A Celebration Of Everything Sonic Youth.

ANDRE SIDER AF SONIC YOUTH
SONIC YOUTH ETC.: SENSATIONAL FIX: OPENING JUNE 17

An opening event to celebrate the museum exhibition SONIC YOUTH ETC. will be held at LiFE, St. Nazaire, France on June 17 at 8pm. The exhibition focuses on the multidisciplinary activities of Sonic Youth since the band's formation in 1981. It features the band's collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, designers and musicians, as well as a choice of other works selected by the band. Through the multidisciplinary output of Sonic Youth and related works by other artists in the exhibition, an alternative history of contemporary culture is being uncovered in which the division between 'high art' and 'low art' is being called into question, while issues are explored such as teenage rebellion, adolescent wanderlust, gender, fame, fashion, sexuality, and religion. The exhibition is initiated and curated by freelance curator Roland Groenenboom in collaboration with the band and will be presented at LiFE, (from 17 June to 7 September 2008), MUSEION , Bolzano, Italy (from 10 October 2008 to 4 January 2009), and Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Germany (31 January to 26 April 2009). Further venues are currently in discussion, in Europe, the US and Asia. A complete description of the show can be found here.

Upcoming SY live dates:
07/04 New York, NY @ Battery Park (Free Show)
08/04 Leucate (next to Perpignan), FR @ Les Mediterraneennes Festival
08/05 Lokeren, BEL @ Lokerse Feesten
08/07 Oslo, NOR @ Oya Festival
08/08 Goteborg, SWE @ Way Out West Festival
08/09 St. Nazaire, FR @ Les Escales Festival

The Gits Movie Trailer.

The Gits Movie Receives Theatrical & DVD Release.

The Gits Movie gets it's official theatrical release on July fourth and DVD release on July eighth. Screenings of the docutmentary film will take place at movie theaters and music venues throughout US and Canada. Here's a list of the theaters and towns it will be opening in:

July 4 - 8, 2008
Sacramento, CA @ Movies On A Big Screen
Winnipeg, MB @ Big Smash Festival
New York, NY@ The Pioneer Theater
Denver, CO @ Starz Center
Portland, OR @ The Clinton Street Theater
Seattle, WA @ Northwest Film Forum - The Ragtag Theater

July 5, 2008
Oakland, CA @ The Uptown Nightclub
San Jose, CA @ The Blank Club

July 7, 2008
New York, NY @ Tribute/Vigil Event dedicated to Mia at The Delancey
Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
Louisville, KY @ TBA
Providence, RI @ As220
Seattle, WA @ Metro Cinema Landmark Theatres (The special event screening on the 7/7)
Austin, TX @ Alamo Draft House
San Francisco, CA @ Embarcadero Cinema
Indianapolis, IN @ Greenbriar Cinema Grill

July 8, 2008 Portland, OR @ Special Event

July 27 - 31, 2008 Edmonton, AB @ Metro

September 3 - 6, 2008 Portland, OR @ Music Fest NW

Synopsis:
The rousing and heartbreaking story of Seattle band The Gits, whose promising start was cut short by the tragic murder of spirited lead singer Mia Zapata.

Rumored to have been descended from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, the incredibly magnetic frontwoman had a powerful, soulful voice that belied her inherent shyness and distinguished The Gits from other punk bands of that day.

This riveting documentary is part musical history and part murder mystery, brimming with rare performance footage dating from their Antioch College days through their subsequent move to Seattle just before the world's ears suddenly tuned into the emerging northwest music scene. The Gits would become an integral and influential part of the milieu if largely unsung in comparison to fellow Seattle bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. But just as they were about to make it big, the band was dealt a mighty blow with the sudden, violent loss of their friend and band member whose lyrics eerily foreshadowed events to come.

Mia's murder became a rallying point for seattle music scene, as the investigation ripped through the community with devastating results, leaving many female musicians feeling momentarily disempowered before turning their insecurity into anger and into a statement that would resonate with women the world over. A celebration of Mia's life as well as a comprehensive testament to the band's greatness as a whole. The film's interviews reflect the enormous respect and love Mia's peers had for her, and also the sadness over her absence that still haunts them today.

Vetiver Covers Album Reviewed On Pitchfork

Vetiver
Thing of the Past
[Gnomonsong; 2008]
Rating: 6.5
Orginial Review

Covers albums ask you to set aside some of rock crit's most reliable qualitative barometers, songwriting and "artistic growth," for a slightly different set of evaluative tools such as interpretative skill and aesthetic cohesion. But what most fans (and covers albums are primarily for fans) expect from a covers collection is a private tour of a band's basement: its nascent influences, personal touchstones, even its embarrassing fanboy crushes.

Vetiver, however, have never obscured their roots. Since the band's 2004 self-titled debut, Andy Cabic and his revolving lineup of players have camped at the various collision sites of rock, folk, psych, and country, combing through almost every inch of that frequently fertile soil. So its more weather than news that the band's latest LP, the accurately named Thing of the Past, digs exclusively in the crate marked "1967-1973", culling its covers from the catalogs of artists like Hawkwind, Townes Van Zandt, and Michael Hurley (the last appears on "Blue Driver"). Anyone hoping Vetiver would pull a Richard Thompson and cover Britney is out of luck.

There's very little on Thing of the Past-- released on Cabic and Devendra Banhart co-owned Gnomonsong-- to harsh anyone's mellow. Cabic's balmy tenor is as easy as ever on the ears, and its mild flavor is an actual advantage when called upon to shift from a supporting role in "Sleep a Million Years" to the soft-rock lead in "To Baby". Until full-band jam "Hurry on Sundown" kicks up some modest dust eight tracks in, Vetiver hold heart rates in check with plenty of mid-tempos, acoustic instrumentation, and tasteful, gold soundz arrangements. The band also keeps interpretive liberties on a leash. Some of the album’s best cuts-- jaunty banjo ditty "The Swimming Song" and melancholy wallow "Road to Ronderlin"-- are potent because they're time-tested, both virtual Xeroxes of, respectively, Loudon Wainwright III and Ian Matthews originals.

To his considerable credit, Cabic rescues several obscurities from the dustbin, including the aforementioned "Sleep a Million Years". First performed by an un-Googleable Dia Joyce, the dreamy folk tune is resuscitated with a dewy morning-after vocal performance by Vashti Bunyan (someone well-acquainted with musical second acts). "Lon Chaney", written by genre-hopping, New York singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys and performed stately, if a little detached, by Cabic and Papercuts' Jason Quever on piano, is another neat find.

"Lon Chaney" opens the door to an intriguing point of inquiry, though. Like many artists in the period from which Vetiver draws, Jeffreys wrote political songs informed by passionately held progressive values (in Jeffreys’ case, racial equity). But Vetiver, in breaking their two-year absence with a Vaseline-smeared backward glance, emanates a curiously apolitical, even reactionary, vibe. Make no mistake, Thing of the Past is a perfectly pleasant, well-produced album that offers an authorized version of what Vetiver fans already unofficially know about the band. And if it doesn't make many false steps, it isn't exactly walking a ledge.

-Amy Granzin, June 05, 2008

Upcoming Vetiver European and US Northeastern shows:
06/06 Cardiff, UK @ Barfly
06/07 Belfast, North Ireland @ Black Box
06/08 Dublin, Ireland @ Crawdaddy
06/10 Birmingham, UK @ Barfly
06/13 Porto, PRT @ Passos Manuel
06/14 Lisbon, PRT @ ZDB Gallery
06/17 Barcelona, ESP @ Sidecar
06/18 Madrid, ESP @ Joy Eslave (w/ Akron/family)
06/19 Seville, ESP @ Teatro Central (w/ Akron/Family)
06/20 Granada, ESP @ Teatro Alhambra (w/ Akron/Family)
06/21 Malaga, ESP @Teatro Canovas (w/ Akron/Family)
06/27 Paris, FR @ Café De la Danse
06/29 Glastonbury, UK @ Glastonbury Festival
07/25 Rochester, NY @ Boulder Annual Music Festival
07/26 Albany, NY @ Valentine's
07/27 Burlington, VT @ Club Metronome
07/28 Peterborough, NH @ Reynolds Hall
07/29 Portland, ME @ SPACE Gallery
07/30 Hampden, CT @ The Space
07/31 Montague, MA @ Montague Bookmill
08/01 Boston, MA @ Museum of Fine Arts
08/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
08/03 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Amazing Dosh Video.

Get a glimpse of the Dosh creative process.


Dosh - "Capture The Flag" from anticon. on Vimeo.

Upcoming Dosh live shows:
06/06 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
06/08 Denver, CO @ High Dive
06/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
06/10 Boise, ID @ Record Exchange (in-store 6:00 PM)
06/11 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
06/12 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
06/14 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
06/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
06/16 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
06/17 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
06/19 Austin, TX @ Emo's
06/20 Dallas, TX @ The Door In Dallas
07/18 Aspen, CO @ Belly Up

J’Accuse Ted Hughes In Mojo

Revolver USA Podcast #10 Is Up!

Podcast #10 is up! Revolver USA podcast ten features Tommy Guerrero and Gadget talking about their new albums : Tommy Guerrero - return of the bastard LP and CD and Jet Black Crayon - In The Interim CD plus DVD - and we briefly explore some Free Beer.

Subscribe here via iTunes:

Or check out the podcast via Revolver's site here:

Wildbirds and Peacedrums 8.0 Review On Pitchfork Today.

Wildbirds and Peacedrums
Heartcore
[Leaf; 2008]
Rating: 8.0
Original Review

It's easy to think that music made by relatively few people, with relatively familiar instruments, should fall under the canopy of "folk": uncluttered, transparent, linked to past traditions. Wildbirds and Peacedrums-- husband-and-wife Swedes Andreas Werliin and Mariam Wallentin-- compose most of their debut, Heartcore, with Werliin's compact drum work and Wallentin's orbital, precise vocals; there is an arc to their work that imbues it with the austerity and heartiness (no pun) of folk music. Despite its simple ingredients, Heartcore is neither native nor instinctual. "Primal" or "sparse" miss the point, too; Heartcore, instead, is cleverly orchestrated pop music preternaturally reliant on the skills of its performers: Both Werliin and Wallentin were music school dropouts, and their technically sound playing disguises the complexity and range of Heartcore's material.

The album Heartcore strangely resembles is Nina Simone's In Concert; where Simone used tactful playing and sly phrasing to redress Gershwin or a song about pirates, W&P build murder ballads with tinny, metronomic percussion and tense rock'n'roll with handclaps and double-tracked wails. Other instruments-- electric piano, rippling guitar, moony organ-- are in the mix as ornamentation: Only the drums are allowed to roll downhill. Wallentin mimics Simone's deep, mannish voice and almost asexual engagement with her material but oversell/rhetoric aside she rightfully garners comparisons to Björk's bluster or Joanna Newsom's clench. (Another contemporary: The first line in "Bird" is actually "I am a bird now.") Wallentin's legit pipes carry Heartcore's swirling, clackety uptempo numbers: "Doubt/Hope", "The Way Things Go", and "The Ones That Should Save Me Get Me Down" rely on little more than Werliin's tethered kitwork. Doubt is a theme whenever the lyrics seem autobiographical, to the point where "The Way Things Go" serves as proper self-help: "I neeeeeed/ To love myseeeeelf/ More."

Werliin steps from behind his kit to duet on the violent "The Battle in Water" and his comparatively untrained male vox sounds phantasmal: "I am in the wilderness/ You turned out my light/ This time I will make things right/ I get cold by fire/ She said…" and then Wallentin again, "Let me swim/ I'm no one's pet." W&P may have overplayed their hand a bit naming the album Heartcore, but they deserve credit for these resonant, personal dramas.

The instrumental framing of the album allows the W&P plenty of elbow room, but Heartcore still fails when the duo becomes overly reliant on balladry: Whatever percussion/string instrument plinks along with "Lost Love" can't draw a melody out of Wallentin; "Nakina"'s buttressed bass kicks are the only arrangement that might be called out as lazy, and both move at a glacial pace.

During "Mississippi Goddam" Nina Simone exclaims, to the delight of the crowd, "This is a showtune, but the show hasn't been written for it yet"; Heartcore exemplifies this sense of constructed intrigue: Wallentin notes, "All of the people are running to the theater." Peek, too, at the resplendent closer, "We Hold Each Other Song", tipping its cards in two movements: first a low-hum organ dirge and then a loving, jaunty coda. "The inside is not new," Wallentin states. True, but what Werliin and Wallentin surround it with requires plenty of exploration.

-Andrew Gaerig, June 02, 2008

Upcoming US tour dates:
06/10 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
06/12 Washington, DC @ HOS
06/15 New York, NY @ Joes Pub
06/17 Rochester NY @ Rochester Jazz Festival
06/18 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
06/20 Brooklyn, NY @ Coco 66

Devon Williams Favs List Posted On Dusted Today.

Fresh off his recent tour opening for Destroyer, Devon Williams shares a top ten with Dustedmagazine.com today.
Original post

Devon Williams spent much of the last year touring as a member of Lavender Diamond and opening for Destroyer. But the Los Angeles songwriter managed to fit in a little bit of alone time, too. Over the course of 18 months and three studios, Williams recorded his full-length debut, Carefree, a quaint but confident album that one could legitimately call "intelligent pop music" (some prefer the term "a grower"), inspired by the likes of Alex Chilton and the Go Betweens. It's a collection of songs that take their time sinking in, and hint at something more significant than search results on Hype Machine. A final sheen was added by his pal Steve Gregoropoulous, of Lavender Diamond, who supplemented Williams' guitar work with pristine string arrangements. Carefree is out now on Ba Da Bing Records.

1. The Beach Boys - Today My bandmate Peter really hates Mike Love, but LOVES the Beach Boys. He has a button with red line going through Love's face, and after watching some early TV performances, it's easy to see why: Mike Love - hammin' it up, takin' the credit. Thankfully, Today is where Love gets kind of out of his element. Where "Little Deuce Coup" may be the budding of Brian Wilson's complex songwriting, Today really shows how much Wilson admired Spector - and this album shows Wilson tackling subject matter equal to his complexity.

2. Clifford T. Ward - Home Thoughts Through and through, Home Thoughts is the most beautiful album. I first heard "Wherewithall" on a comp, and loved it. Upon first listening, I for sure thought the first song was the best song, NO, the second one is the best song, NO wait!... I finally decided that "Where would that leave me" is the most perfect pop song, with "Nightingale" a close second. "Home Thoughts From Abroad" was voted one of the best songs of England. He sings, "Oh, and by the way, how's your broken heart?" -It's so earnest, some feel compelled to laugh, whereas, I feel utterly and completely moved.

3. The Church - Heyday The Church mastered guitar interplay forevermore, and almost three decades since they began, they're still making really great records (Uninvited Like the Clouds). Before they got a little too bloated (Gold Afternoon Fix), they were on a super streak with Séance, Remote Luxury, Heyday, and Starfish, the high point being Heyday. The band's subdued moments can be described as atmospheric, whereas Heyday leans more to the straightforward songs, never letting up - "Disenchanted," "Tristesse." This band is why I use a chorus pedal on a 12-string guitar.

4. Destroyer - This Night I love this album, the first guitar notes of the opening track "This Night" do something very special to me. When we had the "fortune" to tour with them, I harangued them until they actually did play "This Night," and when they did play it I found myself front row, singing along like a superfan. I transcended everything and lost myself in the eternal moment. The album is fragile yet loud, with a verbose Dan Bejar holding it together. Smack in the middle of the record is the righteous "Modern Painters" where Bejar sings: "You could always stay in tonight, and see if what the walls have been whispering is right … I mean, that shit is right up your alley, isn't it?" Their new album Trouble In Dreams might be even better than This Night and that says a lot coming from me… the superfan

5. FYP - My Man Grumpy FYP were from San Pedro, and though they broke up, their self-sustaining community continues to make super fun music and put on great shows. Their Toilet Kids Bread album was a big step in the pop direction, but My Man Grumpy was a step in the great songs direction. Short great songs with lines like "Your PhDs, you can shove 'em / Your SAT's can make like a tree and leave."

6. The Go Betweens - Spring Hill Fair I myself am a Grant McLennan man, so even I am surprised to say this is my favorite Go Betweens album, because it's heavy on the Forrester. But this 1984 record starts with the most-earnest "Bachelor Kisses" and ends with my favorite Forrester "Man o' Sand." McLennan, who wrote the sweetest pop songs, placed his most un-pop song "River of Money" here and its inclusion serves as a huge breath for the listener to just simply listen - "It was only the wind in the curtains brushing against the open strings." I can't really stress how much this band impacted me so quickly.

7. The Replacements - Tim I heard the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me when I was 15. Still long after their hey-day and break up. I inadvertently started with their latter, polished side, which is probably why I can listen to Don't Tell a Soul and sincerely call it one of their best. But Tim is where their Sorry Ma stage met their love of pop. "Left of the Dial," "Little Mascara" – these songs should be the bar by which bands should be measured - a lot of heart and so much power. We have a Replacements cover band in L.A. called Puzzle, and after a show at The Smell, a nice girl came up and said she thought "our" band was "cute," but she didn't know that those weren't our songs at all. Me and Allen thought that was "cute." We are still waiting for Tommy Stinson to sit in with us.

8. Nirvana (U.K.) - The Story of Simon Simeopath A 14-year-old me once stumbled across the U.K. Nirvana in the U.S. Nirvana bin, but didn't hear them until seven years later, who I now proudly claim as the best 60s band. This is the first REAL concept album pre-dating Sgt. Pepper's (which isn't really a concept album, just costumes and a reprisal of songs – lazy). "Courtyard of the Stars" and "Pentecost Hotel" are otherworldly baroque pop, and their follow up All of Us is equally as beautiful. In summation, Nirvana U.K. is better than the '90s Nirvana and the Beatles.

9. The Everly Brothers - Heartaches and Harmonies Box Set In 1973, Phil Everly smashed his guitar and stormed off the stage at an Everly Brothers show at Knott's Berry Farm. The next night at a solo show, Don Everly declared that the Everly Brothers had died 10 years prior. The Everly Brothers definitely have a golden period, but with harmonies this majestic, their worst songs still shine brighter than the best of others. I get chills when I hear the demo of "Hey Doll Baby," hearing the chatter before the strum of the first chord, hearing the two voices align … it's criminal how good they are. Disc Two is my most played with "Carol Jane" and "Love Her."

10. Honorable mentions: I really don't think I could've made Carefree without hearing Barry Ryan's song "The Color of My Love." The first time I heard it, I listened to it, oh… about 200 times in my car. It still is the perfect song to me. Same goes for the heavy synth work of The Chameleons on What Does Anything Mean? Basically, "One Flesh" and "P.S. Goodbye" are my blueprints for synth work. Same goes for half of Prefab Sprout's Two Wheels Good.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club Cipher Contest!

Reverend Dwight of the Auto Club gave Alternative Tentacles two riddles in SCAC cipher. The first riddle was posted today on AT's site, the second will be posted next Friday (June 4). Decode the cipher, and win prizes.

One Grand Prize: A collection of Alternative Tentacles releases by Slim Cessna's Auto Club and Munly on CD.

Two Runners Up: A copy of Slim Cessna's Auto Club Cipher (Virus 383) on CD.

Click here and get smart.

Terry Riley Plays "Hurricane Mama Blues" At Walt Disney Concert Hall!

An excellent LA Times review of Terry Riley's performance at the Disney Concert Hall.

MUSIC REVIEW
Terry Riley at Walt Disney Concert Hall
The organist rides 'Hurricane Mama' into cosmic depths.
By Mark Swed, Times Music Critic
May 27, 2008

AT 4:53 p.m. Sunday, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars, and two hours later pictures from the dusty red planet arrived at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to prove it.

But sound doesn't travel as fast as light, so it took a half-hour longer before we had an indication of extraterrestrial life stirring. That is when Hurricane Mama awakened and began to make miraculous music a few miles from JPL at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Terry Riley -- a Space Age Prospero dressed in black, wearing a black skull cap and in striped stocking feet, his long gray beard flowing -- walked to the organ consol. The hall was darkened. The wooden pipes were illuminated deep purple. No longer "French fries," a nickname Riley told the audience he felt inelegant, the pipes were newly dubbed "radiant columns of Orfeo." Hurricane Mama is his name for the Disney organ.

For the next two hours, Hurricane Mama howled and roared. Orfeo's columns traced the shapes of swirling galaxies and accompanied accelerating quanta as they collided releasing astonishing quantities of energy. They strung out strings of space-time and hymned drones of mystical oneness with the universe. All of that came before lift-off, which occurred in a long-held ground-shaking, gravity-defying final chord.

Riley and the organ are a match made on the other side of Mars, namely heaven. As the composer who launched Minimalism in 1964 with "In C," he was an obviously crucial figure in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Minimalist Jukebox" festival two years ago. At that time, the orchestra invited Riley to create a new work for the organ. "Universal Bridge," which began with an Anthem for Disney Hall and concluded with nature unleashed in "Hurricane Mama Blues," was the result.

"Minimalist" is a strange tag for Riley. It suits him in that he has never lost his love for interlocking repetitive figures imbued with the strength to send the brain into psychedelic reverie. But Riley is really a musical accumulator.

Years of study in India have made him a master of raga, played on the keyboard and sung. A virtuosic pianist and inspired improviser, he began as a jazz player and, at 72, remains a brilliant jazz player. Hardly remaining in or anywhere near C, he roams through modes and microtones continually enriching his harmonic palate. Melodically and rhythmically he flows naturally between East and West, ancient times, recent music history and the present.

Although he has performed before on the pipe organ, Riley's main instruments are piano, electric organ and synthesizer. To prepare for Sunday's concert, he made several trips from his home in Northern California to spend nights familiarizing himself with the Disney organ, typically practicing from midnight to 6 a.m., a period when he could play in the dark uninterrupted with only the night watchman looking on. His original idea was to give an all-night concert, from around 11 to dawn, but he had to scrap that when the Philharmonic put him on its regular organ series.

For the first half of his program, Riley revised two classic pieces, first updating "Persian Surgery Dervishes," a study in whirling repetitions for electric keyboard and tape delay. (A famous performance of that was given and recorded in Los Angeles in 1971). Sunday's new "A Persian Surgery Dervish in the Nursery" made his performance on the old electronic technology seem downright primitive. On Disney's instrument, Riley achieved a sense of awe-inspiring vastness with thick church-like diapason textures. For an arrangement of a few themes from his epic 1985 string quartet, "Salome Dances for Peace," Riley began with spellbinding rumbling of low notes and then traced trilling fanciful melodies, at one point adding raga-like vocalization.

The "Universal Bridge" premiere was after intermission. Its opening Anthem for Disney Hall proved an embracing celebration of succulent chords in grand progression. The second movement, "The Bull," began with Middle Eastern melodic figuration over an arpeggiated ostinato base that had a faintly tango feel and slowly evolved into Bachian exuberance.

In the next movement, "The Shape of Flames," calm, soft-grained Mexican-like figures radiated into musical styles from near and far, with occasional long dissonant blasts, as it built into the rapturous, overpowering, indescribable "Hurricane Mama Blues."

On a personal note, I am not a disinterested observer of Riley's music. I have been attending his concerts since the '60s. I lined up with other students waiting for a Berkeley record store to open to buy "In C" the day the first recording of it was released. I attended Mills College in Oakland when Riley taught there in the '70s (although I didn't study with him). I got goose bumps watching him receive an honorary doctorate at CalArts this month.

My expectations for Sunday's concert were impossibly high. They were exceeded.

Matt Baldwin In The East Bay Express.

Beyond Fahey
After paying homage to the influential steel-string player, Berkeley Guitarist Matt Baldwin tries psychedelia.
By Tom Chandler
May 21, 2008
Original post

On the 2006 compilation Berkeley Guitar, three very talented steel-string guitar players, all friends who migrated to Berkeley from in and around Monterey, displayed their love for John Fahey and his legacy on Takoma Records. Matt Baldwin was one of those guys (along with Sean Smith and Adam Snider), but when you approach his debut CD, you pretty much need to forget what Berkeley Guitar led you to believe.

That compilation, while a very fine set, was trying to spread the word about this revival of solo steel-string guitar playing, centered in Berkeley, the longtime home of Takoma. While that's all very fine, it turns out that Baldwin and company are all much more than just solo guitarists. Smith's latest release featured quite a few guest musicians, and Baldwin's Paths of Ignition is layered with overdubs, features vocals (on one tune), and is ripe with psychedelia — all in tremendously good way.

The disc opens in the solo vein, with an extended take on Krautrock legend Neu's "Weissensee," when suddenly an electric guitar sneaks in. Hey! What happened to John Fahey? Oh yeah, Fahey played electric too. "I've been working more on electric guitar lately," Baldwin said. "I grew up listening to Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer. I've always loved Priest." But he looks suspiciously like a '60s holdout, with long straight blond hair held down by a headband. He has an earnest demeanor, and clearly thinks a lot about music.

His playing can go from doubling the acoustic fingerpicking to a wailing, electric, metal-influenced lead. It's pretty stunning. "The thing is that when I play in standard tuning I have a pretty generic blues-rock sensibility," he said. "So I did all the solos in other tunings, which helps me develop a more original lead-guitar melodic sensibility."

While evoking some music of the past, what with the Fahey influence, as well as a certain Krautrock and prog kinship, Paths of Ignition is utterly original. There's a radical reinterpretation of a Judas Priest song called "Winter," with Baldwin singing as if in an echo chamber. Then there's the solo tour de force of "Rainbow." Throughout, Baldwin's guitar playing remains understated yet amazing.

Produced by Baldwin and local songwriting/recording madman Sam Flax Keener, Paths of Ignition is a project of love and inspiration. "What's fun about these songs is they capture that moment of when you create something," Baldwin said. "I just went in with really basic ideas and started messing around, and Sam would say, 'What if we did this?' I would try it out, and say, 'What if I do it like this?'" He laughs, then continues: "Then we would hit some wall, and we'd both be thinking, 'What are we going to do?' So we'd go get some beer and do another take and it would all jell!"

After touring for Berkeley Guitars and doing countless solo shows around the Bay Area and down in Big Sur (where the Folk Yeah! series is gaining increasing fame), Baldwin says his next step will be a full band. Spawned by Paths of Ignition's explorations into electric territory, the new project will consist of musician Kephera Moon playing a chopped B3 Hammond and piano bass, and Keener on drums and doing some delay effects in real time. When asked if the electric concept will open up more venues, where people talking won't interfere with the quiet acoustic guitar, he laughs. "That can be nightmarish! On this tour there were certain nights, like in Nevada City, it was a really hard-drinking night. During the entire set, I could hear people yelling 'Jaeger!'" But then he extols the virtues of playing in places like Big Sur, where a room of one hundred people can get dead silent and focus on the actual music.

So perhaps Baldwin isn't leaving the Fahey ghost behind entirely, but rather broadening to encompass more than the Berkeley Guitar idea. If the current indie scene has taught us anything, it's that there's still plenty of need for organic, tweaked-out folk-oriented music, and Baldwin has a voice that's original and distinct even within that parameter — more like a worldview than just a few guitar tunes. Iconoclast? Yes.