ADP

Was trawling cyberspace for prog / fusion instrumentals. Somehow, the algorithms led me to this duo. Collectively, they are known as Angine De Poitrine, individually, they are Khn & Klek & we could somehow tell these are no their real names. K & K are heavily masked up, disguised & liberally esoteric to throw off any interests in getting to know them as human beings. They want you to focus on the music (& maybe showmanship).

This is just one tune from a handful of tunes in their album. Notice how loops were effectively used here & the drums are totally in sync from start to end. This is also an unofficial inspiration to actually use our toes to manipulate pedal knobs while performing live. I can't really categorize this kind of music but it definitely has an intense prog psyche; totally enjoyable regardless of the note / scale choices used. Performance extraordinaire to say the least. 

Pic: ADP

Gilbert's DIO

Looking forward to this - Paul Gilbert's instrumental Dio tribute album. I've not been keeping up with PG's solo releases since his inclinations to fuzzy tones & shedding his shredder image. Hope this one won't disappoint.

Pic: PG

No singing allowed

This week's playlist- strictly instrumental.

1. Chimp Spanner (All Roads Lead Here)- Paul Ortiz is perhaps one of the most overlooked guitar player out there because his playing style places no emphasis on technicalities.Having said that, all guitar dweebs out there, those who take pride in churning out instrumentals especially, posses this latent technical ability which is manifested in their compositions, Mr. Ortiz included. Metal? Well, if you believe there a genre out there called 'djent' then this would believably catagorized as such.

2. Exivious (Liminal)- Cynic sans vocals. Enough said.

3. Brett Garsed (Dark Matter)- I have no idea if TC Electronic's Dark Matter distortion took the cue from this album but I've been a fan of Mr. Garsed's legato & 4-notes per string chromatics, especially when it's done tastefully. One of the most relaxing technical guitar instrumentals out there.

4. Richie Kotzen (Electric Joy)- I'm not a fan of his vocals but his guitar-ing rules. Electric Joy dropped gear somewhat, there's less distortion heard as well so collectively, it makes a 'different' release by Mr. Kotzen & I'm a fan of this particular release.

Brian Setzer: Goes Instru-MENTAL!

This has to be one of the most enjoyable releases I've acquired this year (thusfar)- an all instrumental album by Brian Setzer. I'm a big fan of the slick Mr. Setzer who is a very knowledgeable player. In fact. he's one of those very few players I don't mind listening to for an absence of distortion. However, his reverb could be deemed as overkill for many of us; it's a very deep voicing... as if Mr. Setzer did the recording in Batman's cave hide-out.

There are lots of great music here, all virtuoso stuff from Mr. Setzer but do not expect any solid body guitar tones to be heard. It's a rockabilly twang affair from start to finish, peppered with some jazzy bits, not forgetting some expert chicken picking moments done on banjo.

But we can't argue that Brian Setzer isn't a shredder of sorts. He's very much in command of the instrument & his fingers for that matter, just that he's not the typical a thousand-notes-per-second master player doing lots of distortion. He's doing well & very comfortable in his own turf; I'd be upset if he decides to do something else, really.