music - tour
I've been described as "eclectic", a "musical Dr. Suess" and "weird as shit". Each pleases me as it shows people listen.
I grew up on the Beatles, Zappa, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Fred Frith and Joe Pass. I was never one for flashy guitar bands, siding instead with those who integrate with the music and intrigue me sonically. Somewhere in there I obtained a degree in music performance and theory from CUNY, Brooklyn College. That's where Debussy and George Crumb made their impression.
When I write and record, I let the song take me where it wants to go. Robert Fripp once told me to become "the conduit of eventuality". This initially effervescent phrase has gained meaning with time.
The following samples might offer some insights to how I arrange and integrate my music.
Honeymoon In Polynesia
Leaning on some trance-like long delays on the guitar and bouncing alligator clips on the strings, I was going for elusive foreign textures that the South Pacific evokes. Well, not literally, but turning a friend's operatic voice backwards and doubling it for the break brought the needed "foreign" vocal flare to round out the arrangement.
Die For Me
I've wanted to get back to some acoustic settings (largely as preparation for some back-logged titles I haven't gotten to) and with JB's help on cello I took advantage of this Songfight title. Guitar and cello is a wonderful texture and I look forward to exploiting it again.
Cheer Up Shelley
Lots of eBow and driving stereo textures (especially coming out of the mock bass "solo") can't bring Shelley clarity in her agnostic dilemma.
Hey Ruth
The deep moody pulse is countered by a toy instrument gamelan. I had Sudhar's vocals, sung in Tamil, in my head for a few months and suddenly this accompaniment presented itself.
Talk About Your Feelings
Dynamically there's the ride of asserting the initial message, complete with a lead guitar duet, to contemplative reflection over shimmering alligator clips on guitar strings.
Accelerator
(Insects Ahead cover)
An eBow quartet, acoustic guitar woven between staccato crunch electric, and a pulsating breath solo over a Frippertronic crescendo attempt to dramatize the story line of two distracted losers who unknowingly race toward each other until they collide.
Feathers
Screwdriver slide guitar introduces an all-guitar rhythm accompaniment to a call for environmental awareness, represented by the classical guitar break employing right hand harmonics.
Thunderstorm
An adaptation of Leo Brower's "Cuban Landscapes" for classical guitar quartet leads into phasing dissonant triads against atmospheric rain which in turn deliver us to a climatic wrong-note screechfest solo before getting washed out entirely.
