Dustin Wong

I know this guy has been talked about on other threads, but feel like he deserves his own thing! Just getting around to his collab LP with Takako Minekawa from earlier this year and holy crap it is beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHZNisAZwjU
new lP, Mediation of Ecstatic Energy, coming out later this year on thrill jockey.

his album last year was maybe my favorite album of 2012. but i still haven't heard the takako minekawa collabo due to my unfortunate dependence on spotify

there must be so many people doing the guitar looping thing but he's so good at it

yeah i think he's kind of the high point of that whole approach.

I wish he'd do one with his old bandmate, the drummer from Ponytail. His guitar was so awesome w/ Ponytail. I dig these solo things, but that stuff was on another level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt44GEvNatc

So awesome.

I don't really know this dude, but the song in the OP is v. nice.

reminds me a bit of mark mcguire's prettier moments

his album last year was maybe my favorite album of 2012.

Me too. My favorite discovery of last year, for sure.

He's got a follow-up coming out this year (I think). I also think he called it a trilogy. Maybe I'm imagining this.

yeah here's the info on the new one -

Mediation of Ecstatic Energy
Thrill Jockey Records - September 2013
From the opening notes of Mediation of Ecstatic Energy, it is clear that Dustin Wong has bested even himself in expanding the capacity of what can be done with a few pedals and a guitar. The album is the conclusion of a trilogy that began with 2010’s Infinite Love and continued with last year’s Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads, each record created by Dustin in solitude with ten fingers, two feet, and his endless imagination. Mediation shows Dustin complicating his already complex arrangements for guitar, voice, and loops, expanding not only his timbral palate, but also exploring new rhythmic intricacies. This is his first record since moving back to Japan (where he spent his childhood), and follows Toropical Circle, a collaborative release with Japanese singer Takako Minekawa, which was released on vinyl on Thrill Jockey in July.

Dustin is constantly exploring new conceptual frameworks and methods of music making. “The Big She” opens Mediation of Ecstatic Energy with the most aggressive atmosphere Dustin has cultivated on a solo release. Explosive and unpredictable, the song features a constantly morphing loop-pulse that allows Dustin to clang and wail from above. Throughout the album, he uses syncopation, abnormal time signatures, and polyrhythm to create an overwhelming feeling of weightlessness, most notably on songs like “Out of the Crown Head” and “Imaginelectric.” There is also an increased bass presence, which is generated using his guitar and an octave pedal. These are the sounds of Dustin advancing his technique, pushing it as far as he can, from complex abstraction to blissful bursts of melody.

Much of the album’s energy and all of the song titles are derived from a short story Dustin wrote, which is included in the album’s artwork. The story incorporates themes of youth, technology, and spirituality. It was partially inspired by Dustin’s experience growing up in a Christian school in Tokyo, which he attended from 3rd to 12th grade. It was here that Dustin was exposed to singing in rounds – a direct precursor to his dynamic loops. The theme of spirituality is directly reflected in the album’s artwork, which is a photo of Dustin’s aura taken in Japan.

Dustin will be touring the US extensively, including a run of dates with The Dodos, in the fall. He will be joined by Takako Minekawa on select dates, and possibly other collaborators as well.

That sounds really good.

New one: https://soundcloud.com/thrilljockey/dustin-wong-the-big-she#t=0:00

live right now http://www.dommune.com/

he's such a cutie w/ his yellow guitar & rad shirt in a sea of cables tapping his fleet of pedals w/ his odd socks

in my experience one person looping has generally been a pretty awful format, w/ lots of v discrete units thrown into a to tediously build-up this all-consumign abyss. i like how clean & light he is by comparison, nimble & fun & clever. his technique & set-up is really satisfying

yeah i agree -- one man loop guitar action is not appealing to me in general, but Wong's records are pretty irresistible.
the Takako Minekawa collab is really worth checking out, really wonderful things happening there.

i think i just like that he liked the same bits of don cab that i did

His riffs with Ponytail were so great and infectious that I couldn't resist listening to his solo albums.

It was nice hearing the Wong solo guitar creeping into the last Ponytail album. It's a shame they had to end there. I felt like they were really finding their sound on that one.

the Takako Minekawa collaboration is super super lovely, not into that soundcloud track quite as much but still enough to really look forward to the album.

am I doing something wrong with this live feed? I've had still images with a tiny sliver of moving action on the right hand side.

i think it's over & they're just playing the record

as a consolation prize, here he is wearing a cute jumper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWj-we0CM4o

ya as i am very very smart i came to notice that it was the album playing after about five tracks. thx for the consolation prize, that's a cute jumper indeed.

the man's a genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fDl_3uNmEU

honestly i'm not crazy about the wong/minekawa album (it's fine but feels insubstantial) but his new album ("meditation of ecstatic energy") is really really good. pumped to see him play live this friday.

really enjoying Mediation so far, and perfect title too

i really love that minekawa album, but uhh yeah, mediation is some mind-bending shit. something new/amazing pretty much every 10 seconds.

i like the density of his solo stuff so the airiness of the minekawa collabo just might not have been what i was looking for

yeah obviously he's gotta give her room, but there is some really lovely stuff on there

he is a swell dude I know a band who toured with him they say he was great every night and just a peach of a person.

https://soundcloud.com/7e-p/epcd099_3

I am really looking forward to this.

Very promising. Not sure why it goes all I Zimbra in the middle but, on the other hand, why not?

https://sonofmarketing.com/2018/05/03/streaming-dustin-wong-takako-minekawa-good-willsmith-擬感情物語/

More Dustin Wong + Takako this month.

it's up on bandcamp now: https://umorrex.bandcamp.com/album/exit-future-heart
it's very different from the minekawa/wong collaborations, based on my quick skim

one of the best guitarists alive imo

Yeah, got lots of time for his stuff. Would like him to venture back to an album that sounds kinda like the stuff he did with Ponytail, though.

flappy otm

The new album is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pj2iwBEO1k

I'm really, really, enjoying this. He even sings a little bit.

<3 dustin wong