Nov 25, 2007
While My Guitar Violently Bleeds pt.2: Acoustic
Photo credit: Sir Richard Bishop as photographed by Mark Sullo
Last week’s part one featured some excellent electric guitar playing in various styles. It was a reference to Sir Richard Bishop’s fantastically titled album While My Guitar Violently Bleeds (released on Locust Music earlier this year, make sure to get the vinyl version if you have a record player, just for the beautiful artwork alone) although it did not have anything to do with the actual record itself. This second part however explores the sound of acoustic guitar instruments and comes a lot closer to what you’ll find on that album.
The mood throughout this mix remains somewhat reserved but offers several moments of clarity. Like the track from William Eaton’s self-titled album from 1978 which has luckily been reissued on the Japanese label Em last year. A quite remarkable document of a truly unique artist. The mix ends with the breathtaking (and lengthy) improvisation of Paul Metzger on modified banjo. I remember listening to this track well over a year ago when I received a phone call that my grandfather had just passed away. So as you can imagine this track is more than just music for me.
I must also say hats off to Locust Music for doing such a great effort in finding and releasing terrific music, particularly in this genre, but also in other genres. Not only did they release While My Guitar Violently Bleeds this year but also Paul Metzger’s excellent latest album called Deliverance and several other great albums. Their back catalogue includes artists like Henry Flynt, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Josephine Foster, Espers, Tetuzi Akiyama and many more. Definitely one of those labels to watch closely if you happen to enjoy this mix.
- Sir Richard Bishop – Zurvan
While My Guitar Violently Bleeds (Locust, 2007) - Alexander Turnquist – White Out
Faint at the Loudest Hour (VHF, 2007) - James Blackshaw – Skylark Herald’s Dawn
Sunshrine (Digitalis, 2005) - Wooden Spoon – Untitled 1
Wooden Spoon 2 (Foxglove, 2007) - Robbie Basho – Eagle Sails the Blue Diamond Waters
Venus in Cancer (Blue Thumb, 1969) - Jack Rose – Spirits in the House
Jack Rose (Archive, 2006) - Jozef van Wissem – Propemticon
Stations of the Cross (Incunabulum, 2007) - William Eaton – Track 1
Music by William Eaton (Em, 2006) - Paul Metzger – Untitled 3
Three Improvisations On Modified Banjo (Chairkickers’ Music, 2005)
Robbie Basho’s spirit lives on.
how come information on Richard Bishop is so minimal?
Sir Richard Bishop is an experimental American guitarist and former member of Sun City Girls. His solo recordings and performances are largely improvised and draw on influences from Indian, North African and Gypsy styles, among others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Bishop
Beautiful, wonderfull…I’ve listened to it several times already! I saw Sir Richard Bishop w/ Animal Collective and it was a great show. Really enjoy the William Eaton track. Thanks!
fantastic, beautiful music! it seems like this series is going to be an instant classic, just like “dark stars…”
groeten uit amsterdam
It wasn’t supposed to be a series of more than these two opposite parts, but we’ll see… ;)
Thanks for listening.
Great post… also worth checking Voice of the Seven Woods for similar audible goodness.
Some live clips on my blog – http://blog.surely.uk.com//2008/01/10/voice-of-the-seven-woods
I saw Sir Richard Bishop a couple of weeks ago supporting Earth, and Jack Rose comes to town next week! Happy Days!
Thanks! I’ll be seeing the Sir Richard Bishop / Earth thing next week, looking forward to it! Would love to see Jack Rose too. Maybe I should just go to the Terrastock festival in Louisville, Kentucky this year, man that line-up is awesome!