Am All Your Own was recorded using a 4-track cassette recorder with few overdubs and mixed to ¼ inch tape, exuding intimacy and homespun atmosphere. An impressive balance lies between the lush atmospherics he conjures and the sparse arrangements of the songs themselves. As the LP unfolds, a narrative also begins to take shape: the protagonists begin their day peacefully after a long night, they come to a realization that the events of the previous night will change their life forever, and eventually dissolve into a states of regret and eventually acceptance. The guitar-based tracks are interspersed with two untitled interludes of heavy drone and celestial drift – a reminder of Ahmedʼs days as a key, and prolific, figure in the international experimental underground of the past decade. However, even these emanate a clarity that is new to Ahmedʼs work, and which makes I Am All Your Own seem like the opening of a new chapter of his career.

Born in Pakistan, Ahmed moved to America at a young age and wandered throughout his teenage years, eventually settling in his current home of Portland, OR. The songs on I Am All Your Own were thoroughly tested in front of live audiences in the Pacific Northwest and at the venerable Hopscotch Festival in North Carolina before being laid to tape in Portland, then mixed at Old Standard Sound. Concurrently with writing and recording I Am All Your Own, Ahmed has been working with Jonathan Seilaff and Matt Carlson of Golden Retriever on a new project called Dreamboat. Ahmed will tour extensively behind I Am All Your Own, a rare treat indeed.

oh that's great news, on my kid's birthday too

that Golden Retriever album was pretty good, interested to see what they can do together

Ilyas track linked above sounds cool. Nice 12-string sound and kind of weird turnarounds/progression. Reminds me of early Tortoise (Pajo?) a bit (parts of the guitar progression at least).

And yeah Neal, you nail what I am digging in that new Daniel Bachman material. He is opening up his sound and playing in really nice ways, definitely maturing into a broader sound and creating a more varied movement through the tunes, really promising stuff (though I have been on board with it all).

Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7 is streaming right now:

http://www.thefader.com/2015/01/30/im-never-going-to-stop-listening-to-imaginational-anthem-vol-7

the new IA is pretty great, i don't think there's a dud in there.
have we talked about dean mcphee? listening to his forthcoming one now -- kinda moody solo electric pieces. very nice!

Just digging into IA 7 now, but looking forward to it.

McPhee came up in the original thread. I have been hot and cold on what I have heard, but when it works for me I really like it. Seems he gets a little more "out" here and there, and that is what I respond to, but some of it was a little too "purely moody" and not much else for me. I think I need to listen to more to have a real opinion though.

yeah the dronier bits are maybe what I'm responding to here -- one of 'em is a pretty great fripp/eno evening star kinda epic.

Ohh that sounds promising. I am definitely a sucker for droney guitar (obviously).

you guys see this?
http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/fahey-john-record-plant-sausalito-ca-september-9th-1973-cd/KH.9039CD.html
legit?
keyhole looks they traffic in grey area releases...

and speaking of the man, if you never got your past comes back to haunt you, dust to digital is selling it for the low low price of $45
http://www.dust-digital.com/fahey/
totally worth the bucks.

probably not legit, I might have that show from a D!ME upload

yeah everyone should have it in one form or another, it is amazing

dust to digital is selling it for the low low price of $45

holy shit!
thanks for the tip

The John Fahey Handbook Volume 2 has been out for a few weeks. Goes into deep detail about his discography.. 500 pages deep. The author chimed in on Yahoo that it's a print-on-demand book, and ships from overseas, with hopes that the price will go down like the first volume has.

The John Fahey Handbook Volume 2

ah good to know...and yeah, please bring the price down!

Wow really enjoying the Christoph Bruhn tune on IA7. Don't think I have seen that dudes name come up before, but that is a really pleasant tune (and I mean that in all sincerity and not as a "slight" thing).

is this the kind of thread in which we would talk about ilyas ahmed

http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/i-am-all-your-own/

it is and we did

Grandavis - I've mentioned him a couple of times, he's great. I had posted a link to a live duet recording he did w Kyle F. at a library in mpls

Oh man I somehow missed it. Thanks UMS, I'll try to dig back through and take a listen. As stated, good stuff.

yeah i like the Bruhn stuff I've heard -- think him and Fosburgh are planning on hitting the road for house concerts later this year.

[[[[[[Drag City Prose A Head]]]]]]

STORY TIME WITH SIR RICHARD BISHOP: REVEALING THE MYSTERIES OF TANGIER SESSIONS!
From the mind (and hands!) of one of the most brilliant guitar players of any generation, Sir Richard Bishop, comes the excellent Tangier Sessions! Yeah, February 17th sees the release of Bishop's newest album, finely and finally delivered to the fervent hands of noble devotees everywhere! SRB's wide ranging, maxi-cultural influences are on full display within Tangier Sessions' outwardly expanding compositions, delivering unparalleled depth of sound from within the comforting confines of a six-string. Oh, but what a six-string! This guitar is of the ancient, parlour variety - and for Rick or anyone we've yet to encounter, it's origins are eerily puzzling. Yet, it's symbiosis with Sir Richard has resulted in a stone-cold classic album of acoustic explorations!

The basic concept of such an album alone should have you salivating (it's all over our keyboard, too), but hold up - there's more to it! How often do we get the chance to truly demystify such a magic set of songs? How often do you hear tale of how an album this intriguing came to be, straight from the horse's mouth? And how often does that mouth belong to a horse as seductive as Sir Richard Bishop? Not too often, player, so listen up, cause Rick Bishop's got something to say about the origin and creation not only of Tangier Sessions the album, but of the unique instrument which enchanted him so deeply as to drive him to record it.

And now, for the complete story! It's a mysterious tale that begins in Geneva, Switzerland, deals in the art of possession (both tangible and demonic), and ultimately ends this very moment, with the "royal we" wishing to hear more sounds from Tangier Sessions ... take it away, Sir Rick:

WATCH SIR RICHARD BISHOP TALK GUITAR AND TANGIER SESSIONS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2p5j3EajWI&feature=youtu.be

cool story, weirdly i was just gonna post my new guitar which is MUCH less valuable but inspired by those old slothead parlors (though I believe this is an 00 body not a 0 parlour)...but yeah the recording king ROS-06, (fahey famously played a recording king but this is a new company that's brought the label back). but it's the same slothead, thick neck, no fret markers type thing....liking it so far, like the 1 13/16 nut little more room for fingerpicking

http://postimg.org/image/fvk62s1kn/

http://s23.postimg.org/r7wrkka9n/guitar_2.jpg

Nice looking guitar! Think I would dig these (like the parlor-size body).

schnazzy... someday i will get a new acoustic guitar. i've had mine since 1993!
in ILX brigade breaks big news, just saw that steve gunn will be opening for wilco this summer at Red Rocks!
did not think that would be the venue I'd finally get to catch the dude at.

Woah. Red Rocks not a bad local for that at all.

That's awesome for him
I think his newer stuff will go over well with the Wilco crowd

The recording king is not spendy. Actually I think the originals were Sears catalog guitars

Oh and he and his band are SO good live I'm hoping/expecting they'll knock out the Wilco crowd there.

Wonder which version of the band he is gonna have? It is a fluid thing.

Nice guitar ums. BTW I've been listening to a heavy amount of classical guitar lately (but I'm not nerding out quite enough to start name dropping anyone). I have notable douche of '14 Kozelek to thank, but it's all due to his Admiral Fell Promises album (ENTIRELY different beast than Benji) establishing itself as my overall favorite record.

Love the idea of classical nylon string sound mingling with the Fahey style more than I've actually witnessed such a thing. I know Blackshaw played with it on Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death.

Wait that is a nylon string isn't it?

That's true- I figured the most recent line up that's been touring Way Out Weather was established for now.

xp

I am sure his band will be good regardless, but that quarted line-up with Meagher/Bowles/Elkington on board is definitely the one I would hope to see.

Elkington was particularly amazing to me! Very well matched to duet with Gunn. I'd hope he would be involved, too.

Bowles new record is great too since you mentioned him.

elkington is in tweedy's solo touring band, right?

Evan nope it's a steel string but the body dimensions are close to a classical and the neck is wide, somewhere between a conventional neck and a classical.

I really prefer smaller bodies, much more comfortable

Oh yeah, no doubt Bowles is ruling in many ways these days, and that record is a prime example. His recent live set here was so damn good, definitely go see him if you can. Psyched for that Black Twig Pickers & Steve Gunn record on the horizon too.

Yeah the Bowles record is really inspiring me to get serious about my poor, mostly neglected banjo which I DO have a ton of fun with.

yah bowles is the best

i just discovered that they make 6 string banjos that are tuned like a guitar, i was thinking of checking that out, love the sound but don't feel like learning the whole banjo tuning thing

Hah man just grab one of Metzger's 30 stringers (or whatever he has done to his custom ones). Surely he has a spare one he can loan out.

xxxxpost

Yeah I like the smaller body guitars for that reason, too.

Well either way my jumping off point about nylon guitar stylings stands. Would love to hear more records with that influence.

I was finding the banjo tuning hard to adapt to or experiment on, but as I got better at finger picking + experimented with other tunings it got much much more fun.

If anyone is looking for some afternoon listening, I just put up my latest Dais Queue live set. Lots of mellow prepared guitar stuff, but some guitar-as-guitar at the 17 minute mark or so. Pretty happy with it overall:

https://daisqueue.bandcamp.com/track/dais-queue-live-1-28-2015

digging this, at about 15 mins now this has been nice workin tunes

Cool, thanks man. The "nice workin tunes" demographic is a good one for me I think.

only partially fahey folk but if anyone's in massachusetts or boston marissa nadler is playing a show on 3/7 with glenn jones and damon & naomi

Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux is now a part of Mind of Mirrors and their upcoming dates include some rad guests. New album was put out on Immune a couple days ago too.

Feb 2 - Detroit, MI - Trinosophes
Feb 4 - WFMU - The John Allen Show
Feb 5 - Brooklyn - Union Pool presented by Ad Hoc *
Feb 6 - Philadelphia - Johnny Brenda's presented by Bowerbird *
Feb 7 - Baltimore - 5th Dimension * w/ Bobby Donnie
Feb 8 - Durham - Pinhook presented by Rough Drift #
Feb 9 - Athens - The World Famous #
Feb 10 - Asheville - Mothlight #
Feb 11 - Nashville - Stone Fox #
Feb 12 - Louisville - tba #
Feb 13 - Bloomington - The Artifex Guild # w/ Tyler Damon
Feb 14 - Lafayette - The Spot #
Feb 15 - Chicago - Hideout # w / Lagartha
Feb 17 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club # presented by Acme Records
Feb 19 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill # w/ Phosphenes
Feb 20 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry # w/ Steve Palmer
* w/ Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band // Horse Lords
# w/ Daniel Bachman

UMS I've always wanted one of those banjar/guitjo hybrid's, they sound great.

Evan you can always put a banjo in something like open c as well, it's really fun to play that way. After doing basic open g frailing and the like, I wound up playing it kinda like a 4 string guitar, thumbing the 4th and 2nd strings and doing single note hammers/bends with the 1st string, all the while heading up and hitting that drone string with your thumb every now and then. It's easy to do raga sounding stuff with that technique in open c. The tuning is gCGCE.

Nylon strings:
There's a guy on bandcamp who I've wanted to suggest for a bit now: Marcus Eads, he has some material written for classical guitar. His stuff is actually real nice, cleanly recorded and unhurried in approach. http://marcus-eads.bandcamp.com/album/sherburne-county-instrumentals

I also remember a long time ago, in the old thread, someone dug up this album from the 70s, a female classical guitar player doing stuff in the vein of this thread. I distinctly remember the album having quite a few songs of synthesizer/classical guitar duet kind of stuff.

Less Fahey, more flat out psych folk, but one of my old favorites, Cursillistas (now Herbcraft), always used a nylon guitar for his recordings.

Here is the early country blues artist Sylvester Weaver playing a six string banjo, recorded in 1927. He's the guy who recorded the first unaccompanied solo guitar tracks, lap style, in 1923.. huge influence on solo guitar and he's got such a wide range of playing styles. Him, his brother, and their childhood friends like BBQ Bob were all taught by Mrs. Weaver growing up in Georgia. His mother comes from the prior generation of unrecorded blues musicians, where as the Weavers and friends were of the first generation to be recorded.

"Six String Banjo Piece"
youtube.com/watch?v=GhjCi67ow3U

Before I go spouting too much nonsense :)
Having been born in KY, Sylvester is actually unrelated to the Curly/BBQ family lineage. The rest of still stands though.
I thought there were more examples of traditional six string banjo but haven't come up with anything, don't know who plays it on a current rekkid either.

I didn't know barbecue bob was taught by sylvester weaver's mum, that's wild

also remember a long time ago, in the old thread, someone dug up this album from the 70s, a female classical guitar player doing stuff in the vein of this thread. I distinctly remember the album having quite a few songs of synthesizer/classical guitar duet kind of stuff.
think this was her -- pretty nice stuff: http://www.discogs.com/Linda-Cohen-Leda/release/2345556

Marcus is great! I met him via Facebook recently, he lives in Minnesota and I hope to go see him soon, he's playing a rare show (said he hadn't played in a few years)

Nic Garcia, Kyle Fosburgh, and Matt Sowell had a show last night, all three of those guys played great

picked up Kyle's reissue of Robbie Basho - Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12 -- WOW

Thanks for the banjo suggestion, Neal! I've definitely been coming around to it more now that my finger picking is a bit better. I'll try open C, too!

Shit, I'd meant to get that Basho reissue.

it's on par with visions of the country, impossibly beautiful music

no difference between that and the Windham Hill version, right?

no bonus tracks, no...
i think those two are my fave basho...celestial. don't miss that live download EP grass top put out as well...

see maybe that's why I'm confused - was that the "preview"? or something else?

yeah, they may have said it was a preview of the art of acoustic reissue ... for some reason. whatever it is, it is awesome.

yeah they called it a "preview" but it's really not, the actual reissue is different that's the Windham Hill album

thank you, that explains my confusion.

i found a pristine copy of the OG release of that basho album for a buck last year, was pretty psyched

damn that's a score

yeah, i got visions for pretty cheap a few years ago, but it was not in good shape (weird for windham hill records in my experience!)

haha yeah i've never bought any new agey album that wasn't in pristine condition

dudes were partying too hard rockin out to basho i guess

yeah this one had seen some action

Man I love Linda Cohen! She definitely came up in the old thread and that record "Leda" is cool as hell in my opinion.

I didn't know barbecue bob was taught by sylvester weaver's mum, that's wild

Sylvester just has the same last name, and is unrelated :/ my mistake

Man I love Linda Cohen! She definitely came up in the old thread and that record "Leda" is cool as hell in my opinion.

Yeah thanks for digging that one up tyler, it's great!

Did anyone else back that kickstarter for Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho, the Basho doc? Hopefully it'll come out before summertime, was looking forward to it's release last year and then it completely fell off my radar.

http://i59.tinypic.com/11rdeft.png

"In East Or West, I See No Christ", written by Andrew Hammond

hah! great title.

lol

ha, andy is an old friend of mine, NC you truly have your ear to the ground!

Grass Tops putting out a Dennis Taylor reissue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wbEks6xgpg

who is sean proper? i like his song on the new imaginational anthem

young guy out of florida i think? i have one of his records -- it was ok, but his imaginational anthem track suggests he's gotten a LOT better.

overall, this edition of IA is really great, Hayden Pendigo did a great job curating it

yeah i don't think there's a bad (or even boring) track in there, and it flows nicely

yeah and such a good variety while still feeling like a coherent "scene" (which in a lot of ways is one of my favorite things about the stuff we talk about on this thread overall, is that you can mention like duck baker or the crazy ass new 6 organs stuff)

totally...
you can check out some of that forthcoming dennis taylor reissue on grass tops now: https://soundcloud.com/grasstopsrecording/sets/dayspring

Gotta go listen to those Taylor tracks. Might have to go listen to that Six Organs record two or three more times first though ....

First track from the Steve Gunn/Black Twig Pickers album has been put up:

http://www.stereogum.com/1736873/steve-gunn-the-black-twig-pickers-trailways-ramble-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

Nice sound, very mellow overall. I imagine this is only one of many directions this album goes in, this being probably the most straightforward, but we'll see. Hoping for some really deep, extended meditations though.

currently doing some deep listening to sir richard's new one -- some seriously beautiful playing.

I listened to Road To Siam last night, whetting my appetite

i haven't even heard that one... dude is hard to keep up with. i think i have three records of his from 2014!

Oh yeah, keep forgetting about this Sir Richard album. There is gonna be a lot of stuff coming out in the next few months, crazy.

His playing was beautiful when I saw him live last year. I was going into it under the impression that it would be a bit more abstract/avant-garde/indirect than it ended up being. Excited to hear the new one.

yeah this one is very melodic -- some more shredding kinda moments, but mostly lovely tunes (albeit still w/ the tension he seems to bring to everything)

sir richard playing mpls in april, gotta make that one

saw him end of last year; he's unsurprisingly great

i mean he's always great live but it had been almost eight years since i saw him last and it was as good a show as memory allowed

Hello faithful Delta Slider readers. As you may know the annual Fahey week is approaching. Unfortunately I’m pretty much out of material and buried at work, in other words: I got nuthin’.

So…here’s the opportunity you’ve been looking for! If you’ve always wanted to post an essay about Fahey and his music, your guitar tab of his song, that rare bootleg that hasn’t been posted yet, etc. Then now is the time to contact me about it! If you send me ready to publish material I can post it and you get the byline.

I would love to continue the tradition but frankly I’ve been short on time and resources. Let’s see what happens!! Fahey Week traditionally starts February 22nd.

Use the contact form below or email me at the addy listed in the "About" page.

Thanks all,
Scott

http://delta-slider.blogspot.com/2015/02/fahey-week-needs-your-help.html

also via twitter, david crosby's fave alt tuning is EBDGAD
FYI

woah CROZ Modal Tuning, i bet i could do some next level shit w/that

the crosby songbook that came out sometime in the early seventies has the tunings (and there are a lot of them!) for his first solo and a bunch of his byrds and csn(y) songs, finding that at like 16 was my intro to non-standard tunings.

his new album ain't bad!

Yeah, it's pretty good. The highs are especially high. Definitely some duds though.

Anyone know Matt Baldwin? Can Nugent was big upping him on FB

name sounds familiar, but I don't think I've heard him.
not sure if it's been talked about but -- glenn jones' vdsq 7-inch is wayyyyyy too brief, but it is lovely. makes me hope he's got a new record on the way soon.

Was gonna chime in last nite regarding Baldwin but was thinking someone else would - he is a ripper for sure, first seen mostly on that Berkeley Guitar comp T. SQ did in '06. But his first full length "Path's of Ignition" is pretty unique as far as solo guitar albums go within that first burst of records in the mid 2000's. Not a subtle record at all as far as I can remember, acoustic solo tracks with electric solos overdubbed on top. He does a Neu! cover and a Juda Priest cover, so that should tell you a lot about his playing. But it comes across as cohesive rather than a grab bag.

I do know he went full on electric there for a while after the first album, I haven't followed much of it except for the minimal synth/guitar stuff he's doing currently, putting it out on tapes. This post had me discover his bandcamp so I'll probably get into that soon enough...

https://psychicarts.bandcamp.com/music

this still floors me- i could listen to the outro forever. still one of Fahey's best moments, IMO:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kIaTRKii_M
(Dry Bones in the Valley)

Love the idea of Neu! and Judas Priest. That reminds me of this guy, who is really great- apparently reared on a diet of metal before discovering WIlliam Tyler? https://samuelgrayedmondson.bandcamp.com

Global opened for Daniel Bachman & I couldn't go :(

On week 3 of no guitar to see if I can heal this arm, sucks

Good luck UMS! Hope once you get there it is healed for good. It is painful to watch other folks play sometimes when you can't grab a guitar yourself.

https://sonicmeditations.bandcamp.com/album/basalt-palisades
^^^sounding cool - a collab between chuck johnson and plankton wat

New Steve Gunn/Black Twig Pickers out! Really enjoying track 'Cardinal 51'

Oooh, gonna check that Chuck Johnson/Plankton Wat collab. Seems like a good bet for fine Friday listening.

Looking forward to that Gunn/Black Twigs collab when I get to it, but gonna let that one come to me by and by. I have a feeling it will work well in the springtime ....

Wanna post this nice musing on a Fahey performance by our own Global. Good stuff, and nice to see it pop up on Delta Slider (which means many of you may already have seen it):

http://delta-slider.blogspot.com/2015/02/john-fahey-dance-of-inhabitantslive-u.html

Still geek out frequently listening to the slide action on the track he posts there (a live run through of "Dance of the Inhabitants").

chuck/wat thing sounds cool - johnson seems to have a bunch of new music on the way this year.
global and i have contributed to delta slider's fahey week! what's everyone else's excuse. http://delta-slider.blogspot.com/
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LCi-WfU_cv4/VOFa-OrEKKI/AAAAAAAACO4/HdU5RcDDWzM/s1600/Fahey_Lacy_Wilson_Evans.jpg
xp!

hah nice! I ain't going to contribute, but I will enjoy anything that pops up. I have nothing to add about Fahey that would not be better handled by someone else.

you've all let the fahey community down
and yeah holy shit that "dance of the inhabitants" is totally worth singling out -- unbelievable.

Isn't letting the Fahey community down part of embracing the Fahey legacy?

yeah i think that is what fahey would want. disappointment for everyone.

Somewhat related to this, I was just talking with a friend of mine who came up with an idea for a theme for a radio show for a non-profit station here doing a fundraiser, that theme being last songs on last albums from an artist, and I immediately thought of "Untitled With Rain" from Red Cross. To me, a supremely cool song largely enhanced by the long section of recorded studio silence at the end of it. Doing a quick google search brought up this review:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2945-red-cross/

It ends with this passage in re "Untitled With Rain":

The only real misstep is "Untitled with Rain". For six minutes, the song flows leisurely across faintly ringing organ tones and chimes, with just a few scattered notes recalling some of Fahey's concrete leanings. At that moment, the music dissipates into eighteen minutes of thoroughly impenetrable silence while the ambient noise of a deserted studio is mic'd up for, presumably, listening pleasure. Sadly, his generally keen abstract edge is at its dullest-- any similar track from City of Refuge makes this seem like a cheap gimmick. And worse, if it weren't for the (almost fittingly) unnamed tonal reverb of the track's final two minutes, the closing seconds of his final album would conclude in a vacuum. Even if Red Cross is less of a striking conclusion than a broad summation, it's a tragedy to allow the vague recognitions elicited here to evaporate into nothing. It's silence in remembrance of a talented, haunted man, but he deserves a eulogy, and his guitar speaks better than anyone ever could.

Key words here: "the closing seconds of his final album would conclude in a vacuum". Freaking perfect to me, love it. The void is real, and the best playing/art/records find a way to inhabit/illustrate it. So fuck it, I lied, there is my Fahey piece.

I prefer the version with the fahey trio where JF reads the liner notes to blind joe death, there's something so intense and sad and wonderful about it

was never clear how much fahey had planned red cross, I recall some faheyites considering it a posthumous grab bag rather than a proper fahey album

Could be, I have no idea. I just dig the effect. Don't think I have ever heard the trio/liner notes reading, gonna go check that out.

man that review is some bullshit

also I thought about it a while ago and I still think it's a good idea so I was wondering if instead of running one or more fahey polls if people would be up for a fahey listening thread where we gradually work through the big man's output in a neophyte-friendly fashion?

early pitchfork!
didn't know that some don't consider red cross "illegitimate" -- for some reason i thought it was all ready to go before he died. but i am probably misremembering.

Just wanna sign onto a Fahey listening thread Ogmor, as I am no completist and would learn a lot trawling throught the years of Fahey with some guidance.

Mind you I have heard plenty, it would just be a nice way to fill in the gaps. While I like polls OK, I think I would find a Fahey poll tedious.

I would also rather have a listening thread that another artist poll

yeah a listening thread would be great (don't really want to do a ranking thing). but it'd be great to go through it with y'all.

Posting on phone so excuse the brevity. Thanks for the plug Tyler! I love love love that recording. I hope I can turn others into it. untitled with rain is great, I love the atmosphere and studio banter you can hear. And absolutely would participate in a Fahey discography run through

Damn, I love this short piece/excerpt from the upcoming Tashi Dorji LP on Bathetic. I don't know, just works for me but won't convince anyone not into it already. Just rides a lot of lines I enjoy:

http://adhoc.fm/post/tashi-dorji-murmur/

gotta check that new dorji out.
very nice mix courtesy marcus at dying for bad music: http://dyingforbadmusic.com/blog/post/2015/02/dfbm-67-morning-raga-pt-i.html

also on dfbm - this amazing ad
http://40.media.tumblr.com/891826abf3dfe379ef718cc0f2f915ee/tumblr_n6k9bpObyj1qi56ero1_500.jpg

Crispy!
I would be down with a listening thread
I don't wanna do a poll, I'm not good at ranking stuff

agree on both counts.

also i never post here but this is the best thread on ilx, basically everything i hear from this thread is dope, thanks yall

Happy birthday -
Terry Robb posted this pic of him and Fahey in studio, 1983

http://i62.tinypic.com/qxt0g0.jpg

Fahey week still going over at delta slider, Scott put up those DoD outtakes I uploaded along with another post of the full Zabriskie Point sessions. Which are pretty wild, seemingly endless, low fidelity noodling. Loving it. Had never come across it before.

swweeeeeet. still gotta check out those dance of death outtakes. never heard the zabriskie pt sessions either! i love fahey's (perhaps untrue) story about a fistfight w/ antonioni.

That story in "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life" is so good, whether completely true or not. Might need to read that book again, it has been a while.

Also, welcome Adam! Nice to know there are some folks tuning in here. An endlessly generous thread in my opinion.

the gunn/twig pickers is really great, like the more casual jammy feel, the last gunn album is good but almost felt a bit too put together in some way

I love that Gunn record, especially after seeing the songs from it live, but really look forward to hearing that Gunn/Pickers record for the reason you mention too (i.e., a loose run through of some primo material by some great musicians).

Checking out this new Andrew Weathers tape (well, bandcamp stream) and really enjoying it:

https://andrewweathers.bandcamp.com/album/littlefield

Nice phrasing and repetition in my opinion, pretty considered and restrained but purposefully so. Nice sound all around for me.

you can check out a track from the new/great daniel bachman record on three lobed now: http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/river

Yeah, that new Daniel Bachman tune is killer. This album is going to be really really good.

Pretty sure it was all recorded in a single day.

Robbie Basho on "Nightflight" - Interview on radio -- so funny the host plugs a Bauhaus gig before Basho's interview starts

http://soundcloud.com/grasstopsrecording/sets/bfbs-nightflight-interview

haha, yeah, at first i was like ... Basho opened for Bauhaus?!

checkin out the upcoming tashi dorji on bathetic -- really gorgeous! this guy is in a league of his own, but man, so good.

good local bandcamp discovery - Orchard Thief

this is super meditative am prim stuff, has some earlier album on spotify that are much more ambient/lo-fi mix of electronics and guitar effected stuff (also very good and worth checking out)

http://orchardthief.bandcamp.com/album/guitar-river

does anyone know anything about david lacey, the guy who plays drums on born with the caul? his discogs page is a bunch of stuff i've never heard of http://www.discogs.com/artist/654765-David-Lacey

don't know anything about him -- only name i recognize there is keith rowe from AMM? i do really like his drumming w/ the cosmos, a nice lope you don't hear too much these days.

me too! i've been communing with "double horse" and i tried to play it the other day and it's challenging but also reaaaaaally enjoyable

yeah, i've actually played that song to the drummer in my band and told him to copy the vibe. harder than it seems.

seems to be a matter of control and feel rather than technical expertise afaict

yeah, getting into the "zone," holding back as much as you're diving in.
seems like cian nugent has been making a new record -- maybe a mix of stuff w/ and w/o the cosmos i think?

holding back as much as you're diving in.
otm, like a dance

Have you guys heard this record?

http://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/7746

yeah! it is pretty good - maybe not as fully formed as the stuff he's gone on to do, but well worth checking out if you like him. cool that it is getting a proper release -- I just have mp3s.

i have it, it's more soundscapey than a lot of things he's done. some droney/found sound collage stuff plus acoustic tracks. he re-recorded a song or two here and there- one for sure shows up on the blue ash montgomery release from last year. pretty decent if you're into him but i'd say he's more fully-fleshed out on newer releases?

tyler read my mind

Alright, awesome thanks guys! Been browsing the RSD list... might have to pick up the Giant Sand reissue but all of his records are in the "lingers and gets marked down over time" category of RSD releases.

Giant Sand reissue as well*

not quite on topic for this thread, but the key RSD release is the Hagerty-Toth Band on Three Lobed.

Record Store Day (4/18) ltd. ed. double-LP reissue of Wm. Tyler's Deseret Canyon, T.'s video, streams, tour dates here: http://www.mergerecords.com/william-tyler-deseret-canyon

Yeah we were just discussing that one! I'm definitely going to pick that up.

hey you guys know Reverb.com? It's basically an online site, a used gear marketplace for private sellers and buyers, I guess like Discogs for music gear/guitar/equipment etc?

Anyway I was looking for a DI box for recording stuff and it turns out some of the staffers on the blog there are into solo guitar stuff and they do these cool (and really well recorded) interview/playing sessions! Bachman, Steve Gunn, Kaki King, and Nels Cline

http://reverb.com/blog/reverb-soundcheck-daniel-bachman

http://reverb.com/blog/reverb-soundcheck-steve-gunn

http://reverb.com/blog/mystery-box-challenge-with-nels-cline-and-julian-lage

http://reverb.com/blog/reverb-soundcheck-kaki-king

hey brigade buds

dying for bad music made a "field guide to sarah louise" on soundcloud that i really like, can't remember if she's been mentioned

http://soundcloud.com/dyingforbadmusic/sets/sarah-louise-field-guide-outtakes

i myself am still plagued a bit by this tendonitis which unfortunately may be a part of some larger infllammatory thing going on with me, awaiting some tests & hopefully can get this worked out but worrisome and potentially threatening to my career as America's 1500th best American Primitive Guitarist (TM) :/

bought some phosphor bronze/silk/steel hybrid john pearse strings nic garcia told me could be a little easier on the picking hand...

i dunno, either way i want to record what i have written so worse comes to worse i'll gobble an unhealthy amount of advil for a month and at least get an "album" done for bandcamp

got a squier strat off craigslist this weekend, really nice little guitar, 96 "50th anniversary" some guy fixed up, plays great -- forgot how much easier it is to play electric, hoping this will be easier on me

anyway been moving from audacity to reaper for recording and listening to a lot of crazy horse so i blew off a little steam and jammed out to this thing (tyler should get a kick out of the song title at least)....my little dinky offbrand version of solar motel chris forsyth :) was fun to play lead, hadn't in ages

http://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/honey-slides

sorry to hear about the ongoing tendonitis issues, dude!
"honey slides" sounds nice and shakey.
need to check out more of the sarah louise stuff, sounds good. actually just saw that she wrote me an email a few months back and i ignored it! what a jerk. i get a lot of emails.

and while i'm here, i'll reiterate that the last richard bishop album (tangier sessions) is totally amazing.

Gonna see him soon!

^ gonna be at that

saw him open for swans once, i think it was good, but i wasn't really in a place to 'get' that sort of playing so excited to have a second chance to see him

and while i'm here, i'll reiterate that the last richard bishop album (tangier sessions) is totally amazing.

― tylerw, Monday, March 16, 2015 6:13 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh! I happened to pick this up on Saturday! Still have to listen to it but I loved the tracks I had already heard. He was amazing live last year in Jersey City.

another thing I absolutely need :(

and if you're out there ogmor- the volk guitar playlist on spotify is the best playlist on spotify.

found so much good stuff on there.

http://open.spotify.com/user/ogmor/playlist/6YJVAWIuy5Xk2wBtbI4zj3

thanks! I enjoyed spending a bit of time putting it together, it's quite a mix so I'm pleased if you think it works. any particular favourites?

I really enjoy the Lou Harrison stuff, Jim McAuley, and Leo Brouwer. It is quite a variety but I think it all 'works' pretty well. I tend to put it on shuffle when I listen and always come across something great. Also the Indonesian Guitars track...

Posted this on the obit thread too but RIP Sam Charters:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/arts/music/samuel-charters-foundational-scholar-of-the-blues-dies-at-85.html

RIP!

seems like he had a great life, in the midst of the blues revival in NY, going off on sojourns to new orleans or the bahamas to stumble across people like gus cannon and joseph spence. his mythologizing liner notes & fahey's satire thereof were a golden era of highbrow writing about popular music, and there's something I find quite appealing in the relationship between the two of them

yeah, coincidentally i'm re-reading how bluegrass destroyed my life and I've been thinking a lot about the collectors who went off in search of the blues musicians. The Mountains of Projection! Pyramids Along The Mississippi!
Steve Lowenthal posted the complete transcript of his talk w/ Charters (conducted for the Fahey bio) over here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153260938708738&set=a.135788958737.110665.726613737&type=1
Some good stuff!

seconded on volk guitar playlist, it's a nice expression of your personal aesthetics ogmor

where is grandavis lately? miss that guy

Hah good timing UMS, was just catching up here. It has been a brutal couple of weeks work-wise and I have been lagging behind on all kinds of things. Hope your hand is doing alright, but playing electric is maybe a good diversion in the meantime. Maybe it will lead to some breakthroughs when you can get back in the saddle with the acoustic? Mixing it up can be good for the brain.

And yeah, Ogmor's volk playlist is great, as is his thread of videos that he updates now and again.

And thanks man, I definitely miss the conversations here too when I get pulled away for a while.

glad you're well!

arm's doing ok...taking it slow, doc gave me some steroids to see if that helps.

ogmor - particularly curious about Grup Bamba Puang? off and Indonesian comp? really amazing playing and seems to be a real synthesis of western folk and Indonesion tonalities?? obv interested in how that all came about, probably something to do w/colonialism as is often the case

The Ryley Walker "Primrose Green" moment is here. Checking this NYCTaper set out now, and it is sounding pretty sweet:

https://soundcloud.com/acidjacknyc/sets/ryley-walker-live-at-babys-all-right-brooklyn-2015-03-15

Haven't checked it yet, but the album is now up for streaming at NPR. Probably this year's "Way Out Weather" in regards to critical reception/appraisal.

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/22/393818941/first-listen-ryley-walker-primrose-green

Also, not to dig too deeply into this kinda thing, but I find it interesting that Paul Sukeena dropped outta the Solar Motel touring band only to join the Steve Gunn touring band a short time later. Not a bad trajectory, and a good player. Still, guess this counts as some kind of news in this thread.

Oh shit, Jason Ajemian (Born Heller with Josephine Foster, occasional Hush Arbors accompanist, as wekk as tons of his own great shit) is playing bass on that live set. Very cool, Jason is the best.

yeah always kinda felt that ryley might be the most "marketable" of all the new crew....and that's not meant as snark, just that he seems to have a big personality, writes really strong songs and -- unlike most -- is much more in the vocal-based singer-songwriter vein

yeah he is really more in line w/ what, say, hiss golden messenger is doing than a lot of the people in this thread. in fact, i was playing his new one recently and someone who i *know* has several DMB albums in his collection said "hey who is this, this is cool."(not a diss, i love both of ryley's albums).

i mean, Wm. Tyler's probably the more marketable end too, but i did get the sense that merge are good peeps and liked him because he was good but maybe didn't know what to do with him in a sense? instrumental stuff just seems to be a bit limited, i guess like maybe some 90s post rock stuff like Tortoise, Godspeed, etc got to a pretty big stage but it seems tougher overall w/o vox

not sure if i buy some of this, but it was kind of an interesting piece on instrumental music's lack of popularity in the US
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/features/why_americans_hate_instrumental_music.html

blargh that's ridiculous
music that is able to communicate feeling without words is the best
words are for birds

interesting stuff in there but this is bullshit:

"Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate rap for what it is, but it does not promote the full development of musical ears. If a song truly has musical substance it can be played in a purely instrumental fashion whether by solo piano or guitar, to a woodwind quintet, or all the way up to a full orchestra) and we would still be able to recognize the piece and be able to enjoy it (or loathe it if we didn't care for it in the first place). "

yeah that's where it gets into the sort of thing you'd expect from a website called "ultimateguitar"...

haha yep. i used to read their forums off and on for some reason and they were execrable

he's also ignoring the popularity of dance and EDM music which obv sometimes has vocals but is far more an istrumental genre

though i agree w/la lechera, i'm more and more drawn to instrumental music

also in terms of being a performer it's like go instrumental and you've just cut your chance of embarassing yourself by like 60 percent, easy :)

Hah hah I am not going to read that piece at all. Now, one questions I AM intersted in understanding is why so many people I know seem to have a lot of time for experimental (or at least slightly weird/off/"out there" whatever) films and TV, abstract and conceptual visual art, and similar types of literature but listen to practically zero similarly challenging musicians, instrumental or otherwise?

so should i go see charlie parr? he's playing in my neck of the woods this weekend...

yeah! i enjoy him. some of his stuff is a lot more 'straight' folk/blues but he's a great player. also a big fahey/metzger/lang fan apparently! have you listened to the album Hollandale at all? Extended improvisation stuff, unlike anything else he's done.

would a bunch of jam band people turn up tho? i know he has some crossover with that crowd here in MPLS

i think i only know his name from some stray mentions on the previous thread... dunno about the crowd -- the place he's playing is the standard indie rock venue in denver.

Hell yes go! He's great

oh nice. well if you've never even listened then i'd say for sure! he's pretty captivating

i asked about the crowd because he plays some weird shows here in the cities. (Famous Dave's Blues BBQ Fest?)

well honestly I think he tries to make a living at it and those type of gigs probably pay

but yeah he's the type of guy who could roll in a lot of different situations though, the old timey stuff can really travel amongst crowds so who knows if he gets more of the bluegrass fest/jam band scene...but either way I don't have a ton of time usually for people who seem so explictly retro (though as you say his Hollandale record shows he's more than capable of doing american primitive style stuff) but he really seems to inhabit the songs and has a fire about it that lot of 'old man hat' (hi skot!) don't have haha

for sure. he's not treating the vibe like a fun costume to wear or something

has he ever ridden the rails and slept in a hobo jungle though?

xp that's no way to treat the vibe

i know he's from austin MN (home of spam) and peter lang said his parents were big hormel union people i guess

hmm spam is pretty authentic Americana i guess

the Hormel strike in the 80s (the P9 Labor Union) inspired one of the last American folk songs! :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdH-F4PYqwc

wrote a little bit about that new dennis taylor reissue on grasstops -- seriously a very nice record. only the spanish-tinged tune doesn't really do it for me.
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/03/25/dennis-taylor-dayspring
also, a steve gunn band radio sesh to listen to: http://folkadelphia.bandcamp.com/album/steve-gunn-folkadelphia-session-10-17-2014

Reports that John Renbourne has died :(

Probably don't talk about him enough on this thread, but what an amazing player & Pentangle is one of my real inspirations

yeah RIP. one of the best. and obviously an amazing acoustic player, but the dude was great on electric too -- check out his playing on Pentangle's "Jack Orion," so killer.

Yeah, sad. RIP. Such a good player.

In less sad news, I just found out that I am getting to open for Daniel Higgs next week. I am a big Lungfish/Higgs fan, but my cohort in Grand Banks is like the BIGGEST Lungfish/Higgs fan, so this is a big deal. Higgs kind of a fringe member of the ILX Brigade musical universe, one which I personally really enjoy. Some wildy enjoyable banjo playing coming out of that man.

I don't hold it against him but one time when I was like 18 I saw his old old band Reptile House at a hardcore show (at the old Trax club, grandavis) and he punched some kid in the face! then maybe 5 years ago I saw him open for the Boredoms and he was very good.

Oh man, that sucks about punching a kid Sleeve. Perhaps a symptom of the times? He does not seem like the kind of guy that would do that, but it is not like I really know him. He seems like a benign weirdo these days.

Also, Trax had the grossest bathroom I have ever used at a show. That place sucked, though I saw a few good shows there. It closed down shortly after I moved into town though. The absolute weirdest show I saw there was Fugazi ('99 or 2000 or something?). There were a bunch of dudes there in a big pack who had obviously just shown up for something to do, and they walked around en masse trying to bait folks into fighting by calling them faggots etc. It was gross/depressing and I kept waiting for Ian to notice and take the dudes to task but instead they just got bored and left.

yeah, keep in mind this was literally almost 30 years ago, they were a weird band for the hardcore kids and maybe people were giving them shit? it's a very distinct memory though.

I spent the summer of 1985 seeing a bunch of hardcore shows there, I think the last thing I saw at the club was an exhausted Sonic Youth on the next-to-last show of the Daydream Nation tour, December 1988.

also I had a dream once that I saw Richard Bishop play there! long after it had closed...

Whoa yeah, way before my time. I missed the whole 80s hardcore boat basically, and never saw Trax in its early stages. Hard to even believe Sonic Youth played Charlottesville, wonder if there is a recording of it somewhere? Sometimes exhausted bands play good shows, sometimes not. How was that one?

Sir Richard is playing here in mid April, I am psyched. Small room too.

That's awesome! I've been LOVING Tangier Sessions.

i love lungfish a lot, and could totally see how their sort of weird hypnotic cyclical riffs and incantations thing would translate to a more folk context but never checked out higgs for some reason, partially because he seems to have such a scattered discography of small release stuff, where's a good place to start?

I really like "Ancestral Songs" and "Metempsychotic Melodies". Also, "Hymnprovisations" is all solo banjo I believe, maybe the closest thing to what this thread focuses on generally, but I haven't listened in a while (I get them confused a bit). Keep in mind, he doesn't ape Asa Osbourne's playing that frequently, i.e., the circular riffs don't always show up. A lot of his playing is wild, like Bill Orcutt/way out Metzger kind of stuff.

xps I have a very poor quality Walkman recording of the SY show, LOL. they were ragged but fun. BALL opened and Kramer was passing around a bag of wine (out of one of those boxes).

I gotta get Tangier Sessions!

Hah cool. Still haven't heard Tangier Sessions, just gonna go into that show cold and hear the songs live.

I have a very poor quality Walkman recording of the SY show, LOL
ysi?

I'd like to join the Nathan Bowles fan club after seeing him in Steve Gunn's band. That dude's got it.

No doubt

La Lechera, have you checked the Nathan Bowles and Scott Verrastro duo record on MIE? I think you would really like it. Nathan is definitely tackling a lot of approaches successfully, great musician.

I think Nathan's latest solo record is fantastic. The vocal sections on it kind of seemed veering on gimmicky to me but still it's super solid and enjoyable.

Eh, I know what you mean, but when you see Nathan live those songs are 100% effective "in the room" so to speak. He did some very cool non-lyrical vocalisations within the context of the songs last time I saw him and that took the effect, for me, was that it took those songs into the realm of a really cool and engaged "performance", if that makes sense. I mean, my town is lousy with old-time-oriented and "bluegrass" bands singing in all kinds of styles (many of them unnaturally "old timey" and gimmicky for sure), and on the surface Nathan is singing similarly, but when you compare them in practice (via seeing it live I guess) you really feel the difference. I am of course quite biased cause I really like what Nathan does (and of course you are into it to Evan), but I have gotten to a place with a lot of folk/singer-songwriter/bluegrass/old-timey stuff where is goes down to that age-old scenario: I know the stuff I like when I hear it, and dislike a whole lot of it, but can I truly explain why to someone? Not really.

middling review for Ryley Walker on Pitchfork

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20215-primrose-green/

Yeah, I'm sure it is much more effective live and I definitely strive to not think about it too hard and otherwise just enjoy it if I enjoy it, but in general that kind of thing is much more dangerous in a cartoony/roleplaying way in the vocal department than it ever is in the instrumentation/composition department. So when these artists are conjuring these themes and tones through instrumental pieces it's way less distracting to me than when they do so with vocals. Again though, in this case I really like the record!

xpost

What's funny about that Ryley Walker review is that it happens to touch on a very very similar point that I'm trying to describe regarding Nathan Bowles.

Well, it is certainly "safer" to eschew vocals altogether if you are a good instrumentalist/musician, as it eliminates one barrier to/critical barometer for whether or not the music is succeeding on some substantial level. I of course am a huge fan of instrumental music. Still, there is something inherently brave about singing (to me). Certainly it isn't a good idea for everyone, but these two cases seem to justify it pretty easily (though Ryler is a different case and I am not into all the vocals honestly). I mean, in Nathan's case, he is covering/interpreting songs from an era, and he and his cohorts in the Black Twigs are pretty invested in providing a platform for that material, so from my viewpoint there aren't to many other ways for those songs to really be played "convincingly" than in the ways he is playing them, unless you do a complete genre overhaul and do the songs in a modern way.

Yeah it really all comes down to how on the nose you're being with the era styling you're attempting to conjure and replicate. Also what's fashionable right now determines how much those stylings stick out and potentially feel gimmicky.

for me, the more trad stuff in the bowles/black twig/pelt universe really works because of the overall context of what these musicians do -- even if they're playing "john hardy" or something pretty straight one minute, you know there's a deep drone around the next corner. it's a nice blend they've got going.

Yeah, that blend is definitely nice. As far as era-styling goes, to me it is helpful to look at some of these songs/approaches similarly to hymns: I mean, you can take "Silent Night" out for a spin in various guises, but generally it doesn't work if you play it too far from "solemn/dignified".

lol now I am imagining a really upbeat, scat-style version of that, perhaps done by Cab Calloway or Bing Crosby

Hah me too! Well, for me it is a disco version ....

La Lechera, have you checked the Nathan Bowles and Scott Verrastro duo record on MIE? I think you would really like it. Nathan is definitely tackling a lot of approaches successfully, great musician.

― grandavis, Monday, March 30, 2015 8:09 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark

no but i will! i loved the drumming but also i thought his presence was amazing.

That Bowles/Verrastro record is a percussion duo record, but very very musical. I have a good live set too, but I don't have it posted anywhere right now I don't think.

I just realized in the same week:

April 21 - Sir Richard Bishop
April 25 - Marc Maron

Gonna be great, never seen Bishop, plus really interested in seeing Robert Millis opening - Sublime Frequencies and Dust-to-Digital compiler and cover designer.

Seeing Bishop tonight will report back!

Enjoy!

.....and i guess the show starts at 7, not 9 like most bar shows and i work until 9 so i can't go ;_;

bummer man! on the one hand i do like earlier start times because most bar shows go too late for my blood, but sucks that you have to miss it. i'll try and report back and maybe take a video or two.

yeah please do! no normally i would LOVE an early show, this just happens to be the one night i have to work late and i can't get out of it

Saw the Youtube interview of Bishop talking about the hundred plus year old acoustic he ended buying in Geneva and using in Tangiers to record his latest release. Tangiers Sessions has a few really straight-forward pretty songs and the rest are trad and nice too. That guitar sounds like an oud on one track.

He's coming to my location on the 11th with Mills and Kahoutek.

global report back!

i gotta get some stuff by kaki king, this is great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lfWhaxaHVkA

some of her stuff gets a bit guitar mag and/or gimmicky but her good shit is really good

yeah, i think i had that idea, just never really checked it out.
wasting time this morning looking around for info on this guitar soli holy grail...
http://cdn.discogs.com/6TtVh-jXKIj1JLTligpKh0aSy1s=/fit-in/320x240/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-3366719-1327563722.jpeg.jpg
http://www.discogs.com/George-Cromarty-George-Keller-Garden-Street-More-Grassroots-Guitar-A-Thistle-Sampler/release/3366719

wait what is that??

some lost cromarty album? with some other guy on there too.

cromarty is one of those names that always makes me lol for some reason
marty cromarty

heh heh.
just saw someone left this comment on the little thing i wrote about him a while back - http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2012/11/15/george-cromarty-grassroots-guitar/
Thanks for this site. I first met George in 1972. Mrs. Larsen, the French teacher at Morro Bay High School, asked him to come in and sing French folk songs to one of her classes. I had a class in the same room the following period. By chance I arrived at class early to find a guy in overalls playing beautifully on a sweet little Washburn. He was done singing and just playing instrumentals. The first song I heard from start to finish was Harpsichord. When he was done, I approached him to see if he would give me lessons. He said “yes” and handed me a business card with a contact number. The card was yellow, hand drawn and had a picture of a smiling sun on it. It was for a group that he was part of called Pacific Buffalo Hawk. I kept that card among my keepsakes for many years.
The week I was to start lessons with him, I suddenly went out of state for an extended stay and had to postpone. When I came back to California, George said his life had taken turns that wouldn’t allow him to teach. Too bad!
In many ways that fall day in 11th grade was a defining moment in my life. I had a passion for solo acoustic guitar that had started with exposure to John Fahey and Sandy Bull. I had been playing guitar for about a year and immediately gravitated to fingerstyle. George’s tone on that vintage Washburn parlor (vintage in 1972) and his compositions clarified my dreams in ways that have shaped my life ever since.
Some people have compared him to Fahey but I think that’s really misleading. I’m a fan of Fahey’s brooding improvisations but George was an altogether different guitarist. Instrumental guitarists have been criticized for composing by building on a riff that often starts with finger technique and not melody. George was a composer who wrote solid, well-harmonized melodies that happened to be played on the guitar. Of all of the solo guitarists I’ve enjoyed over the years, I think George was truly the best composer of them all.
To Nannette and the rest of the family, be assured that you are not alone in your loss.
To George, rest in peace! I hope to hear you again one day in another place.

aw

that's really nice

cromarty's stuff really should be more widely available, hope kyle gets that project done

yeah guess he's hitting some hurdles?