Rafiq Bhatia, Strata (EP), Yes it Will (LP/CD)

I wasn't familiar with American guitarist Rafiq Bhatia until somebody kindly hipped me to his premiere recordings, Strata (EP) (Rest Assured) and Yes it Will (LP/CD) (Rest Assured).

I am so glad to be hearing his music. His playing, like his composing/arranging, is exhilaratingly singular. Everything comes out of his very evolved, very declamatory finger-picking style. Rafiq will finger pick a complicated pattern where another guitarist-composer would supply a couple of notes or chords. So it's an extremely ornate style but also one which has the rhythmic push of the in-time picking patterns.

Rafiq covers a jazz-rock of his own making. There's a little hip-hop in there and a hip band, outness and in-ness combined in interesting ways and very memorable compositions.

This is music with a real flair, on every level. Get the EP and the LP!!

José Luis Montón, Solo Guitarra

The spirit and tradition of flamenco guitar finds some brilliant extensions for today in the music of José Luis Montón, whose Solo Guitarra (ECM 2246) I have been listening to with great pleasure.

As the title makes clear, it is just Maestro Montón center stage with his nylon-stringed guitar in a series of pieces he composed and a singular arrangement of a Bach Air.

All the technique of the flamenco greats is implied and sometimes directly invoked in Montón's exceptional playing. But there is a modern, original element at play in the music too, in the more elaborate melodic details, in the more developed harmonic spelling, in some of the finger picking.

It's a beautiful recording in every sense, sure to grab the ears and hearts of guitarists and their friends everywhere.

Filipe Felizardo, Guitar Soli for the Moa and the Frog

Unaccompanied electric guitar recitals on disk occur less frequently than one might expect. Compared to solo piano excursions, for example, they are relatively rare. So those that come along generally get my attention, assuming I get access and such.

Today we have one, Filipe Felizardo's Guitar Soli for the Moa and the Frog (Shhpuma 001 CD). Felizardo was not familiar to me previous to this disk, but I am glad I've connected.

This is a moody, spacious, zen-like venture into atmospheric tones and the silence that surrounds them. The first six segments come together as a bluesy statement of some power. Track seven changes the mood to an acoustic jaunt with the guitar sounding like an oud. The final track returns as a kind of coda to the initial foray.

It's not a get-your-yayas exercise in technical wizardry we have here. What it is is music, and a good go of it at that. It is contemplative. It enriches the time you spend listening to it. That's a good thing these days.

Joy Mega, Forever is Something Inside of You

There are good things to be found these days with music that dwells within the interstices of categories. Take Joy Mega and their Forever is Inside of You (New Atlantis). It's the brainchild of bassist-vocalist-composer Jason Ajemian, who straddles the rock and new music/jazz camps in various very good ways and decided to combine rock/alt song and avant freedom with this group.

It's a pretty heavy hitting lineup: Jason on bass, Chad Taylor, drums, Matt Bauder, tenor/reeds, Mary Halvorson, electric guitar, Jessica Pavone, violin. Those who know the scene will recognize that this is a group of some of the most innovative improvisers around today, all bandleaders in their own right and major proponents on their instruments.

Well, that's the specs, so to speak. What you get music-wise is the successful results of the categoric experimentation. Jason's voice is in the raw, direct court and his songs bounce against the avant improv in unexpected, always interesting, and very creative ways.

If you don't give a hoot about categories and thrive on the new however it conjoins, listen to this one a bunch of times. It's seriously different.

Song Sparrow Research, Second Album

Today an alt band from Seattle who have named their second album simply Song Sparrow Research (self released), which also happens to be the name of the band.

This is a brightly jangley and deceptively straightforward guitar centered rock band that has some real songs that can give things a twist and get in your craw.

The musicianship is tight and the arrangements direct in a band-oriented way, but that can be refreshing and in fact is. The singer reminds just slightly of Morrissey but ultimately goes his own way and carries a distinctive signature sound.

It's a good sign that I've heard this one a bunch of times and it continues to grow on me. It's art rock and I hope it gets a good hearing out there.

Dead Kenny G's, Gorelick

The Dead Kenny G's, as their name implies, have always had a refreshing iconoclastic sense. The recent 17-minute EP Gorelick (Royal Potato Family 1120) (12-inch EP vinyl) takes it even further.

It's a joyously snide, brashly loud punk-rock-jazz set with some raunchy band vocals, Luttenbacher anarchy and a very sizable edge on it.

It covers a fair amount of ground from riff rockers to outright punkers, from thrasher skronk to free onslaughts with a beat.

I like it. You might also.

Dylan LeBlanc, Cast the Same Old Shadow

If somebody writes songs that stick in the mind, and it's moody fare, and there's something about the voice and the arrangements that put it above the rest, then I'm there. That describes Dylan LeBlanc and his new album, Cast the Same Old Shadow (Rough Trade). I wont say Tim Buckley is what he sounds like, but he does have that upper range, his lyrics have something to them and he plays a kind of folkish guitar in accompaniment.

It has a slight country feel to it, especially when the petal steel is going, but it's more in alt rock territory with its quirkiness and edge.

Songs are what it's about. Songs about dreams, stories, movies for the ear and imagination....