FRACTAL GUITAR 2

4.5 stars. On November 2, 2019 Stephan Thelen along with Henry Kaiser, Chris Muir and Andy West met at a studio in Oakland, California recording some tracks and by the time they all went home the World was a very different place with the Covid. So this album has been quite the adventure with it being done during lockdown over the internet. Thelen specifically thanks Jon Durant, Barry Cleveland, Andi Pupato and Markus Reuter in the liner notes but also a special thanks to Tim Motzer, Bill Laswell and Michael Manring who were part of these recordings but not on this main album, however they are on a remixed album they did that is on Bandcamp.

Yes David Torn is here along with Bill Walker, Manuel Pasquinelli and more. These have become my new heroes, in fact I'm finding a lot of this type of music with solo projects from these musicians along with other side projects they are on. And this isn't Math Rock which I'm luke warm on although I have some favourites, this is so much more than that. Some new types of guitars in play with these guys as usual like sliced and filtered cloud guitar from Jon Durant. Of course Barry Cleveland with his bowed guitar, chopped guitar and fuzz orchestration. How about Thelen adding granular synths, choppy organ, e-bow, particles and programming and yes lots of guitars.

Six long tracks at just under 74 minutes this is a ride. I love that in the liner notes they have the lineup for each track which involves 7 to 9 talented musicians. Pretty much two drummers, a bass player and sometimes a keyboardist but always many guitarists including Touch guitars, looping, soundscapes and on and on. Music with intelligence. I just get lost in all these sounds. And how about the title on the opener "Cosmic Krautrock", you know I'm so impressed with many musicians today who have gone outside of their own sub-genres to be fans like us of the many styles of music there is out there.

A very consistent album this is with each track bringing something new to the table. The opener and closer are my top two though and coincidently Torn is on those two tracks only, and I do prefer the first "Fractal Guitar" album to this one but this is a nice companion album to keep together with my SONAR records with David Torn participating. Rounding down here but this is a keeper and a unique piece of music in Stephan Thelen's discography given the way it was recorded during lockdown.