The guitar has occupied pride of place as the West's (whatever that means) instrument of choice for some time now. That such attention should attract creative musicians and innovation is logical. Guitarist-composer-conceptualist Elliott Sharp has taken the time to address the latest in such endeavors, specifically for the solo guitar, whether electric or acoustic, in an anthology of works by new and thoroughly contemporary artists, essentially from all over the world.
The second volume, I Never Meta Guitar Too (Clean Feed CFG06) is out and I've been listening to it. There are 16 artists playing 16 solo segments. Most names you probably wont be familiar with unless you have been a microscopic enthusiast. There's Ava Mendoza, Ben Tyree, On Ka'a Davis, Shouwang Zhang, Joel Harrison, Yasuhiro Usui, Alan Licht, and nine others.
The music varies from very electric metal and free wheeling sound poetry and soundscaping to acoustic compositional and/or folksy excursions. In short this is a barrier-free collection, as was the first volume. The proviso is that the music should characterize our new century--be new in whatever sense that might mean for a particular artist, even if there are some very rooted things going on at times.
Elliott Sharp as curator-producer is the ideal choice, in that he himself embraces a wide spectrum of musics and styles, and has keen ear to the ground.
What we get is another provocative, very enjoyable album of guitarists with lots of ideas. Some selections will be just what you would like to hear, no doubt, and maybe some others you wont expect. Either way this will stretch your ears and give you a nicely presented look at some of the possibilities being worked on today.
Take the jump and check this one out.
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