GUITAR SHOWCASE 2022:Unplugging isn’t easy. Take someone who usually plays anelectric guitar, pull the plug and thrust anacousticin their hands, and the chances are they’ll feel naked. With an electric guitar you get all that lovely mistake-hiding distortion. All the squalling feedback and...
Norwegian saxophonist (tenor/soprano/bass plus clarinet), has a couple previous albums (mostly in groups), This a quintet with pedal steel/guitar (Johan Lindström), vibes (Mattias Ståhl), bass (Jon Rune Strøm), and drums (Gard Nilssen). Has a delightfully upbeat, playful air. ** ...
it took on a whole new meaning. Here’s a 74-year-old crooner looking back on his life with nostalgia and more than a little regret. Backed by a swirling pedal steel guitar, he yearns for the past: “Since you went away, the days grow long/And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song...
The band's unique approach to instrumentation, often featuring layers of pedal steel guitar and textured synth work, creates an immersive and atmospheric listening experience. Albums such as At the Soundless Dawn, Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun, and The Fear is Excruciating, But ...
With little more than her voice, a Boss DD-20 Giga Delay guitar pedal, and a smattering of piano and bells, the Brooklyn-based singer and sound artistJulianna Barwickconjures a rapturous space on her second album. Taking cues from the hymns she sang in the Church of Christ (where her fa...
Stripped to synthesizer, voice, and the occasional sullen drumbeat, Tirzah’s albumColourgradedemonstrates a self-protective restraint. “Send Me” is among the record’s most spartan songs: A single guitar figure is looped over a rickety hi-hat pattern, practically without variation, for four mi...
Pepper’s — supposed to be a suite of songs by the psychedelically uniformed and happily oompah-ing Lonely Hearts Club Band — is another question. Harrison was a little checked-out in ’67; could the Pepper sessions have produced an appropriately meta way to handle “While My Guitar ...
The centerpiece of Foo Fighters’One By Onealbum, “All My Life” proved to be one of the heavier songs in the band’s catalog, with its chugging, then driving guitar and drum work. The track spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart, becoming not only one of the bi...
On her first solo single, former CCFX crooner Mary Jane Dunphe describes a solitary, disorienting view of longing. The boiling point of her sensory confusion is right on the surface, bubbling out of the blown-out bass, tactile beats, and feral, distorted guitar riff. Dunphe’s deep voice ...
“Alone Again” has a haunting string-back opening, slowly building to the crescendo, with a wall of guitar and Danny Worsnop’s powerful presence taking center stage. Add in a killer guitar solo and you’ve got a standout lead track. This See What’s on the Inside single certainly ...