Guitarmbient Edition: Mark McGuire, Dustin Wong & Takako Minewaka, Golden Retriever And Chuck Johnson
By Aaron Stein Sep 6, 2017 • 11:19 am PDT
Mark McGuire: Ideas Of Beginnings
Been too long since I slung some serious guitar music your way, so let’s rectify that. This week’s lot features some introspective guitarists creating some magical, ambient soundscapes. Starting things off is Mark McGuire whose Bandcamp page is a constant fountain of enthralling music and relaxation pieces. I’m featuring Ideas Of Beginnings, his newest put out for the VDSQ label, but I think it’s all worth your while. While McGuire does some wonderful stuff matching guitars and electronics, this record is more stripped down, McGuire taking his guitar, acoustic for much of the album, through short meditations of extreme complexity and beauty. McGuire is a deep and spiritual player and it’s apparent as ever on this magnificent release.
Dustin Wong & Takako Minewaka: Are Euphoria
Dustin Wong is another repeat offender here at RecommNeds, spinning mysterious and magical creations in album after album. On Are Euphoria, he teams up once again with Takako Minekawa, following up their 2014 collaboration Savage Imagination. Here they are in top form, Wong’s looping, effects-laden guitar and Minekawa’s synth and voice somehow forge into something organic. In their deep use of electronics, there’s both density and levity, a beautiful humanity and a lot of unabashed fun. I suppose one way to read the album title is that Dustin and Takako “are euphoria” personified, and if the music they make together is any indication, that would be a correct way.
Golden Retriever: Capablanca
Now here’s something cool, if not a bit mysterious. An album of guitar music recorded using an iPhone as a microphone, perhaps the ultimate in D.I.Y. recording studios. The result is both, understandably lo-fi, but also incredibly intimate and beautiful, the artistry in a candid sonic Polaroid. The guitar playing is bare, but undeniably luscious, folk and jazz motifs, played by whom and where a bit of a who knows? This is a debut EP, not even 20 minutes of melodic delights, easily digested and highly recommended.
Chuck Johnson: Balsams
And finally, another record on the VDSQ label, Chuck Johnson’s Balsams. Following up last year’s excellent guitar set Velvet Arc, Johnson takes a different approach, employing the pedal steel to create haunting and gorgeous ambient textures, making the instrument sound absolutely heavenly. Heavenly is just right, too — this is music for pondering the existence of deities and our place in the universe and whatever other big questions that may traipse your mind while listening. I hope it helps you find some answers, or maybe just find a state of mental relaxation. Enjoy!
