Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sage
"If more people worshipped music, the world would be a better place"
-Scott Ian of Anthrax
Amen to that, brother.
-Scott Ian of Anthrax
Amen to that, brother.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Platform
I love the extended guitar workout. Songs that exist for one reason, and one reason only -- so a hotshot axe-picker can blast off and solo his way into the sun. And I'm 'aint talkin' 'bout "Eruption" here, or any whimsical folk breakdown like Steve Howe or Jimmy Page might do. I'm talking about those slow-burning scorchers where the rhythm section locks in and lays down a bone-simple rhythmic bed for the soloist to go off on, and the singer retires from the stage to go get a blowjob from a groupie. They can be any length, but the best ones are the ones where either you never notice the time going by, or they leave you wishing they went on longer. So, without further ado, here is a few of my favorites.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno - First, all you hear is the drones and chants of the ancients, as if a giant obelisk looms in the distance. Suddenly a screech of feedback announces the arrival of an amped-up speed-freak boogie riff, and Japanese acid guru Kawabata Motako proceeds to being tearing the riff to pieces for the next 20 minutes. As analog synths pan dementedly and a warped space god makes cosmic pronouncements in the background, Motako carries on a full throttle sonic assault, exploring every scorching harmonic that his ultra-distorted guitar can summon.
Comets On Fire - Blue Tomb
Comets On Fire, where have you gone? For the first half of the 00s, these guys absolutely cold-cocked all comers in the psychedelic ultra-rock weight division. Since 2006 however, not a trace of these guys exists on the internet. Twin guitar godzillas Ethan Miller and Ben Chasny have obviously been busy with their many respective projects, but come on guys. It's been five years. You'd think you could at least hit the studio for a weekend and kick out some apocalyptic space death jams with the tape rolling just to give us heads something. Well, if they well and truly are finished, at least we'll always have this hazy sludge mountain to remember them by. As the titanic finale to Blue Cathedral, one of the greatest rock albums ever made, this 10 minute behemoth has always stood as the band's crowning achievement. Chasny and Miller here go supernova as the rythm section lays down a hypnotic groove anchored by Ben Flashman's supremely fuzzy bass. Unlike other Comets freakouts which are all feedback, distortion and amp scream, this is a controlled explosion in molasses slow-motion build towards a triumphant finale. Spirals of guitar undulate and bisect each other at chaotic angles while never spiralling too far from the song's central bass hook. Noel Von Harmonson's echoplex splatter adds a further dimension of sonic dimentia over top. When the whole thing explodes into a heavenly finale, you'll finally glimpse enlightenment. Too band they haven't been around in a while to take us back there.
Built To Spill - Broken Chairs
Doug Marsch is the rarest of things, an indie rock guitar hero. I don't know when hipsters decided that being a really good guitarist was actually a bad thing, but clearly no one told this guy. For a man that has made his career penning unforgettable melodies and twee as fuck ruminations on halcyon innocence, Marsh can absolutely wail on his axe. There is no better showcase for his fuzzy, Crazy Horse-inspired leads than the closing number from their 1999 Keep It Like A Secret album. Check out the 19 minute version on the aptly titled Live album if you really wanna hear him tear a hole in the universe.
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
George Clinton told Eddie Hazel to "play like yo mamma just died," and for the next 9 minutes, Hazel lays down an apocalyptic sonic trip through the gates of hell. Although he does pick up into some flashy, shredding licks at times, most of the solo accentuates Hazel's heavily delayed and distorted wah-inflected tone with masterfully sustained notes and emotionally devastating bends. If Hazel had done nothing else besides this song, he'd still deserve to rank among the greatest guitarists of all time. As it happens, he's all over the first three Funkadelic records, each of them a true psychedelic classic.
Jimi Hendrix - Red House
Really, any number of Hendrix tracks could have belonged on this list, but I've always had a soft spot for this cool Mississippi blues workout. Hendrix would often channel his earthy soul and years of chitlin circuit experience on this song, which he often extended up to 15 minutes or more in concert. Although not a pre-requisite for a great guitar showcase, his excellent vocal performance is of note. He's in full lover-man persona here, his vocals dripping with character and sexual desire. This is interesting, because Hendrix himself thought he was a bad singer, an assertion that I never agreed with.
Neil Young - Like A Hurricane
Not that Niel Young has a shortage of extended guitar jam platforms, but I've always been particularly in love with this song. Though he was known to stretch it out to impossible lengths in concert, this mainstay of his set never bores me. Well, maybe if you include his 33 minute sound collage Arc, but I don't. This song's unforgettable melody is couched in some of Young's most expressive soloing and bookended by his emotionally devastating singing. An absolute masterpiece.
Randy Holden - Fruit & Icebergs
Randy Holden recorded a version of this song with Blue Cheer on their New! Improved! album, but he was only a member of those rapidly fading sludge barons at the tail end of their initial period of greatness. Holden himslef stuck around long enough to record just one side of the record, then went off to record his incredible Population II solo debut, from which this song was taken. The album itself is a love letter to the electric guitar, an example of just how far you can go with one drummer, one supremely gifted axe-slinger, and a wall of amplifiers. This version of "Fruit & Icebergs" is done in gloriously sludgy half-time with twice the fuzz of the original. Holden's jaw-dropping excursions take 60's inspired hard rock and electric blues cliches straight into the ionosphere. You can almost hear the sweat beads running down Holden's forehead and the grimace on his face as he bends into and out of notes all over his punished fretboard. No doubt about it, the man sounds like he's digging a grave. Too bad the album didn't get released for 20 years and the record company sold his gear out from under him, kicking off Holden's 25 year exile from the music world.
Robin Trower - Bridge Of Sighs
I can't get over how rich and thick Trower's tone is on the title track from his 1974 solo album. Trower was never the fastest or most technical player, but when it came to nailing those slow, endless and liquid-smooth space-blues licks, no one has done it better save of Hendrix himself.
Sonic Youth - Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)
This is actually a group guitar jam, but the song's lazy lope is the perfect place for Thurston Moore and Lee Ronaldo to slather their molten, fuzz-caked guitars all over a gently babbling river of hallucinogenic sound. Take the trip.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno - First, all you hear is the drones and chants of the ancients, as if a giant obelisk looms in the distance. Suddenly a screech of feedback announces the arrival of an amped-up speed-freak boogie riff, and Japanese acid guru Kawabata Motako proceeds to being tearing the riff to pieces for the next 20 minutes. As analog synths pan dementedly and a warped space god makes cosmic pronouncements in the background, Motako carries on a full throttle sonic assault, exploring every scorching harmonic that his ultra-distorted guitar can summon.
Comets On Fire - Blue Tomb
Comets On Fire, where have you gone? For the first half of the 00s, these guys absolutely cold-cocked all comers in the psychedelic ultra-rock weight division. Since 2006 however, not a trace of these guys exists on the internet. Twin guitar godzillas Ethan Miller and Ben Chasny have obviously been busy with their many respective projects, but come on guys. It's been five years. You'd think you could at least hit the studio for a weekend and kick out some apocalyptic space death jams with the tape rolling just to give us heads something. Well, if they well and truly are finished, at least we'll always have this hazy sludge mountain to remember them by. As the titanic finale to Blue Cathedral, one of the greatest rock albums ever made, this 10 minute behemoth has always stood as the band's crowning achievement. Chasny and Miller here go supernova as the rythm section lays down a hypnotic groove anchored by Ben Flashman's supremely fuzzy bass. Unlike other Comets freakouts which are all feedback, distortion and amp scream, this is a controlled explosion in molasses slow-motion build towards a triumphant finale. Spirals of guitar undulate and bisect each other at chaotic angles while never spiralling too far from the song's central bass hook. Noel Von Harmonson's echoplex splatter adds a further dimension of sonic dimentia over top. When the whole thing explodes into a heavenly finale, you'll finally glimpse enlightenment. Too band they haven't been around in a while to take us back there.
Built To Spill - Broken Chairs
Doug Marsch is the rarest of things, an indie rock guitar hero. I don't know when hipsters decided that being a really good guitarist was actually a bad thing, but clearly no one told this guy. For a man that has made his career penning unforgettable melodies and twee as fuck ruminations on halcyon innocence, Marsh can absolutely wail on his axe. There is no better showcase for his fuzzy, Crazy Horse-inspired leads than the closing number from their 1999 Keep It Like A Secret album. Check out the 19 minute version on the aptly titled Live album if you really wanna hear him tear a hole in the universe.
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
George Clinton told Eddie Hazel to "play like yo mamma just died," and for the next 9 minutes, Hazel lays down an apocalyptic sonic trip through the gates of hell. Although he does pick up into some flashy, shredding licks at times, most of the solo accentuates Hazel's heavily delayed and distorted wah-inflected tone with masterfully sustained notes and emotionally devastating bends. If Hazel had done nothing else besides this song, he'd still deserve to rank among the greatest guitarists of all time. As it happens, he's all over the first three Funkadelic records, each of them a true psychedelic classic.
Jimi Hendrix - Red House
Really, any number of Hendrix tracks could have belonged on this list, but I've always had a soft spot for this cool Mississippi blues workout. Hendrix would often channel his earthy soul and years of chitlin circuit experience on this song, which he often extended up to 15 minutes or more in concert. Although not a pre-requisite for a great guitar showcase, his excellent vocal performance is of note. He's in full lover-man persona here, his vocals dripping with character and sexual desire. This is interesting, because Hendrix himself thought he was a bad singer, an assertion that I never agreed with.
Neil Young - Like A Hurricane
Not that Niel Young has a shortage of extended guitar jam platforms, but I've always been particularly in love with this song. Though he was known to stretch it out to impossible lengths in concert, this mainstay of his set never bores me. Well, maybe if you include his 33 minute sound collage Arc, but I don't. This song's unforgettable melody is couched in some of Young's most expressive soloing and bookended by his emotionally devastating singing. An absolute masterpiece.
Randy Holden - Fruit & Icebergs
Randy Holden recorded a version of this song with Blue Cheer on their New! Improved! album, but he was only a member of those rapidly fading sludge barons at the tail end of their initial period of greatness. Holden himslef stuck around long enough to record just one side of the record, then went off to record his incredible Population II solo debut, from which this song was taken. The album itself is a love letter to the electric guitar, an example of just how far you can go with one drummer, one supremely gifted axe-slinger, and a wall of amplifiers. This version of "Fruit & Icebergs" is done in gloriously sludgy half-time with twice the fuzz of the original. Holden's jaw-dropping excursions take 60's inspired hard rock and electric blues cliches straight into the ionosphere. You can almost hear the sweat beads running down Holden's forehead and the grimace on his face as he bends into and out of notes all over his punished fretboard. No doubt about it, the man sounds like he's digging a grave. Too bad the album didn't get released for 20 years and the record company sold his gear out from under him, kicking off Holden's 25 year exile from the music world.
Robin Trower - Bridge Of Sighs
I can't get over how rich and thick Trower's tone is on the title track from his 1974 solo album. Trower was never the fastest or most technical player, but when it came to nailing those slow, endless and liquid-smooth space-blues licks, no one has done it better save of Hendrix himself.
Sonic Youth - Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)
This is actually a group guitar jam, but the song's lazy lope is the perfect place for Thurston Moore and Lee Ronaldo to slather their molten, fuzz-caked guitars all over a gently babbling river of hallucinogenic sound. Take the trip.
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