Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads

fire up Spotify, praise Ogmar

yeah blind blake kinda knocks your socks off just because while i love tons of stuff from that era he's definitely more technically adept and polished than you typically expect from that era

Charlie Parr has a new instrumental album out with Alan Sparhawk from Low, sounds pretty cool, a little looser and weirder than his usual stuff but very rooted in blues and folk

https://soundcloud.com/chaperonerecords/charlie-parr-w-alan-sparhawk

"jack rose had that thing about the alternating bass (wrt fahey) being 'as exaggerated/macho as anything in led zep' & the way he plays it so hard on flirtin w/ the undertaker &c. is indeed ridiculous, but i could never get on board w/ it, tho i imagine it would be fun to play like that."

that's kinda hilarious. do you have a link to that interview? that style is fun to play, or try to play anyway.

alternating bass is kind of a weird thing to perceive as necessarily being macho or not macho...i mean....it's a technique and a style but i mean i don't really see it as "macho" per se

xxp blind blake is incredible but there are quite a few other ppl from that era you cld put in that bracket too, what's amazing about like 26-34 is that there was a crazy concentration of virtuosic fingerstyle guitarists, more than any other period (who knows before then, but it feels like that initial recording boom only raised ppl's game), not to mention lots of oddballs. it's not w/out reason that joe bussard deems it the apex of civilization, there was an unparalleled amount of innovation & y'know, ~scenius~. there are good copyists around now but it's not the same thing.

rose was talking about fare forward voyagers-style longform stuff where fahey was trying all this grand structure but still sticking w/ this droning/bludgeoning bass. i think the interview was from the wire but i'm not sure. i actually brought it up w/ him & he kind of lamented that it had been misinterpreted & ppl had thought he was comparing JF to led zep in some musical sense, but played in that way it is definitely a kind of ridiculous affectation that fahey did, of course, pretty much ditch in the end.

I'm guessing it's a 'yes' but are Bussard's WREK shows worth checking out? I'll try track down that documentary, too - looks like it's been aired on the BBC in the past.

loving the revamped volk guitar playlist

It is an apex of civilization :)

I loved that question Byron asks Glenn and Jack in 'The Things That We Used To Do' - "..which came first, for you: Fahey or country blues?"

I've kept up a running mytube playlist over the years of everything I deem as country blues gold, yes it is bias, but I don't have that pre-1934 or death attitude. It defiantly is all fingerpicked players that tend to fill the space with sound rather than that later 1940+ technique of Chicago single-note-plucking, blue note bending playing, BB King full band blues. None of that please, I like to keep it as grounded as possible.

Rural Rags, Country Blues & Gospel Gold

I do have a huge bias for VA/TN/NC/GA regions though, especially Georgia, guys like Frank Stokes.

It always surprises me that more solo guitar fans don't eventually switch over, fall into that R. Crumb kind of rabbit hole mindset and become completely obsessed.

Grossman is funny to watch and it's good to see him have his head in the right place, I mean he's been there alongside Fahey the entire time, back to the Fonotone days, but people look at him in a different, frilly/lighter way. It makes sense to see him like that, but he does bring in a good crop of guys like John Miller into his teaching studios.

The dynamics of the country blues crowd is interesting as well, it seems like at times the older generations have nothing at all in common with people who come at it from other music genres like solo guitar. The arguments, ethos, and secrecy between the fans is silly but also interesting. I suggest anyone who is interested to start lurking on the Weenie Campbell forum, probably one of the top/highly updated/full of people with industry 'names'/country blues forum. And their radio is the greatest thing in all of existence.

xp i was originally slightly bemused by the rose quote, cos I thought "it's just a bit of technique, it's neutral!" (& i really hated led zep), but now i agree w/ him. there are a bunch of fahey tracks where you find yrself Waiting For The Bass, which is v fun, but definitely exaggerated macho nonsense.

glad to see the playlist going down well, v curious what ppl pick out or hear any similar playlists

neal there's lots of quality stuff on that youtube list, will have a mooch later. don't know the weenie campbell forum but i am definitely going to have a look! the hardcore old time crowd is quite fierce, the original generation of faheyite guitar fans are by&large so lovely though.

still not sure i'm quite getting the macho thing, is it alternating bass as in using different root notes (occurs more in standard tuning), or that big continual octave-playing thing that lends itself better to an open tuning? i'm super curious to hear what you mean. care to give an example of a moment where you're 'waiting for the bass'?

what a great thread

that Ghédalia Tazartès track stopped me in my tracks, damn

Finally decided to start archiving some stuff - cheers for the kick up the arse! http://mountain7.co.uk/2014/03/04/an-interview-with-scott-tuma/

Really enjoyed this - thank you! You seem to have won him over with your lead-off about the weather. His anti-careerist stance (if you can even call it that; seems too strong a word!) is equally refreshing and frustrating. Frustrating mainly because I think he's great and deserves much wider recognition--but then again, I feel that way about a lotta the people mentioned in this thread!

Yeah, read that interview a bit ago as well, it was refreshing to me as well, seems like a cool guy. Had no idea he was in The Boxhead Ensemble, really dig some of those records they made (though maybe he was just more in the live group it seems). Still, good stuff. Gonna have to find more, really like the solo stuff of his posted in that interview.

Tazartèz is also a cool guy, was psyched to see him pop up in that playlist! Still haven't had a chance to listen ....

hehe - that weather stuff makes me cringe (as do a whole bunch of the 'leading' questions) but hey, it reads pretty well. Cheers all. The Boxhead Ensemble stuff I've heard is great - gloomy, fragile post-rock. Quartets is the best of the ones I've heard.

That Tazartès track had much the same affect on me. Immense. I've for Repas Froid somewhere - will have to dig it out. Really liked the Grup Bamba Puang track, too. It's only tangentially related, but this album is fabulous and well worth tracking down: http://www.discogs.com/Various-Guitar-Paradise-Of-East-Africa/release/4026309

RE: macho-isms in the alt. bass

I hope I can tell this story correctly, but I had Ryley and Daniel play at my house in Richmond, VA back on their first tour in 2011. Dan kept joking about Ryley's road habits and girls. If you've ever hung out with Ryley, it really only takes 10min to realize how hilarious and off-kilter his sense of humor is, love him to death. I don't know how it happened, but a girl who was probably in high school ended up inviting lots of her friends to the show, I have no idea if they were their for the music or the idea that our house had a party that night.

Either way, on that tour specifically, Dan and Ryley ended most of their shows with electric guitars and an intense improv. Long story short, a couple of the girls were talking pretty damn loud and Ryley couldn't concentrate on the environs. I've never seen anyone do this before, but he used the alternating bass as crowd control > he literally stood up, guitar strap on, and walked within inches of the group talking and started heavily slamming down on the low tuned alt. bass, with this stare of death in his eyes. Hhaha good lord it was hilarious and very awkward, but it worked. I've never seen another unaccompanied guitar show like that.

I guess that's more along the lines of alternating bass used as crowd control and gaining instant hierarchy... rather than macho-isms. I like that idea more.

There defiantly is an instant 'presence' exuded when you use heavy alternating bass. One thing I've always loved about most of Rose's work is that he never dampens the strings with the palm of his right hand, if you watch a lot of Grossman videos or other country blues instructionals, you will see how most everyone suggests you dampen the bass notes so it doesn't over power your technique. I say to hell with that and let it over power everything.

I'm confused abt why we are talking about Tazartes but I must have missed something above the fold (Youtube link?), he is amazing and unique. Diasporas and Transports are both just unbelievably good.

Sleeve, check Ogmor's spotify playlist posted above, lots of good stuff, Tazartèz being one of the things included. Need to hear more to be frank.

i think the bass ties into fahey's idea of the guitar as an orchestra, the way he played w/ v distinct parts, he made much more of a feature of the alt bass than someone like, say, chet atkins. it has a dramatic role, which is what i would guess jack rose was saying was macho & exaggerated. he used it to add mass - where it could get to sort of overwhelming, ridiculous levels like on the fahey/kottke/lang version of sunflower river blues which sounds enormous, almost terrifying - as well as momentum. the way he deployed it later during his ridiculous intros phase, he ratchets-up tension, prepares the ground w/ bare, often minor key melodic stop-start stuff, & then when the bass arrives it's pure release, like adding drums or a big distorted chorus, an instant hit propulsion & volume, making everything swing. on some of the longer tracks like dalhart texas, mark 1:15, ffv, it's definitely a huge build-up to the bass. but he never relied on it & he varied things enough that he was never predictable, which is not true of a lot of his disciples, imo

i have lately been finding palm muted stuff really refreshing, but i think a variety is best re: dynamics

if you watch a lot of Grossman videos or other country blues instructionals, you will see how most everyone suggests you dampen the bass notes so it doesn't over power your technique. I say to hell with that and let it over power everything.
― Neal Cassady, Wednesday, March 5, 2014 3:18 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When I took lessons with Peter Lang he encouraged me to palm mute the bass notes, said it sounds less muddled

^^peter lang? that's great dude - what year was this?

Last year. He's an amazing guy. Gives lessons through a music school here. I think global tetrahedron took lessons from him too.

I had to quit cuz my wife was out of work. How to start again.

He's a great, patient teacher but honestly is expect I would have paid just for the stories alone

I bought glenn jones' the wanting and chris forsyth's paranoid cat yesterday. both incredible LPs and my 2 1/2 yr old is a huge paranoid cat fan already, he told me "make it louder".

Sounds like your son knows what's up... I'm taking lessons with Forsyth! Start tomorrow via Skype. Hope my wretched Comcast connection holds up.

oh shit yeah i saw that on facebook...how much?

ooh that's awesome! skype lessons seem like they work for everyone, technology permitting.

yeahhh, i have considered taking forsyth skype lessons. i've never taken any guitar lessons though, i don't want to ruin my self-taught "charm".
speaking of that dude: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2014/03/10/chris-forsyth-the-solar-motel-band-little-johnny-jewel-cortez-the-killer

Think Daniel Bachman has started giving online lessons as well. Bet the Forsyth lessons are cool, would probably just end up asking him about the Richard Lloyd lessons.

I wish this thread had its own radio station...

it kinda does? Spotify playlist just keeps on giving...

Oh, yeah that's my problem then. I never played with Spotify.

btw guys hidden in the massive shitshow that is Record Store Day 2014, there is this little gem which I'm sure will be easy to get late in the day:

● Glenn Jones - Welcomed Wherever I Go (LP)

http://exclaim.ca/News/record_store_day_2014_massive_list_of_exclusives_announced_so_far

on that same note, there is an Alvarius B/Sir Richard Bishop split LP

Ah cool that escaped my attention
Either one will be easy to roll in after the eBay scum are gone & pick up

Yeah I've already got my sights on that Glenn Jones. By far the number one record I'll be looking forward to picking up somewhere in the next couple of months.

eBay scum will be busy buying all the Cake and LCD Soundsystem boxsets instead.

Jones thing is a live record, I take it?

yep! sounds cool

Welcomed Wherever I Go

by Glenn Jones
Thrill Jockey
Thrill 367 - 2014
Glenn Jones has emerged as a clear leader in the new wave of American Primitive music for solo acoustic guitar. Many have mentioned his friendship with the late John Fahey, the genre’s progenitor and demigod, but Glenn’s music is truly all his own. His pensive sentimentality and playful spirit, not to mention his innovative technique, have become just as ingrained into the style’s DNA as any hallmarks of the original Takoma school. Welcomed Wherever I Go is a collection of live numbers, one featuring fellow guitarist Cian Nugent, and one forgotten tune recorded, speculatively, during the 2007 sessions for Jack Rose’s Dr. Ragtime and His Pals.

“Island III” and “Against My Ruin” were both originally recorded for Glenn’s 2007 album Against Which the Sea Continually Beats, and were subsequently played live as a medley. The recording that appears on Welcomed Wherever I Go was recorded in December of 2011 at the well-loved and now shuttered Brooklyn club Zebulon. “From A Lost Session” was a recording lost to time until Glenn discovered an unmarked CD-R in his archives, presumably during that classic session with Jack Rose. It is a particularly meditative track for Glenn, in a minor key with an incessant pedal tone not unlike Rose’s pieces of the same era. The entire b-side of the release is occupied by a live take of “The Orca Grande Cement Factory at Victorville,” a duet with similarly innovative guitarist Cian Nugent. Glenn will only play the song live in duet settings where the second musician has little to no preparation or coaching, letting them add to his instrumental musings, ignore them, or destroy them completely. Nugent’s interpretation leans more toward the former.

Welcomed Wherever I Go is being released in a limited edition, vinyl-only format for Record Store Day 2014. Glenn will be doing limited touring in 2014, mostly in support of a new biography on John Fahey by Steve Lowenthal.

yarr, that does sound good.

glenn touring for lowenthal's fahey biography is typically heroic, he's done more than anyone to carry the flame, nothing but <3

wait there's a spotify for this thread??

People on this thread should take note of the new Stein Urheim album, it is mindblowing. Could also be relevant on the psyche/drone thread but I noticed this one first.

I've just had a listen to that, xelab - really good. Reminded me of Big Jim and Terje Rypdal, but really striking and bold. Nice. Hubro is generally a really high quality label.

saw cian nugent open for angel olsen earlier this week -- totally great! would've loved to see the full band thing, but the songs from born with the caul actually translate very nicely in the solo setting. also did michael hurley's "eyes eyes" which was awesome.

Still sorry I missed Cian in my town, but apparently his set got really shortened due to the other acts on the bill (he was added last minute so I don't blame the other acts, but still). Very cool he did a Hurley cover, sounds like a good time.

angel is coming to mpls but cian is not on this leg :(

would have gone but i think i'm gonna opt for tinariwen who is coming to the same venue a few weeks later

angel was killer too. cian said he was hooking up for some dates w/ ryley walker on his way back to Chicago, so he may be popping up in some more places...