Friday, 20 August 2010

Simurgh

Simurgh is the modern Persian name for a fabulous, benevolent, mythical flying creature, these words inspired my new track of the same name, here on Soundcloud

The Simurgh is a gigantic bird that has lived so long that it has seen the world destroyed three times. The Simurgh has the head of a dog, four wings, orange metallic feathers, a silver head, a peacock's tail and the claws of a lion. It resides in the Tree of Knowledge that is laden with seeds from all the plants in the world. When the Simurgh leaves the tree it shakes the tree so that seeds flew in all directions. The Simurgh also lives on the mountain Alburz. The Simurgh has been known to take children in to foster them. Her touch is supposed to heal even the direst of wounds.

The whole tale is here


A guitarist with vision

Here is a very interesting guitar from Visionary Instruments it really does add a whole new dimension to live performance. Best to see this one live!



Does MySpace have no space?

I remember when MySpace first appeared on the scene, as a musician it was a very exciting network of some very talented people (some have become and continue to be good friends) and it really opened my eyes and ears to many new exciting styles of music. I saw read this post called MySpace. Rip on gigaom.com about Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million MySpace purchase,  it reminded me that I hardly use MySpace now, and that most of the musicians that network online seem to use Facebook now or perhaps they are all playing gigs and concerts out in the real world, I hope so as this is a very important trend, it would seem that the best way to appreciate music is to hear it live, not from a downloaded Mp3.





Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Peter MalinoskiArt Guitars

Electric guitars come in all shapes and sizes (well not sizes so much)and the basic design and shape has been around for about 60 years but Peter Malinoski has other ideas. He makes what he calls art guitars and very interesting they are too!



A link to some video demos

He has a test guitar which he will send you for free to check out. You just pay to ship it back.

Steve Tibbetts

Steve Tibbetts is a guitarist I only discovered quite recently, I find his music very inspirational.

Peter Marsh for the BBC review goes on to say:

For the last 25 years or so Minnesota based guitarist Steve Tibbetts has been quietly producing records that sound like nothing much else. Imagining a kind of 'Fourth World' music (though his own suggestion is 'post modern neo primitivism'), Tibbetts combinesAfrican and Asianpercussion, field recordings, ambient soundscapes and avant metal guitar heroics in a richly atmospheric brew.
For some reason Tibbetts seems to go largely unnoticed by those who slavishly follow every twang from the likes of Bill Frisell, Terje Rypdal or David Torn, and he certainly hasn't received the kind of praise reserved for crosscultural fusioneers like Jon Hassell or Michael Brook.



If you have not heard him check out his website  and listen to some great soundclips.

Monday, 16 August 2010

Live music

This studio has some great looking and sounding HD videos of many bands (Beck, Andrew Bird, Eels, Fleet Foxes, Jarvis Cocker, P J Harvey, Radiohead, Queens Of The New Stone Age, White Stripes, The Fall, Sparks to name a few, phew!) to watch free online.














 From The Basement

Guitars! Guitars!

I'm enjoying this site dedicated to listing every guitar ever made! Heaven.

 

Sunday, 15 August 2010

martin-bird.co.uk

Just in case you've missed it I have another website here

Pick-Ups

I'm constantly changing the pick-ups in my strat, have been for many years, I've got quite adept at it, there have been periods whenever I changed strings I did the pick-ups as well. I have realised that i am not alone in this strange behavior. But finally I have found a tone and feel that I'm really happy with these come in the shape and name of Chevalier Pick-ups hand made in Canada by Jeff Chevalier.
I've got the 67's  and loving the sound, so if you are on the pick-up replacement warpath  I highly recommend these little blighters!

http://www.chevalierpickups.com/

Sunday, 1 August 2010

The Guardian

More on 'Virginia Doesn't' and 'Horace Bachelor' in the Guardian