Segovia: “Music For The Guitar”

Continuing my exploration of the history of the guitar as a concert instrument, today I am digging into “Music for The Guitar”, an LP released in the late sixties/early seventies featuring the immortal titan of classical guitar, Andrés Segovia.

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Guitar Music & Songs of the Spanish Renaissance

Guitar Music & Songs of the Spanish Renaissance (LP, 1968, Everest)

Today being Thursday, I am exploring the ultimate throwback in the form of the earliest surviving compositions for the guitar, contained on this remarkable and arcane slab of vinyl.

The King Is Dead

Wherein Sam Taylor and I come to terms with the passing of a legend…

The Huaraches: “The Huaraches Steal Second”

Wherein our heroes up the ante on ribald rhythms, dark dance grooves, and cavernous compositional structures.

The Method: (s/t)

On their self-titled record, Kingston, Ontario’s The Method create the sort of no-nonsense alt-rock that used to populate radio all over the world back to from the beyond.

In Conversation With Daniel Lanois @ TIFF

Last night I had the supreme pleasure of attending an evening billed as “In Coversation With Daniel Lanois” the the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Any time I get a chance to hear a great artist, an icon, talk about their work, I jump at the opportunity.

Donalyn: “Parallels”

Donalyn play sweeping, melodic, dramatic rock music that brings you to your knees.

Jason Sadites: “Tales”

Jason Sadites: “Tales” (2014)

The ultimate goal of musicianship, as I understand it, is to reach a point where personal expression is not limited by external factors like technical ability or straightforward commercialism. Once you’ve reached a point where you can play anything that comes to mind, then the great infinite plateau of musical ideas stretches out before you like an ocean of time. On his latest release, guitarist and composer Jason Sadites has further shed the trappings of the concept of “genre”, and entered into a rich world of diffused pure instrumental expression. By tapping a couple of world-class musicians to accompany him, he has exponentially multiplied the sonic possibilities of the guitar as a composition tool. Unbound by mechanics, he is free to roam his own particular universe as a guitar-wielding free radical.

Interview: Sam Taylor

Roots rocker Sam Taylor of Sam Taylor & The East End Love.

Sam Taylor has had a strange and wonderful journey as a musician. He began as a professional jazz singer when he was a child, and he eventually found his way to the guitar and inevitably to the blues. Since then has been plying his distinct trade in Toronto venues and across Southern Ontario. His music is a potent mix of roots genres, which he dubs “soul rock”. With his band The East End Love, he’s been scorching Toronto bars for the last few years.

Dave Marsh & The True Love Rules: “The Cause Of Many Troubles”

“The Cause of Many Troubles” by Dave Marsh & The True Love Rules is a diverse, exciting album about love in all its forms. Presented as a fragmented narrative of all of the phases of love and attachment, it is simultaneously sweet, sentimental, bitter, angry, subtle, lusty, romantic, funny, sarcastic and sincere.