Alex's Don't Do That!

These are a few of my favorite things. I love these guitar players, check em out.

St Vincent, or Annie Clark, is one of my favs for sho. She writes awesome avante-garde pop tunes and then occasionally rips over them with some guitar pyrotechnics. She's been a bit more interested in song craft and texture with her more recent releases, which she excels in, but check her earlier two albums ("Marry Me" and "Actor") for some gnarly tones and mean sounds.

Robert Fripp got his start playing guitar for punk-as-hell prog-rock band, King Crimson. He moved forward with a lengthy solo career collaborating with the likes of David Bowie, Brian Eno, and many more. He was constantly reimagining guitar. He moved from prog rock to ambient guitar noise to soundscapes and wildness. Check him out.

Nels Cline may be most known for his work as Wilco's lead guitarist, and his playing definitely lends some much needed flavor to what may be the biggest alt dad-rock band of all time, but his solo material reveals his true genius. Check this performance from his group the Nels Cline Singers.

I was introduced to Sonny Sharrock through Space Ghost Coast to Coast, for which he recorded the intro theme and music used throughout. If you've never listened to the theme tune for that show you should definitely go watch an episode to have your face melted by his other-worldly free-jazz licks. Ask the Ages is the last record he put out before his death and reveals the depth of this guy's work, ranging from wild free-jazz freak outs to elegant and nuanced displays of melodicism that put Santana to shame.


-alex