An even more unusual intrument than Charlie Hunter’s 8-string is Pat Metheny’s Pikasso guitar. Here he is doing his live impression of an orchestra playing a solo piece titled Into The Dream before breaking out the band for Have You Heard, equally stunning.
Category: Music
Jazz Guitarists And Their Strange Guitars Part One
A stunning take on Hendrix’s classic If 6 Was 9 by Garage A Trois, featuring drummer Stanton Moore, saxophonist Skerik and guitarist Charlie Hunter playing his 8-string Novax guitar. Skerik’s solo is smokin’.
Top 11 Albums – 2007
- Devin Townsend – Ziltoid the Omniscient
- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
- N.I.N. – Year Zero
- Neil Young – Chrome Dreams II
- The Bad Plus – Prog
- Alex Skolnick Trio – Last Day In Paradise
- Steve Vai – Sound Theories
- Rush – Snakes & Arrows
- Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet
- Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
- Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild
In that order, I think.
Honourable Mentions
- Metheny/Mehldau Quartet
- Tomahawk – Anonymous
- Dominici – O3 A Trilogy Part 2
- Symphony X – Paradise Lost
- Paradise Lost – In Requiem
- Black Snake Moan OST
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Ministry – The Last Sucker
- Kanno Yoko – Smooth in the Shell
- Megadeth – United Abominations
Good, not great.
Disappointments of the Year
- Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos
- Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
- Type O Negative – Dead Again
- Velvet Revolver – Libertad
These albums are not bad. They just fall short of my admittedly high expectations.
Dishonourable Mention
- Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
Not even “so bad, its good”, just mediocre.
Steve Vai – Touching Tongues
I’m a huge Devin Townsend fan and the song that made me an instant convert was Touching Tongues, from Vai’s Sex & Religion. Here’s a wonderful live performance from 1993.
Laibach – The Final Countdown
How do you cover one of the most bombastic rock songs of the 80s? If you are Slovenian industrial group Laibach, you make it more bombastic. Remade as some kind of a Wagnerian/disco mutant love-child with spoken lyrics, operatic female backing vocals and an over-the-top CGI music video, its got something for everybody.
Michael Jackson: Colour Collection
Found this in a shop, obviously a collection of songs from before he got help with hitting the high notes.
Devin Townsend Rocks, Man
Yes indeed. I’m surprised he did an MTV commercial though.
Free At Last! (or: Screw You Guys!)
Trent Reznor (and Nine Inch Nails by default) is now free from any recording contract. As I have mentioned, he is one of the few, perhaps the only, major artist who gets it. Here’s hoping more famous musicians follow his lead.
[via digg]
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex CD-BOX
Yes, got mine in the mail. Thanks YesAsia! I highly recommend them. Free international shipping (conditions apply)!
The package design is exquisite, very classy. All transparent and white.
The styrofoam block to hold the Tachikoma USB thumb drive is a little out of place though… am I supposed to toss it out and keep the drive elsewhere? Tsk…
Making the booklet white on white is just… ass backwards. It looks very cool and everything, but come on! The print is actually more legible in the photo compared to Real Life due to the camera flash.
Isn’t it just the cutest thing?
One thing I noticed is that the music was beautifully mastered. There is a remarkable clarity to even the densest passages; I could hear each instrument distinctly. The music by the incomparable Kanno Yoko is fantastic, of course.
There have been complaints that the new O.S.T. 4 “Smooth in the Shell” is only available in this set, forcing fans who have already bought the other albums separately to shell out for the whole set if they want that. Pretty bad form by the record company, but for the few fans of Kanno Yoko who don’t already own any of the previously released albums (like myself, luckily), this is a great set to own.
Ramoans
Duh Magnet
Ex-Ramone Wants to Sedate Digital Sales
More Reverse Reznor news, as I like to dub such these days.
loser-x
Hunh? Richie Ramone? The Ramone NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT?
Duh Magnet
THAT Ramone. [:)]
It’s hard, but like the comments say, crack isn’t getting any cheaper.
loser-x
Dressed all formal for the lawsuit…
Duh Magnet
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Fuck, look at him, looks completely like a down and out insurance agent.