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

oof this basho live recording: https://soundcloud.com/grasstopsrecording/cathedrals-et-fleur-de-lis

Yeah I checked that out earlier today. Pretty great. I am a real sucker for harmonics on a 12-string, such a cool sound.

so special (tho the very end is kind of funny). I find it really inspiring how much basho's technique improved over the years. by the 80s his right-hand playing by the 80s is just gorgeous, no one else can finger-pick twelve-string like that

Wish I could see more people play 12-string live. Haven't seen anyone play one, and certainly not finger-pick one, in a long while.

Some cool stuff just got posted, which is funny for late on a Friday. Cool stuff though.

Ben Chasny just announced his first release on his new Hermit Hut Records label, and as noted above it is going to be Tashi Dorji's s/t first vinly LP.
http://www.sixorgans.com/hermit-hut-and-tashi-dorji/

The song included is pretty damn cool, this dude can really play.

Tashi solo = best show I've seen in 2014

Yeah man I really want to see him live. Hopefully I'll get my chance sometime this year, but I bet it is really something to see him do it in person.

http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/88013517836/listed-daniel-bachman

bachman picks recs

Dusted hasn't been as consistent since "coming back" (guess they lost some of the better writers while trying to figure out what to do) but I am glad that it is chugging along generally, and they consistently choose pretty interesting folks to do the "Listed" feature. Bachman can be a funny dude, good list.

Really digging that Dorji tune in the Hermit Hut post though, maybe my favorite thing I have heard by him so far.

that Michael Hurley 12-17-86 show really is great, and readily available with a search

when I read that list I was like "hmmm, do I have that one?" and then I spent most of the weekend listening to it.

http://issueprojectroom.org/event/vdsq-orcutt-jones-mcguire-mullane-pasquarosa

^ This was so fantastic and such a treat!! I also got to chat with Glenn who is just the nicest guy ever. He really likes to talk and is super positive and friendly.

Anthony Pasquarosa was very good- big twelve string sound and compositionally like Blackshaw/William Tyler. Big emotive melodies. He even sang a little on one song.

Matthew Mullane was probably the most intriguing discovery. I would have picked up his record but I only felt comfortable spending enough money to get the Glenn Jones records I didn't have. Anyway, his performance sounded more a transcribed modern solo piano piece on guitar. Lots of challenging chord choices, great use of space, and a great melodic pay off with a bit that could pass as the chorus though it only lived at the second half of his long one piece performance.

Mark McGuire was a fantastic break from the acoustic focus of the show. Tons of looped layering and a really awesome knack for beautiful light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-introductions of new elements that feel refreshing after the last layered parts fade away. Big waves of layers tumbling in and receding atop each other basically.

Glenn Jones was so great as expected. Played pretty much all My Garden State material with a new song at the end of his set. Great great great great.

Bill Orcutt I honestly wasn't familiar with already. I'm no stranger to out music like this but there wasn't much to grab onto in my opinion. Interesting formless pieces with very cool dynamics and unsettling nervousness. His tuneless hum-singing under the guitar sounded to me like a weird-for-the-sake-of-it gimmick to me. Like it was there to further validate his avant-garde approach that would otherwise may not be taken seriously as just mad rambling guitar improv randomness otherwise. Am I being too cynical?

Such a fun show overall.

that's a nice rundown, your description of matthew mullane sounds v appealing so having a listen now

Evan I'm gonna hazard a guess that you wouldn't like Harry Pussy either, given that I can understand yr take on Orcutt but he really is am amazing player imo Although it's heresy in this thread to say so, I would rather listen to any given Orcutt LP than anything from Jones' (imo rather boring) catalog any day of the week. I've tried with that guy, I really have.

now Cul De Sac, I LOVE those records, but I think that is mostly because of the other guys

nice write-up, evan! i've been digging orcutt more and more these days, but i probably had the same reaction the first time I heard him. it's definitely not relaxing music, and he'd probably be a weird fit on any bill, even one with fellow solo guitarists.

Hah Sleeve I get why someone would choose Orcutt over Jones, totally. I like both for completely different reasons (obviously).

Evan, I get your take on Orcutt too, but I think it is safe to say he isn't just being weird-for-the-sake-of-it (though I think he does enjoy riding some lines in regards to what you are and are not supposed to take seriously in his work). Also, he doesn't really have the problem of being taken seriously, he is definitely a guitar hero to a bunch of fairly influential folks, and would probably be so without the humming too. I am curious as to whether it is somewhat uncontrollable or something he activel "engages" at specific moments.

Now Mark McGuire, there is a guy whose playing I have never really warmed to, but again perhaps his acoustic playing I would enjoy a bit more.

Thanks all! I figured I owed the thread my thoughts on the show. I don't think anyone else in here was able to attend.

Hey I really did appreciate Orcutt's approach and skill. He didn't owe it to me, but I really wanted to hear some composition to his playing but all I could detect was technique. Like, I know art is not to be judged based on proficiency but I feel like I needed to hear some movements in his pieces, or I was yearning to. He even ended each time abruptly and saying "OK that's it" which reinforces there was no underlying form to any of it. But this my problem probably because I'm looking for something perhaps I shouldn't be.

Jones really shouldn't be a comparison to him at all though.

yeah i mean they're coming at the guitar from completely different places i would think.
speaking of cul de sac, has jones completely given up the electric guitar? was watching a video from the 90s of them and wow he was good.

oh, see, that's probably why I like Cul De Sac so much - had not considered that.

my post came across as more dismissive than I wanted to, was really just repping for Orcutt

re: Orcutt and the humming, there's an interview out there somewhere where he says this is unconscious.

Like the thing with Orcutt for me is the same question I have about whether you can say is Barnett Newman a painter with good ideas beyond the admirable enough skill applied? Or is it just one very fresh approach with not a lot of substance beyond that?

Hmmm, I think Orcutt could probably string together a bunch of movements if he wanted to and very much does not want to. This is fairly straight (and really enjoyable to me at least). Whether it is fresh or has substance is just in the ears of the be-hearer I guess. He has been playing since the early 90s, so it is really an extension of some of the Harry Pussy playing to me. But this is again perhaps an indication of what movements would entail from him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USlBuN_g5T8

Also cwkiii, thanks for the humming follow-up, I was imagining that it was involuntary but you never know.

I considered that the humming might be involuntary during the performance but I was skeptical- it was pretty loud and prominent for sure.

Hey Evan, I am curious: did you listen to that Tashi Dorji track? Just wonder if it hits you harder than the Orcutt stuff or if it seems similarly obtuse/unstructured. He has a weird style, but I find it way more fluid, varied, and "compositional" generally, though he improvises it all I believe.

Listening now!

I already feel like there is more atmosphere being created by Tashi- maybe because there is more nuance? Definitely holding onto rhythm in a clearer way than I remember with Orcutt on Saturday. Feels like the piece is moving through "parts" as well.

He definitely is playing with some nuance, and seems to be able to structure his improvs in cool ways (such that they seems almost composed at times). Cool stuff, not that he is going for the same territory as Orcutt, just some similarities in the jaggedness and overt mangling of an acoustic guitar at times.

Yeah I hear the similarities for sure.

Orcutt feels cut from a different cloth than a lot of ppl we talk about itt, maybe like Eugene Chadbourne might be closer

Yeah, Orcutt is definitely on the outside of this stuff. Chadbourne is not a bad comparison, but Orcutt is definitely in his own place for the most part, and I definitely get why it doesn't fly for some.

I definitely think that that "Star Spangled Banner" shows a masterful edge to his playing that isn't always that evident. The song is very much "played" in that version, and has a real ragged beauty that I dig, but his notes basically go from ragged beauty to just ragged/raw generally, not as many dynamics or subtleties that this stuff can often provide. Then again, I haven't even come close to absorbing all the stuff he has put out in the last couple of years, so I may be missing plenty of stuff that does show more notes.

Yeah, Orcutt is definitely on the outside of this stuff. Chadbourne is not a bad comparison, but Orcutt is definitely in his own place for the most part, and I definitely get why it doesn't fly for some.

― grandavis, Tuesday, June 10, 2014 11:15 AM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah they don't really sound alike that much at least as what i've heard but in general they both seem to me more experimental/oddball dudes who happen to engage w/acoustic guitar more than most than american primitive tradition guys....even metzger has elements of that and obviously comes from a post-punk/art rock background w/TVBC but he seems more engaged w/folk traditions

Yeah, agree. Almost brought Metzger up as someone bridging the Orcutt approach and some of the more traditional folks, but backed away from it as really I need to listen to more Metzger before weighing in fully!

my performance at the heliotrope festival was really encouraging and made me feel very happy. i was just playing in the lobby (they had a record fair in the lobby and a cash bar so people would kind if mill around and chat between bands)...most of it was drone electronics type ambient stuff and there was also a duo of dancers, but i played my acoustic stuff and was happy that people seemed to gather around and actually listen and i had people come up to me and say they enjoyed it. was a very cool festival so felt gratified that i'd made some sort of impression.

i also picked up one of my favorite solo guitar records I've heard in some time! A new discovery of an old discovery who I didn't know operated in the ILX Brigade type space at all..

Chris Brokaw from Come/Codeine/etc did an album for VDSQ called Solo Acoustic Volume Three....all 12 string instrumentals, less fingerpicking oriented than a lot of stuff on this thread but GREAT compositions and just generally excellent structure to the pieces...really stick in my head...kind of in love right now! I obv knew him from rock stuff but he's great on acoustic...

Also was looking for this on Spotify (isn't there) but he has a new album out this year, a soundtrack to an indie film called "Now, Forager", which has acoustic stuff and some dronier electric stuff...seems great so far....

anyway, think a bunch of folks on this thread would love this stuff, esp ogomor....

too bad though I think VDSQ is one of those labels that presses like 100 records and sends 50 of them to Byron Coley right? :/

I have seen a lot of folks talking about those VDSQ records, so I would assume there are more than 100 pressed, but haven't looked into it much cause I shouldn't be buying records right now. That Brokaw sounds pretty cool. Hope to hear it at some point. Pony up Coley ....

Glad the show went well too UMS, sounds like a good time all around.

I think VDSQ presses a solid amt for each release. Every one of the albums in the solo acoustic series seems to be available out there somewhere/discogs/distros. I don't think it's advertized but I'd guess maybe 300 for each?

grandavis, re McGuire on acoustic: I have a copy of his VDSQ record and it isn't much different than his approach on electric. Just picture that elec material but played on acoustic, sans all the effects, echo, reverb, and you're pretty much there. Still a couple of layers. There's a lot of punchy, pop-punk-folk sounding chord strumming with the acoustic release too, I never got much into it bc of that though.

I'm really impressed overall with VDSQ though, such a simple concept but clearly it's a much welcomed discography for people interested in this stuff. Bringing in new/unheard guitarists straight onto vinyl format is great too. So glad Tashi made it to vinyl now as well, really looking forward to what he will do next.

I really enjoy Orcutt's material for the VDSQ release though, I'm not extremely familiar with his discog but it seems that the VDSQ material is the closest in approach to what we all are here for.

I think more than 300, but they don't say - SRB record is new on Discogs for $14.99 which doesn't seem like a collector scum price to me!

Oh that's not bad. I more wanted to make a Byron Foley joke.

Richard Thompson's Acoustic Classics comes out July 22: solo? vocals as well? Press release doesn't say; not seeing it on his own site yet. Kinda wish he'd picked some rarities, but maybe he'll do that too. He really can be a captivating acoustic solo picker; I got strung out on following him around the world (from picnic table to opera house to beach) on YouTube in 2011. Setlist:

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Walking On A Wire
Wall Of Death
Down Where The Drunkards Roll
One Door Opens
Persuasion
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
I Misunderstood
From Galway To Graceland
Valerie
Shoot Out The Lights
Beeswing
When The Spell Is Broken
Dimming Of The Day

He's currently on tour with the trio.

Oh yeah, it does say that these are all newly recorded versions.

Thanks for weighing in Neal, I figured McGuire is just not for me generally, though there is less of a barrier when he doesn't get to use whatever distortion he uses in his electric stuff, which really doesn't work for me.

http://grasstopsrecording.bandcamp.com/album/art-of-the-acoustic-steel-string-preview
this whole recording is up now for the low low price of $4. sounds wonderful.

ooh thanks for the heads up, will buy this tonight

Thanks Tyler, gonna check that out!

oh hey I went home for lunch so I am buying it now!

really is great -- i've been loving these basho live recordings that have popped up in recent years.

RT def sings the shit out of his xpost Acoustic Classics. it is at least virtually solo: sounds like there might (surely must) be a bit of overdubbing on a few tracks; then again, he sounds like two or three guys in some of those xpost picnic table phone videos (where he might have a couple of demi-Thompsons just off-lens, but he sounded the same playing "Woodstock" alone onstage at TNT's Joni tribute).

The choice and sequence of songs implies an overall story-line, I think; anyway, it's cohesive pulp fiction testimony. Music of the people, yall.