The Aristocrats’ method is not just fastest playing and ripping solos, but complex song structures that sit between rock and fusion, hiding complex rhythms and progressions, balancing microimprovisations, beneath catchy hooks that fish in basically any possible genre
Few bands can move so comfortably between the lines of progressive rock, fusion and minimalism and yet retain a versatile and homogeneous orchestral line-up like the French Ghost Rhythms. It’s easy to expect that their new release Imaginary Mountains could all but not show all those aspects and provide some exhilarating moments.
Sonar with David Torn – Tranceportation Vol. 2 (RareNoise, 2020), Samuel Hällkvist – Epik, Didaktik, Pastoral (BoogiePost Recordings, 2020), Thor de Force – The Build (Ropeadope, 2020)
Gary Husband & Markus Reuter – Music of Our Times (MoonJune, 2020)
Blaer – Yellow (Ronin Rhythm Records, 2020)
Giorgi Mikadze – Georgian Microjamz (RareNoise 2020)
Harnessing the immense skills of three montser musicians at ease in improvisation like few others, MoonJune’s 100th landmark recording could be no different than taking no-compromises and daring a leap forward. Once again Markus Reuter brings more open minded thinking about where to go next in music.
![Ghost Rhythms – Live At Yoshiwara [Cuneiform Records 2019]](https://i0.wp.com/www.musicforwatermelons.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cover-1.jpg?resize=540%2C304&ssl=1)
Live at Yoshiwara is like a kaleidoscope: simple, yet complicated; intuitive, yet brainy; rejoycing, yet haunting. Classical cadences, jazz brass energy, proggish breaks, afro and folk influences all cooperate around catchy melodies. The audience discovers new feats under the surface of every bar turning into another. A manifesto of non-existent places of music in the fictionary universe of Ghost Rhythms
![Samuel Hällkvist Dekorum – Live [Boogiepost 2019]](https://i0.wp.com/www.musicforwatermelons.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/hallkvist-2-e1575130776841.jpg?resize=540%2C304&ssl=1)
Conscious I am liable of that concise flattery typical of many magazines reviews, I can’t escape calling Samuel Hällkvist Dekorum live album as the perfect example of what would happen if “Bill Frisell played King Crimson’s Frame by Frame“. Boldly mixing americana flavors with flamboyant interlocking guitars within the framework of a raw and aggressive energy, the Swedish guitarist and his quartet Dekorum craft a piece of music that is way more intricate than it seems
![Stephan Thelen – Fractal Guitar [MoonJune 2019]](https://i0.wp.com/www.musicforwatermelons.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Stephan3000-e1547660542725.jpg?resize=540%2C304&ssl=1)
When I go to a concert I like to hear the ideas behind the actual music and how these ideas… Continue reading
![Troot – Constance and the Waiting [2018] pt.2](https://i0.wp.com/www.musicforwatermelons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/troot-constanceandthewaiting-cover-final.jpg?resize=540%2C304&ssl=1)
Like every note could bring a secret mark of how it was played, the story behind Troot‘s Constance and the… Continue reading
Some years ago I was invited by a friend at a dinner in a fancy high-profile restaurant in Milan. Purpose… Continue reading