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My Guthrie-Influened Music Adventures

 
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:54 pm    Post subject: My Guthrie-Influened Music Adventures Reply with quote

One thing about my long business trips to Asia: I actually get a good amount of time to listen to a lot of music undisturbed. I can't say that I could quite do that when I'm back home with work and various family matters to attend to. Here in Asia in factory dorm or hotel rooms after the workday and dinner, I have hours on end to really listen to music, read a few books, or watch a movie in a way I can't do at home.

I'm well beyond the going out to the karaoke bar, getting drunk and singing 'My Way,' playing air guitar to 'Hotel California,' or whatever with the "entertainer" girls who the hosts set up with you. I did so much of that during my days at Fender in the 90's that I have absolutely no use for that kind of after-dinner entertainment anymore. I just want to get back to my room and my iDevices to enjoy my media, the web, and hooking up with the family via texting, Skype, FaceTime, etc. as well as catching up on my other businesses.

The past month or so, I've been in a total metal phase after Guthrie turned me onto Tosin Abasi during NAMM. I'd often ask Guthrie who are the "new" interesting guitar players he'd recommend and he'd been mentioning Tosin for a while. I checked out a few vids of him over a year ago on YT but didn't really care for the detuned metal kind of thing that I figured was accompanied by growling vocals and left it at that. I asked him again this NAMM and he again mentioned Tosin so I said to myself: "Okay, let's download an album of his and give him a serious listen."

The metal side in me had been dormant for years but what Tosin was doing clicked with me right away - well, especially since his Animals As Leaders stuff is all instrumental. After a few listens of the 'Weightless' album all the way through, I was like: "Wow. This is just what I needed to supplement my guitar music diet of Guthrie, Landau, Jeff Beck, and Metheny." Tosin is awesome. I'll go as far as to say that he's the most impressive "new" player I've heard since Guthrie himself.

Tosin's unique mix of Meshuggah-type "djent" ultra-low and super-fast odd meter rhythms with experimental electronica/techno, Holdsworth-esque fusion lines, all-out OTT shred, and rather sophisticated jazz chordal harmonies got me hooked. Love what he's doing. I even met him at a bar in Hollywood after an Aristocrats MI gig a year ago but I didn't know who he was or what he did. I just remember him being a very nice guy. Just an amazing player... I really dig what he's doing.

Anyway, the Tosin "discovery" totally got me into a metal phase and I really started getting into Meshggah's stuff. I've been listening to Meshuggah almost non-stop for the past week or so in China and you know what? The stuff is just sublime. I really love the 'Ob Zen' album. It's so intense that there is a certain kind of "beauty" to it, if you get my drift.

Then, I checked out Periphery's 'Periphery II' knowing that Guthrie did a guest solo on one of the tunes. I would not have even bothered trying to listen to a band like this a few months ago but now I'm a fan. There's real melody happening besides pummeling 7-string rhythm that bludgeons your head. Guthrie's guest solo on a tune called 'Have A Blast' is just awesome, one of the very best guest solos that Guthrie has done to date.

It's really great to hear Guthrie in such a heavy setting. Guthrie isn't a "metal" guy by a long shot but he can appreciate it - after all, he's the one who's been recommending all the cool metal stuff to me to check out as I sure don't have the time to wade through the stuff.

BTW, the new Aristocrats studio album has a real heavy tune penned by Bryan called 'Living The Dream.' I wouldn't say it's "metal" in the proper sense of the word but it's just damn heavy - heavier than anything on 'EC' or the 'The Aristocrats' album. I saw the tune being performed every night during the post-NAMM tour and it was really cool to see Guthrie in a setting like that.

The metal side of me (although a small part) really dug Guthrie doing that. I hope he explores that side more in the future. Being that both Bryan and Marco have a fairly large part (although well less than half) of them that's hardcore metal, I think it's safe to say we may see more of that in the future.

And now I'm slipping out of the metal phase a bit after bludgeoning my brain with Tosin, Meshuggah, and Periphery and moving onto the prog phase as I absorb Steven Wilson's new 'The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)' that Guthrie is a big part of and will be in SW's tours this year. Honestly, I'm not a 'classic prog' fan. I was a big 70's Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Genesis, etc. fan in my mid-to-late teens phase but I came to absolutely despise the genre after I got into jazz and fusion in my college days. To this day, I just can't listen to that stuff anymore.

I can also tell you that Guthrie was never a fan of that stuff. He doesn't even know the names of most of the Yes albums from the 70's. Being that he's a supreme Zappa fanatic, I can see why. Guthrie is a lot of things musically but pretentiousness isn't one of them. Guthrie likes humor and self-depracating kinds of stuff, not overwrought magnum opuses composed by people who take themselves too seriously.

I've been always leery of bands that modeled themselves after that 70's prog thing and can't say I even checked out most of the Porcupine Tree stuff but I was able to tell that at least PT stripped things down and moved the music in a fresh direction. Still, it wasn't for me. Then, knowing Marco's involvement with SW, I gave 'Grace For Drowning' an earnest listen and even went to see his show in Hollywood last year with my wife. We both enjoyed it quite a bit and I thought, "Hmmm... This is a nice take on that old tired prog thing."

'The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)' is still growing on me after several listens. Certain aspects of it definitely remind me of that 70's prog stuff but in a good way. And, boy, the mellotron still sounds so good - infinitely better than any synth or sampler string section patch. It's like a pleasant trip back to 'The Court of the Crimson King.'

Yet, there are many other "modern" elements going on that makes this album a refreshing listen. Yes, it's moody, somewhat dark, perhaps even a little gloomy, but the musical ideas are fresh and energetic and the dynamic range of the overall sound is quite breathtaking. One thing I heard from Guthrie about the production process of SW's recordings is that they're not mastered, just mixed. It's finished after the mixing, so there is no overall compression going on.

And that's why you hear the sonic glory: huge and wide sounding yet extremely detailed with an expansive dynamic range. You hear every little detail of every instrument at every volume level. Well, I guess going from Meshuggah for a few weeks to this will amplify that even more! Laughing

Some of you guys aren't going to dig it. Some will say it's boring or even maudlin. I may have said that a few years ago. One thing I learn from Guthrie as just a music fan when I hang out with him is to keep an open mind to all musical styles. Perhaps it will require a little time and effort to make an adjustment from whatever you're normally listening to on a casual basis.

We all get lazy. We don't want to actually sit down, block everything else out, and concentrate on a piece of music. I'm certainly guilty of it and I have to reprimand myself when I do that. I just turn on familiar music I've already listened to many times while I'm browsing the web or working on a spreadsheet. That's not listening. Every time I see and hang out with Guthrie and talk about music with him, I know right away that he's been really listening, not just playing something on the background while he's doing something else like I would do in LA.

So this has really got me thinking about how to approach music as a listener again. It made me think about the old days when I'd buy a new album and do nothing but give 100% of my attention to that album. Now, we just download something, play it through the computer monitor while being distracted with what's on the browser, listen to it in the car while driving and talking on the cellphone, listen to it through Bluetooth earbuds while working out in the gym, etc. and say, "Yeah, I listened to it. It was okay."

Guthrie has shown me that that's not the way to do it. Don't check out a few YT vids while being distracted with something else in your mind and say, "Nah, that's not my thing." I'm going to really start listening to music again - the way I used to before this Internet age when our brains are being stretched to a thousand different directions at all times.

Guthrie has introduced me to so much good music - from Debashish and Subhashish Battacharya (Indian raga) to Imogen Heap, from Nitin Sawhney to Jellyfish, from Derek Trucks to Aphex Twin, from Jeff Buckley to Tosin Abasi, and on and on of music and musicians I myself alone probably would never have discovered. It hasn't been a one-sided affair though. I can say that I've introduced him to the wonders of classical masters like Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. that, curiously, Guthrie has not had a chance to really absorb all this time. I got a sense of deep satisfaction when Guthrie once told me that Wagner's orchestral stuff that I sent him is really "amazing". Wink

Okay, enough rambling here from China. Another long day awaits before I fly out to more places in southern China and then going "home" to Korea late next week for a lot more to do there. Not even half-way through yet...
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Ed Yoon
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BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
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alexkhan



Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Want to note that Guthrie's amazing solo on 'Driving Home' was played on SW's LaRose Jazzmaster clone with the Sustainiac installed. There was no fretless guitar used on this tune or the album although a Vigier Surfreter will be going on the tour for use on another song from another SW album. Guthrie actually has the luxury of taking more than one guitar on a tour for a change but I get the feeling that will become the norm in the future. Smile
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Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
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JohnnyFavorite



Joined: 01 Jul 2012
Posts: 68

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting post, Ed.
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Degslon



Joined: 25 Feb 2013
Posts: 2
Location: United States

PostPosted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great post.

Animals as Leaders is indeed awesome, not surprised Guthrie likes them. I found Guthrie's playing on Raven to be some of the best I have heard from him to be honest. The solos fit exceptionally well with the music. Looking forward to seeing him out with Steven and then hopefully with the Aristocrats in July!
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