AIRS - A Rock Opera

I can remember a moment, not so long ago, when the music world collectively sighed at the prospect of the Internet and what effect it would have on “the biz.” CD sales dropping, people buying songs instead of full albums, the inundation of thousands — if not millions — of bedroom musicians and bands being thrust onto the same playing field as the big boys. It was a time of worry for many.

But what most everyone seemed to miss was perhaps the single greatest advantage of the Internet: the power of bringing people together. Such was the case for Germany’s Steve Brockman and American George Andrade, who met online, became friends, and collaborated on the 2012 release of a concept CD: AIRS – A Rock Opera.

Brockmann/Andrade is the collaborative writing team of multi-instrumental recording artist and composer Steve Brockmann (Bredstedt, Germany) and freelance writer/editor George Andrade (Fall River, MA, USA). They met on the discussion forum for prog rock band Spock’s Beard.

In 2008 (or thereabouts), George approached Steve with the idea of writing an album from a subplot to a novel that he had planned to write based loosely on the “punishment” of the Manisses Indians on Block Island, Rhode Island, for the “accidental” murder of the captain of a trading vessel by a chieftain’s son and the subsequent “claim by right of conquest” and resettlement thereafter.

The Story

Brockman

On a small circular island in the Atlantic, Owen Doane has rolled through a stop sign and driven a car carrying two tourists – a mother and her 9 year old daughter — from the road to strike a stone wall. The accident caused the girl to suffer injuries that paralyzed her from the waist down, confining her life to a chair and thereby forcing Owen’s father, Derrick Doane, to suffer the collapse of his company that had been built upon the Doane family heritage of pulling stone from fields before harvest and building walls after milling grain since they had first settled Manisses Island in 1664. Owen returns home from prison to mend the walls and fences that he has destroyed and soon learns to speak of wind and air – not stone and mortar – and through the help of those he’s injured understands that our hearts are on strings.

The Music

It’s always a pleasant surprise when a CD has one of your favorite singers on it. In my case, that singer is Paul Adrian Villarreal (Sun Caged, Wooden Badger). Reminiscent of Kansas with hints of Eric Martin thrown in, Villarreal has an incredible voice that just blows me away every time I get a chance to listen to him. “Fateful Days” sets up the CD rather nicely, with some nice piano work and PAV’s great singing.  There are several vocalists on AIRS, not just to single PAV out, with each playing a different character of the story. Two of the singers didn’t really do it for me, but your mileage may vary.

Andrade

What surprised me the most (pleasantly) about the CD is the wide variety of styles and influences Brockman draws from to write. I can hear hints of everything from Kansas, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Pain of Salvation, and lots of European metal. At first you would think Kansas and Opeth wouldn’t necessarily gel together, but let me tell you… it works, and in Brockman’s case it works very well!

There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your feet, with excellent guest contributions from Spock’s Beard’s Dave Meros (bass) and Alan Morse (guitar), Jochen Ohl (drums), and others. I often found myself wondering where the music would go next, because I knew it wouldn’t be what I expected and yet I knew it was going to be good.

The Sweet Spot

When you right a CD’s worth of music, you can consider it a big success if you are able to piece together a few songs in order that really knock it out of the park one right after the other; the “sweet spot,” if you will. On AIRS, that sweet spot is actually three songs: Hannah, The Great Salt Pond, and Grounded II.

Hannah’s quirky opening chord progression, Salt Pond’s massively awesome gospel chorus (and another amazing vocal contribution from PAV), and the 80s-era thrash metal of Grounded II make for the highlight of the CD’s 70+ minutes. There is something about how these three very different songs work off each other that puts a smile on my face.

If you’re looking for something different to listen to, AIRS might be what you need. If you’re looking for a good dose of metal, rock, gospel, and thrash, AIRS can very well give you that fix.

Brockman-Andrade: AIRS – A Rock Opera is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Dramatic, Indeed!

It is often said that our biggest periods of growth come after the most traumatic events.

If that’s is true, then progressive rockers Dream Theater recently received an Olympic-sized injection of HGH when in 2010 it was announced that drummer and band patriarch Mike Portnoy was no longer with the band. It would be fair to say that Portnoy’s exit was the biggest hard rock/metal story of last year, and continues to be highly controversial – at least to Portnoy and his fans.

And with much fanfare and publicity, DT recently released their latest CD, (not so) ironically titled A Dramatic Turn of Events. Being a long-time DT fan who over the past few years has struggled to stay a die-hard fan, I was cautiously optimistic about what it might sound like. It’s no mystery that Portnoy was the driving force behind the band. So much so, however, that it became obvious to all that he was so much in control that it often placed him at odds with the rest of the band, especially when it came to songwriting, engineering, and production. That also set up ADToE (DT fans are big on the acronyms) to possibly be a huge failure now that the rest of the band had to fill that hole. The question is, how does the new CD fare?

The Pros

Let’s get to the good news first. DT fans are going to love the songs on ADToE. They are very well-written, offer tons of the great shredding you’ve come to love (and expect) from the band, and especially for us guitarists, John Petrucci delivers the goods as only he can.

Missing from the past few CD’s were the great interludes where it was all about the virtuosity. Thankfully they brought it back in full force for all of us to enjoy and salivate over. Lost Not Forgotten offers a great example of the band’s ability to piss us older folks off while relegating the younger generation to their bedrooms to try and be the first to show their cover song abilities on youTube.

New drummer Mike Mangini does a fine job of handling the material and, thankfully, not overplaying. A younger, less experienced drummer would probably have tried too hard, but Mangini does a very respectable job of simultaneously holding down the fort and tearing it up.

Fans of DT’s Scenes From a Memory era will be happy to hear some familiar riff writing showing up here, as well as a few nods to Opeth and Porcupine Tree. Personally, I’m a little tired of the SFaM riffage, but it’s a part of their sound now and so I’ll have to live with it.

I also liked that there is more diversity in this record that previous outings. Where Black Clouds & Silver Linings was all-out metal and Systematic Chaos was, well, not, Dramatic Turn has a nice mixture of the two. I think this has a lot to do with everyone having more of a say than in the past, and I also like that Petrucci, keyboardist Jordan Rudess, and bassist John Myung are playing off each other with different parts, rather than having all three playing in unison all the time.

One huge plus was that I could finally hear Myung! In most DT CDs he’s barely noticeable, which is a shame considering his immense talent. But on this CD he can be heard well and plays brilliantly.

Petrucci does a very nice job of getting back to “good” guitar solos instead of the mindless wanking that plagued the last few records. On a few occasions it sounded like he resurrected the ghost of himself from his Images and Words guitar solo days. That is the Petrucci guitar solo era I enjoy most, and I hope that moving forward he gets back to the melodic shredding instead of the notes-per-second speed tests.

The Cons

First and foremost, and I hate to jump on the bandwagon like everyone else, but I’m not the biggest fan of vocalist James LaBrie. I don’t think it’s his vocal quality so much as his melodic choices. DT’s breakout CD Images and Words had melodies that were iconic, albeit pyrotechnic. I’m not suggesting that LaBrie try to make dogs go nuts again, but it seems like he’s almost a little too comfortable with his current range. The melodies simply don’t come to life for me.

My biggest complaint still remains — the lyrics. DT’s lyrics have pretty much been god-awful from the beginning of their careers and they continue to suck. I really, really, really, really wish bands would spend more time writing great lyrics instead of just throwing shit together that they think sounds cool and rhymes. All bands should take a cue from Kevin Gilbert and learn how to write a good lyric. Yes, I know, DT is and always has been a band that puts the instruments in the forefront. But, as far as I’m concerned, if you’re going to have a singer then you need to make an effort! Case in point:

Somewhere overhead,
Distant thunder roars,
The Revolution has begun,
The war to end all wars,
As I welcome death,
I hear the battle cry,
Bullets fall like fire raining from the sky.

Oy vey!

These are lyrics from the song Outcry. Musically, Outcry is one of the strongest song on the CD, but these lyrics are so childish and phoned-in that they almost ruin it for me. I’m assuming that they are talking about the Arab Spring and all of the political turmoil going on in the Middle East. In theory, it’s a very strong topic that certainly deserves some attention, but these lyrics almost trivialize what’s going on over there.

Perhaps it’s just me, and perhaps on a guitar blog I should just shut up and only comment on the guitar playing, but for f*&#s sake, guys, your’e in your mid-40s; you should be able to put together something better than ” bullets fall like fire raining from the sky.”

*sigh*

Okay, the lyrics suck ass… rant over.

Though the production on the CD is very good, I think at times the mixing is a bit uneven. I can especially hear this in the drums, where in some parts the drums jump out to the front of the mix very prominently. I found this a bit distracting and wasn’t quite sure why it was mixed that way.

Thumb Up or Down?

All in all, the pros far outweigh the cons on A Dramatic Turn of Events. The lyrics are never going to improve (I’m resigned to that fact) and mixing is, to a point, certainly subjective. The music is great, they are all playing as well as ever, and there is more than enough kick-ass material to keep the listener enthralled for quite a long time.

From a guitar-only perspective, it’s all Petrucci. The guy is simply amazing and you will not be disappointed.

CD Review: Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn of Events is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Come Together Move Apart

I would like to get things rolling again here on Fretterverse by talking about a new CD from one of my friends, Nat Janoff. I have known Nat for a while now, and I was very happy when he sent me his latest CD – Come Together Move Apart.

One of the things I love the most about “the scene” is that there seems to be a never-ending supply of great music out there. Sometimes you have to look for it; other times, like in my case with having a friend of tremendous talent, it comes to your doorstep.

And so, without any further delays, I want to pick right up where I left off and get the ball rolling again while talking about a great new CD from a great jazz guitarist.

Nat Janoff

Come Together Move Apart can be appreciated as both music to listen and chill out with, as well as music for the serious jazz enthusiast. For me, I like to listen both ways, so this is a great CD for me. And I’m not just saying that because Nat is a friend (would I lie to you guys?). Accompanied by John Escreet (piano), Francois Moutin (bass), and Chris Carroll (drums), Come Together Move Apart is one of my favorites of 2010.

So let’s dig in, shall we?

The CD opens with Mood. I am quickly reminded of Pat Metheny. I honestly don’t know if Metheny is an influence of Janoff’s, but it definitely has that vibe. Janoff’s lines are smooth and lively on this track, with excellent comping highlights from Escreet.

Shorter Times opens with a nice drum solo from Carroll; very musical and expressive. It sets the mood quite nicely for the head, played by both Janoff and Escreet in unison and harmonized. Carroll takes the first solo, and it’s quite evident that the song is taking it’s cues from saxophonist Wayne Shorter (song title notwithstanding). Carroll rips it up with angular lines and great chords. Janoff knows well enough to stay out of the way until it’s his turn to solo. He really goes for it on this one, and it results in a very raw but ripping solo with some nice augmented triad arpeggios. The songs breaks into a bass solo by Moutin that is more “out” than the rest of the song, but unlike most bass solos it doesn’t slow down. Moutin and Carroll play very well together, especially on this song.

Song #3 – For Now – slows things down quite a bit, with a very nice guitar intro and 6/8 vibe. I am reminded of Peter Bernstein and a bit of Brad Mehldau piano work. Janoff’s songwriting maturity shines through here. I think “vibe” is definitely the right word. It has a nice mellow groove that flows throughout, even when Janoff is displaying yet another one of his excellent solos. Some great blues/pentatonic flavor in his solo on this tune!

Hope Fills My Heart is my favorite song on the CD. It retains a lot of the mellower vibe and is a great follow-up to For Now. More of the Metheny sound can be heard. (I really do need to ask him if he’s a Metheny fan.) I think it’s not only Janoff’s lines and melodies, but also the ride cymbal work of Carroll that reminds me so much of Paul Wertico. Moutin takes another great solo on this song.

Sketch 1 starts off almost as if it was going to become a free jazz romp, but quickly slows things down and evens out to create a really nice ballad ambiance, again reminiscent of Metheny and Mehldau. This is the least favorite of mine on the CD, but that’s not to say it’s a bad song. It just didn’t quite grab me as much as the others.

Moutin sets up an interesting bass line to start off Sunday Morning. This song has a nice mixture of vibes to it, from mellow ballad-like melody to slightly atonal and more angular soloing from Escreet. It’s a bit hard to define exactly what this song sounds like, as it mixes a bunch of feels together. But it’s also one of the most interesting songs on the CD, so well done to Janoff and crew.

Sketch 2 is, understandably, familiar sounding. I get the impression that this, as well as Sketch 1, were loosely written and mostly improvisational. Like Sketch 1 it’s towards the bottom of my favorites on the CD, but the piano interlude towards the end of the song is an excellent moment in the CD.

My second favorite song, Partly Cloudy, sounds like a very good spring or summer song to me. A nice punchy drum beat and catchy melody keep the song bopping along. It has nice punch and is one of the better vehicles for Escreet’s great piano playing.

The CD closes with Transit, a song that is in the same vein as the first few, which makes it a great closer. Janoff breaks out the rotovibe/tremolo for his solo, and throws in a little distortion to spice things up. This is perhaps Janoff’s best solo on the CD; he really puts it all out there and gives it all that he’s got. I love this solo, and you will too!

All in all, Come Together Move Apart is a great CD. If you are a jazz fan, guitar fan, or just good music fan, you will enjoy this CD. I don’t just say that because Nat’s a friend, but because good music is good music regardless of who’s playing it.

For more information on Nat and purchasing his CD (I recommend you do so), you can visit Nat’s website.

Nat Janoff: Come Together Move Apart is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Ronni Le Tekrø, with great guitar face

The late 1980′s and early 90′s was a great time for metal guitar. Players like Satch, Malmsteen, and Vai were pushing the envelope and bringing guitar to the forefront of everyone’s mind. MTV was dominated by great axe slingers and every bar in town had original music played every weekend.

While the guitar gods were getting most of the attention, a quiet but large group of phenomenal players were making names (and careers) for themselves somewhat off the beaten path. They got some airplay and a fair amount of video and TV time, but for the most part I believe they didn’t nearly get the recognition they deserved.

For your weekend entertainment I came up with a list of five CDs featuring great guitar players from back in the day that any serious rock/metal guitar player should check out. Each one of these CDs inspired me during the most crucial time of my musical development. Each brings both a sense of nostalgia and longing for days past when it was cool to write songs that had interesting guitar work and not a bunch of low-mixed power chords and no solos.

TNT – Intuition

Norway’s premier metal band of the 80′s. This is a great blend of cheesy pop metal combined with some of the sickest guitar work you’ll ever hear, including Ronni Le Tekrø’s amazing quarterstep guitar, which he was playing brilliantly way before anyone else even thought to try and play one.

This band – and their CD “Intuition” was truly ahead of their time.

Fates Warning – Parallels

One of the first true transcontinental bands (singer in Arizona, rest of the band in New England), Fates Warning created a string of CDs during the early 90′s that completely knocked me on my ass and made me stop everything I was doing on guitar and go a different direction. Their CD “No Exit” was the inspiration for my prog metal band Amsterdam. But, it was their 1991 masterpiece “Parallels” that, to me, was their crowning achievement. Guitarists Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti provided great foils for each other, Matheos the brilliant technician who wrote complex but rocking riffs, and Aresti, the melodic genius that glued it all together. A true hidden gem of the old century.

King’s X – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

The sad truth that the Texas-based power trio King’s X never made it huge has always been a great mystery to me. Grooving riffs, killer vocal harmonies, and the guitar work of one of the most underrated guitarists ever – Ty Tabor – have all of the makings for arena superstardom. All one has to do is listen to songs like “Over My Head,” “Summerland,” and “I’ll Never Be the Same” to understand why these guys are such huge influences to many of today’s (unfortunately) more famous rock stars.

Testament – The New Order

As early as 1988 when Testament‘s CD “The New Order” dropped, guitar Alex Skolnick was already experimenting with his love for jazz by merging it with the band’s West Coast thrash metal style. While Eric Petersen was holding down rhythm guitar and songwriting duties, Skolnick was free to roam and throw harmonic twists and turns to keep listeners on their toes.

At a time when anything not metal was absolutely verboten, Skolnick and company broke the mold, spread their wings, and defiantly told everyone that if they didn’t like it they could suck it! The New Order is a true headbanging masterpiece.

Dokken – Under Lock and Key

One more “glam” band to round things out. It’s evident with their CD “Under Lock and Key” that Dokken was walking a fine line between being a full-on cheese metal hair band or throwing caution to the wind and becoming the truly inspired band we all knew they had the potential to be. What we get as a result is an interesting mix of George Lynch’s excellent guitar work – heavy riffs and fantastic soloing – over typical for the time party, girls, and love lyrics. “In My Dreams” has always been the perennial favorite for me on this CD, with perhaps Lynch’s best performances all summed up in one song.

Five Must-Have Metal Guitar CDs is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

For me, Spock’s Beard is such a band, and I am most certainly a fanboy.

The California-based progressive rock band recently released their 10th CD – appropriately titled “X” – and it’s a doozy. I’m not even going to try and create suspense and mystery like I usually do to get you to click the “Read More” link. This CD kicks ass outright and needs no more explanation.

But if you’d like to hear more about the CD, then follow me…

Spock's Beard - Nick D'Virgilio, Alan Morse, Dave Meros, Ryo Okumoto

One of the great things about progressive rock is that, when done well, the music can have hints of everything from rock to classical, jazz, electronica, pop, and metal. (A good supply of cowbell never hurts, either.) One of the great thing about having a band full of ridiculously talented musicians is their ability to seamlessly integrate all of those elements into great songs. While most prog bands and spending their time working out the most complex riffs and “bet you can’t play this” nonsense, the boys in the Beard and busy crafting songs. Yes, actual songs that groove, have great vocals, and essentially blow the mind.

From the first notes of the opener “Edge of the In-Between” I knew I was going to be in for a treat. “Epic” is certainly a good description. Quickly moving into a an awesome verse groove, one thing I was pleasantly surprised with were the lyrics. Yeah, I know, this is a guitar blog. Deal with it! SB have typically been somewhat hit-and-miss with lyrical content in the past, so it was really nice to hear some well thought out concepts.

Guitarist Alan Morse shines with his solo over a rockin’ 7/4 pattern, mixing quirky figures and nuanced mastery of his Sustainer guitar. At 10:30, this song is the quintessential prog epic and they could not have picked a better song to lead off the CD.

The Emperor’s Clothes is a cross between the Beatles, Ben Folds, Gentle Giant, and Jellyfish. Strings, french horn, sitar, and their trademark contrapuntal vocal lines add a great contrast to the first song. Keyboardist Ryo Okumoto gets to stretch out and show why he’s such an in-demand player. I also absolutely love drummer/lead vocalist D’Virgilio’s vocals on this record. Brilliantly sung!

If you’re a fan of old-school instrumentals like those from ELP, then Kamikaze will be right up your alley. Written by Okumoto, Kamikaze grabs you by the nethers from the first note and doesn’t let go until it’s over four minutes and fifteen seconds later. Morse also shines once again with a fantastic (albeit quick) solo. This is one of the coolest instrumental songs I’ve ever heard a prog band write. Period!

At close to seventeen minutes, From the Darkness finally settles the listener in after three songs of progressive bliss. This is a bit more of a “rock” song compared to the previous three, but to simply call it a rock song would be somewhat misleading. The song mellows into an almost ambient trance while it builds back up again. D’Virgilio again sings beautifully in this section, leading to some solos and building into yet another kick ass 7/4 riff that Morse gets to solo over. (It makes me wonder if he actually prefers to play solos in complex time signatures.)

The Quiet House is perhaps my least favorite song on the CD, though it has a very cool chorus. It’s not a bad song, but it has not – as of yet – knocked me on my butt like the others. Though there are some proggy moments, this is perhaps the most straight-ahead rock song of the lot.

Danny Elfman comes to mind with the opening of Their Names Escape Me. I felt like I was about the watch the beginning of a new Tim Burton movie. I love the concept of this song, if you’ll allow me a quick aside.

SB decided with this CD that they were going to produce it independently. Their record label went under and rather than try to “get signed” again they decided to go it on their own. To help finance the project, they reached out to their fans and asked them to contribute to the production costs by placing a pre-order sale while they were still recording. The benefit for them? Well, the guys wrote a very cool bridge section of the song and proceeded to sing/name all of the people who contributed.

At first you may think the concept will fall flat on its face, but it’s actually quite brilliantly conceived and executed. If you missed the idea of naming all of these people in a song called “Their Names Escape Me” this is where you go back and read it a few times and then slap yourself in the forehead. As some of my business associates say, “That one will catch you on the way home.”

If they had simply named everyone over the same riff it would have gotten old very fast. But they were smart enough to keep the music moving forward (dare I say, progressing) and it turned out as not only a great piece of music but also an innovative and very cool tribute to their fans.

The classic Spock’s sound returns for the next song – The Man Behind the Curtain. I can’t help but think that D’Virgilio’s close friendship and musical relationship with songwriter extraordinaire Kevin Gilbert has rubbed off on him here. “Curtain” is at the same time both chaotic and controlled, melodic and cacophonous, but it all works very well together. There is a balance to it all, and the closing acoustic guitar/vocals is the perfect ending.

No prog CD would be complete without an epic to close things out. At 16:22, Jaws of Heaven acts as almost like a summary of everything that came before it. Like “Edge of the In-Between” as the opener, “Heaven” is the perfect closer. It all builds up to the last few minutes where the melody soars high above, thanks once again to Morse’s incredible guitar work.

I’m tellin’ ya, you guys gotta check this band out.

Spock’s Beard‘s “X” could not have come at a better time. It’s been a while since a truly great prog band has put out a truly great prog CD. And with my band Din Within (shameless plug) currently working on the music for our sophomore release, I am feeling re-energized and inspired thanks to four guys from California keeping the torch well lit and shining bright!

Spock’s Beard – X is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Every time I get a CD from an independent guitarist looking for a review, I always wonder whether I’m getting a crappy xerox clone of some “famous” player, if I’m going to get a nice enough player that entertains but doesn’t blow me away, or if I’m going to be knocked out of my seat by something that I wasn’t expecting.

There is always a moment when I first put in a new CD that I take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and wait for the ride to begin. For the most part I’ve been pretty lucky; all of the CDs so far have been good. So when it came time to put in the CD “Guitar Duo” by Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic, I was almost expecting it to stink just because my track record thus far has been good. Seems like I needed one in the bust column just to keep the balance. The question is whether or not this CD was goign to be the one to do it.

After having listened to the CD a few times I can safely say that the Kapsalis/Ivanoic CD is, in a word:

Fantastic! Amazing! Brilliant!

(Sorry, I just couldn’t keep it to one word.)

I was simply not prepared for Guitar Duo to be as good as it is. A mixture of nylon and steel-string acoustic guitars, Kapsalis and Ivanovic explore a very wide range of what is possible on the guitar through their original compositions. Pretty much everything I love about guitar has been written and recorded here. Hints of Villa-Lobos, Fernando Sor, modal jazz, and even smatterings of Damnation-era Opeth teased my ears on this ten-song CD.

Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic

It’s obvious that both guitarists have done their homework and spent enormous amounts of time woodshedding to perfect their craft. Fingertapping, flamenco rhythms, beautiful counterpoint, percussion tapping, and harmonically sophisticated arpeggiated chord patterns are all present here. They compose a perfect blend of styles and influences, keeping each song fresh and interesting. Technical ability notwithstanding (which they both have in abundance), these guys know how to use their abilities not to merely show off but to create complex yet easily-accessible music to listen to and enjoy.

This is a CD for the active music-listener. I don’t think you can put this on and expect to concentrate on an important project; there is simply too much good music here to remain a passive listener. Guitar Duo is the natural progression (and them some) of what DiMeola, McLaughlin, and DeLucia were doing back in the 80s, though no one has successfully pushed the genre forward effectively… until now. I have been waiting for a CD like this to come out for a very long time.

To date I think this is the CD I would recommend the most to guitar enthusiasts. While all of the CDs have been excellent, Guitar Duo stands out as a true masterpiece and should be in every guitar-lovers library.

For more information, visit the website for the CD.

Kapsalis and Ivanovic – Guitar Duo is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

So when San Francisco-based guitarist Terrence Brewer sent me a few of his CDs to listen to, and I noticed that one of them was an entire CD full of Montgomery covers, I had to pause for a minute.

Groovin’ Wes is an eight-song “Musical expression of admiration for Wes Montgomery.” In an organ trio setting (accompanied by organist Wil Blades and drummer Micah McClain), the first thing I noticed was that Brewer’s tone is very nice. I mean, very nice. Warm, smooth, and with a sensitive touch that shows he definitely spent his time in the Montgomery woodshed. I don’t know if Brewer is playing sans-pick or not, but if he is playing with one then he’s certainly put in a lot of effort into his tone.

Brewer’s song choices for the project certainly focuses on his strength. Lots of blues influence with a hint of smooth jazz, I imagine that his influences range from Montgomery to Bobby Broom to Grant Green to George Benson (just a guess). There are no 32-bar hyper fast bebop improvisations, nor any “look at me” three-octave arpeggio runs going on here. What you get is a very tight trio playing off each other very well and digging down deep into the heart of each song. They find the groove, expose it, and polish it up to a fine sheen. I’m a huge fan of the organ trio, so Groovin’ Wes is right up my alley.

Highlight songs for me are In Your Own Sweet Way and Here’s That Rainy Day. Road Song also gets special mention as the up-tempo track. Blades does a particularly great job with his solo while McClain matches Blades’ dynamics beat for beat; a definite head-bopper!

I’m looking forward to listening to the other CDs Brewer sent me, but I want to spend a few more days with Groovin’ Wes first; after a few rotations it’s gotten under my skin in a good way, and I want to absorb it more.

Groovin’ Wes, and Brewer’s other CDs, are available at CDBaby.com, Amazon.com, iTunes, and Borders.com.

Track Listing

1. Speak Low
2. Bumpin’ on Sunset
3. In Your Own Sweet Way
4. Road Song
5. Bumpin’
6. Here’s That Rainy Day
7. Yesterdays
8. Dearly Beloved

Terrence Brewer: Groovin’ Wes is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Mike Ian - Puzzle Pieces

Back in college, my friends and I came up with a nickname for musicians who were so good that we felt compelled to cut off one of their fingers to make it fair for the rest of us. We called these folks “nine-fingers.”

When I met NJ-based musician Mike Ian, it took all of about 10 seconds before we gave him the moniker. In fact, we pretty much made up the nickname for him specifically and then just applied it other people we knew as well. (Scott McGill also comes to mind.)

Mike recently released a new CD called “Puzzle Pieces” and when I received it in the mail I was anxious to put it in and give it a spin.

I’ll get to the actual review in a minute, but I feel that some more background is in order. You see, I met Mike in the music lounge in college. At that time (late 80′s/early 90′s) we basically took over the lounge and turned it into a jam house. Picture “Fame” but hetero. (Just sayin’… not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

The final straw for us wasn’t watching in awe as Mike played some of the most amazing guitar music we’ve ever heard. The final straw for us was when he most humbly told us that he felt he was just a guitar hack because his main instrument was drums!

(We almost stuffed him in the trunk of a car right then and there.)

But he’s right to a point; he is also a phenomenal drummer. You can hear him playing on my progressive rock band’s CD.

Anyway… I felt the background was important because Mike not only played guitar on Puzzle Pieces, but also drums, bass, banjo, pedal steel, and vocals. He also wrote all of the lyrics, recorded, engineered, and produced it. He even designed the CD cover himself! To say that Mike is multi-talented would be like saying Einstein was pretty smart.

Puzzle Pieces

Puzzle Pieces  is a ten-song musical extravaganza that incorporates country, rock, and pop influences into a very solid, likeable, and great-sounding package. The engineering is fantastic, all of the instruments sound great, and Mike sings damn well, too! (This is the first time I’ve ever heard him sing in the 20+ years I’ve know him.)

Fans of Jellyfish will instantly fall in with the CD’s opener Ticket to the Moon. An incredibly hooky song with a great guitar intro, leslie speaker action, and overall a very tight arrangement.

The Sweetest Sound has something of a surf rock meets country vibe going for it. Great vocal harmonies and pedal steel work really shines through here. A nice, tight guitar solo safely weaves its way through the bridge. Definitely a song that you will be singing in your car with the windows down.

The title track, Puzzle Pieces, like Ticket to the Moon, starts with a cool guitar riff. This song reminds me very much of Kevin Gilbert. Beatles fans will really love the chorus, and the second verse has a really cool shuffle feel to it that gets your head bobbing up and down to the beat.

My Lucky Day shows out Mike’s country influence quite a bit, while the ballad The White Gown has a great Peter Gabriel vibe to it. I know Mike is a huge Gabriel fan, but he pays homage rather than wear the influence on his sleeve.

Mountain Song reminds me of the group Train in many ways. It’s a very solid song, but hasn’t quite moved me yet as much as the others. I’m sure the song will grow on me – as pretty much all of Mike’s songs do – but I think it may take a little bit longer to catch on with me than the rest.

The pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and get going, feel-good inspiration song of the CD is definitely Better Days. I don’t know why, but I just had a feeling even before I listened to the CD for the first time that Mike would have a song like this. He’s such a positive and encouraging person, it almost seemed inevitable. Having a bad day? Put this song in and crank it up. Need some motivation to take that next step? Better Days will help you do it.

The Great Escape is a bit hard to peg down. If “Yes meets the Dixie Chicks meets Spock’s Beard” makes sense, that’s how I would describe it. You gotta throw a bit of Jellyfish in there as well. This is a mid-tempo song that perfectly sets up the next track…

Take Another Way is a foot-stomping romp. Banjos, mandolin, acoustic guitar, really get the song moving, right into a great country-rock up-tempo groove. King’s X style vocal harmonies are strategically placed to catch your ear and keeps pushing you forward to yet another catchy chorus that you’ll be singing along with.

The bonus track – Tele Chicken Pickin’ – is also the most guitar-focused song on Puzzle Pieces. The only all-instrumental song on the CD, there is a ton of pedal steel bends, country runs, and great picking. Whereas all of the other songs are instrumentally arranged to complement each other, TCP is definitely a showcase for Mike’s guitar playing. It’s not total country, either. I would put it a little more skewed towards Steve Morse than Johnny Hiland.

All in all, Puzzle Pieces is a very solid songwriters CD and a great showcase of songs you will want to play many, many times. Although you won’t hear as much guitar-centric arrangements that are usually featured on guitar blogs, songwriting is, in my opinion, more important than shredding. I really enjoy listening to how guitars enhance a song rather than dominate. There is just enough great guitar work here to inspire even the most die-hard guitar-only fans, and if you like to sing along while listening then you can’t go wrong here.

For more information, and to purchase Puzzle Pieces, please visit Mike Ian’s website. You can also look forward to hearing Mike play drums on some upcoming Din Within recordings!

Mike Ian: Puzzle Pieces is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Meshuggah!

Riding the wave of success from their 2008 CD ObZen, the Swedish quintet went out on tour and filmed their shows in order to create one of the best live DVDs I have ever seen or heard. I will even step out on a limb here and say that it’s the second best I’ve ever seen.

(Rush in Rio DVD holds top honors in my opinion.)

The DVD

12 songs filmed in multiple cities, beautifully filmed and with amazing sounding audio. Meshuggah and company really spent a lot of time and energy getting everything right. Perfect mixes, lots of great band shots from multiple angles and, of course, the great music that Meshuggah is known for.

The song list for the DVD is:

• Perpetual Black Second
• Pravus
• Bleed
• New Millennium Cyanide Christ
• Stengah
• The Mouth Licking What You’ve Bled
• Electric Red
• Rational Gaze
• Lethargica
• Combustion
• Humiliative
• Straws Pulled at Random

The masters of metal, chillin'.

Blistering would be a good way to describe the energy from both the band and the audiences. Even the typically reserved Japanese crowd seemed to ignore their cultural proclivities and let the music take control of their souls.

The best song on the DVD is Bleed, but that’s probably because it’s my favorite Meshuggah song. Filmed in New York in a small club, I literally got chills several times, and that rarely happens to me when watching something that’s not a live performance.

My only complaint about the DVD — and this is coming solely from a selfish guitar player perspective — is that there were not nearly enough close-ups of what guitarists Mårten Hagström and Fredrik Thordendal were doing. Though I have not seen them play live (yet) I can certainly imagine how amazing it would be to see what they do up close. But I get it; this is a DVD for everyone, not just us guitar wankers.

The CD

Also recorded during the tour, the CD features the same 12 songs as the DVD but in a different order. I’m not sure why they did it that way, but it doesn’t matter.  I’ve been listening to the CD constantly since the DVD finished playing and it sounds incredible! Again, great audio engineering for a mid-budget (I assume) live CD.

Bonus Features

The DVD offers four bonuses: The video for the song Bleed from ObZen; A “Making of Bleed” behind-the-scenes mini-documentary; a quick guitar tour; a drum tour.

The guitar tour was somewhat disappointing. It was very short, hosted by the Meshuggah guitar tech, and didn’t really offer too much information. I would have liked to hear more about their custom 8-string guitars, tuning, and what amps and effects they use. (Yeah, I know… it says “guitar tour” not “guitar, amp, and effects tour. A guy can still wish, however…)

The Verdict?

If you are a fan of Meshuggah, or a fan of metal, or you just have some extra money lying around, you would be a fool to not run right out and purchase Alive. I would be very surprised if this doesn’t become one of the top 10 metal DVD/CD packages of the 2000′s.

In other words, GO OUT AND BUY IT!

Meshuggah: Alive (Live DVD and CD) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

I’ll start off by mentioning what is perhaps the best liner notes I’ve read in a very long time. Self-deprecating and funny, Meagher provides an open and honest discourse on his bio and the songs on Atroefy. His honesty is quite refreshing in today’s overly-marketed music world.

Okay, so the songs:

From the opening drum beat and guitar riff of the first song, Divided Road, Meagher and band mates Loren Stillman (alto sax), Matt Renzi (tenor sax, clarinet), Vinnie Sperrazza (drums), and Geoff Kraly (bass) make a very clear statement that this is not going to be another typical “jazz” record. There is an indie/lo-fi quality to the songwriting here, something that will heavily appeal to any college crowd; and I suspect Meagher and Co. will be very successful on that front if they pursue it.

A Familiar Farewell reminds me a bit of a Wayne Krantz vamp with some Dave Matthews sax melodies. (How’s that for a mashup?) Stillman and Renzi provide some very nice counterpoint and harmony lines in the head. Meagher lies back very nicely until his solo, where he ratchets it up ever so slightly. His tone is very nice, though some of the lines seem a bit fragmented and choppy. Not my favorite solo on the CD.

Can’t Complane is my favorite track from Atroefy. I really dig the guitar intro. I would have loved to hear it played through a Univibe or some similar effect. I also would prefer the head melody be a little more aggressive to complement the rhythm section. Despite my personal preferences, Can’t Complane has a great chorus and really cool hooks and meter/rhythm changes.

Downers would have to be my least-favorite track on the CD. I’m not really sure I’m feeling the vibe; somewhat disjointed and plodding. The liner notes state that Meagher wrote the song when he found out that one of his friends was taking medication for depression. He wrote the song assuming his friend was on downers (turns out his friend was actually taking uppers) but the track isn’t kicking my ass. Perhaps its the guitar tone and melody… I’m not really sure.

The first “acoustic” song of the CD, Republic once again hits with a Dave Matthews feel. Inspired by a small town in Washington, Republic actually sounds small-town. This is a mellow, swinging tune that could easily have vocals and get a college campus singing along.

Very nice broken guitar line intro on Poetry in Motian. I think PiM has the best sax solo on the CD, as well as the best bass playing. So, performance-wise I would say that Poetry in Motian stands out. The guitar solo should have been a little more aggressive in my opinion. I wanted the song to keep pressing forward, yet the solo section in general felt a bit held back.

Atroefy closes out with the song Re: Creation. Excellent clarinet melody over a rock tribal drum and guitar vamp. The song picks up throughout the head and into a really cool indie rock verse. As with Can’t Complane, I would have liked the guitar to have some kind of effect on it; in fact, I think overall the CD could stand some effects of some sort to make each song more distinct. Re: Creation is, however, the best song to close the CD with.

Meagher’s first CD is a good one, especially if you are a fan of indie music AND jazz. Fans of Dave Matthews will definitely like it, and I would not be surprised if college radio stations pick it up and put it in rotation for a while. This is not necessarily a CD that straight-ahead jazz lovers will most likely listen to for years and years, but I quite enjoyed it as a very nice departure from the typical jazz CD.

Atroefy can be purchased from Fresh Sound Records, iTunes, eMusic, and Rhapsody.

Ryan Meagher: Atroefy is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.