Review of IV American Electric Guitar by Giacomo Fiore, 2014
Fourth record release for Giacomo Fiore, italian guitarist from Genoa, who has now established strong roots in the artistic ground in California. Perhaps to enshrine his “housing” in the USA, he has produced his fourth recording effort devoted entirely to 4 masterpieces of American electric guitar literature.
The passeges recorded here are Until it blazes (2001) by Eve Beglarian, Another Possibility (2004) by Christian Wolff, Hair of the Thing That bit you (2011) by Anthony Porter and FreeHorn (2004) by Larry Polansky. Curious thing about this work: it’s realesed non only in digital format but in LP also, not in cd.
A choice a little ‘contemporary hipster or indie rock’, if you wantl, which, however, increases my level of sympathy for this really interesting job: Giacomo Fiore is an excellent musician, and this album is a great work of contemporary music, that presents some interesting news.
It has become evident that there is a new generation of young guitarists who can no longer distinguish not only between classical and contemporary repertoire, but also between classical, electric and acoustic guitar. Until a few years ago there were only rare performers who competed with ease between the different (evolutionary) forms that allows the guitar, now it seems to be almost normal for a guitar player who comes out of the Conservatory to play easily instruments not for normal academic study , playing a repertoire of predominantly US composers dedicated to electric and acoustic instruments.
In the United States the electric guitar seems to have been received with greater favor than our country, aided, perhaps, its wider dissemination in popular music, and a more postmodernist attitude by the composers themselves.
Compared to other performers who have dedicated themselves to the same repertoire (I quote Seth Josel and Emanuele Forni for Eve Beglarian’s passage and Gilbert Imperial for Another Possibility by Christian Wolfe) it seems to me that in this record Giacomo works for a greater attention to the sound, to what Premier Guitar magazine calls “relentless pursuit of tone”, the kind of disease and beneficial obsession that drives every electric guitarist to the pursuit guitars, pickups, amplifiers and pedals ideal for defining and achieving that pure, electrical, saturated, warm, sharp, etc. etc. sound that every guitarist craves always creating his distinctive brand that does stand out among the legions of worshipers Fender, Gibson, Music Man, Epiphone etc. etc … Giacomo Fiore definitely seems to have accepted this “spell”, I read it in the notes of the LP that everything was played with a Fender Princeton amp, while the guitars concerned were a Music Man Morse Y2D and Resophonic Republic tricone guitar, refretted to adapt it to Just Intonation: this is what I call a love for a vintage sound!.
The result is a brilliant record, that sounds great both in digital format and through the grooves of the Long Playing, perhaps precisely because of that vintage tone, in my opinion, the song that has got the best treatment is Untili it blaze, which seems become a post-minimalist trance close to certain Ambient Brian Eno things, very nice it is interesting too FreeHorn by Larry Polansky with its computer’s interpolations.
Really a nice job that denotes artistic maturity and style.
NeuGuitars 