by
Anonymous
June 17, 2004 -- Guitarist Denis Taaffe is set to unveil his new release "Modern Guitar vol.5:2 Worlds" which is revolutionary in its approach to music and instrumental guitar.
Combining guitar and guitar loops all improvised and drawing from rock, new age, pop, metal, soundtrack/film, ambient, jazz and blues influences into a unique style all his own.
The Bloomington, in based guitarist has always been at the forefront of instrumental guitar shattering established standards of conventional music and recordings. In fact, in a review for Denis's current CD "Modern guitar vol.4: An Evening with Guitarist Denis Taaffe", 20th Century guitar Magazine stated that
"Denis remains at the cutting edge of improvisational guitar"-Robert Silverstein, 20th century Guitar Magazine, April, 2004
How is Denis's music different? Unlike conventional music and recordings, Denis uses guitar loops done on the fly (small parts of what he is playing looped in real time) to create layered instrumental compositions and all the sounds are guitar based except for the occasional use of drum machines operated on the fly as well.
He often emulates other instruments on the guitar without the use of midi guitars or pre-recorded samples including bass guitar, synthesizers, voices, woodwinds and brass instruments.
His compositions are always done in real time without overdubs and are improvised on the spot!!!
Denis not only improvises within a song but also improvises the song itself on the spot, yet his compositions seem to be very structured and can range in length from about 5 minutes to 1/2 hour pieces.
Every live concert he performs is different as he improvises every piece he plays. This improvisation gives his composition a feel and flow that are unattainable with conventional worked-out music compositions.
Denis stated: “Well, my music is a little different in that when I discovered guitar loops done on the fly, everything I learned about conventional recordings went out the window. Songs didn't have to be these structured verse-chorus 3to 5 minute ditties and didn't have to be worked-out ahead of time and practiced to a polished perfection.
It actually made conventional music really boring to me and especially when I would go see live bands playing songs the same way that they had rehearsed a hundred times. I guess the improvisational feel was just not there and the songs didn't flow.
The more I think about it, when solos for instance are improvised in jazz, the underlying structures are still worked out. I wanted to take it one step further and improvise the actual song itself.
To me, what I play is very similar to jazz but in a musical language I can understand closer to rock, film, and new age and so on. Also, with pure improvisation of the composition, I get that flow that I could never get with conventional worked out recordings.
As a result, I run into 'magic moments' that I could have not achieved via rehearsed and worked out material and they happen more often.
It is the equivalent of doing multi track recording on the fly. You compliment on the spot what you are hearing, though it happens at a split second. I have the advantage though of playing solo, so I can take the music immediately where I hear that it wants to go.
I could never even think of going back to conventional recordings. I wonder why more people don't approach instrumental guitar and music in this manner. I mean I used to be quite typical, you know doing multitrack recordings, working out songs and verses and choruses and bridges and layering tracks and so on. But everything changed for me and I feel much more free musically.
Playing live, I guess it is also a little stressful playing shows when you have no way to rehearse the material and have to rely on your ears and skills as a musician and guitarist overall, especially right before you go on haha.I mean sure I get nervous at first, but then the music just takes me away and I am not even there haha.
Funny though, every live show has new material and every recording has new material, there are no radio friendly pop hits that I can repeat over and over. Instead when you come to hear me play live, instead it is a general style and my approach to music that you see, rather than a hit song regurgitated at every show. I record every show as when a composition is performed it will never be heard again. So, I produce quite a bit of recorded material as a result. When everything you recorded is live with no overdubs and not worked out ahead of time, you can be quite prolific recording wise.
Every show has all new material and if recorded could be a released as a CD. So rather than 1 recording a year or what have you, you could release many recordings. But some shows are better than others I guess too haha.So it would be best to be selective.
I don't think I will get much radio airplay as many radio stations are just set to play the little 3-5 minute repetitive pop hook laden ditties and it is a kind of brainwashing. Whether you like the 3-5 minute ditty if they repeat it 20-40 times a week your going to know it haha and you hear the words over and over again it is a form of brainwashing.
Radio needs a huge restructuring!!! Especially in its content. Also, rarely do you hear any instrumental music which is automatically classified as 'background' music, what rubbish, people either don't have ears or are brainwashed that instrumental music is just elevator background music. I prefer music without vocals unless it is Sinead O’Connor singing or something similar.
I would love to hear a station play a 30 minute instrumental composition on air, but it just won't happen haha.Not.how could they get their advertisements in ....Weak. As far as record labels go, I do think some labels may be open to my ideas but I also think a majority would be frightened to death to do something different than the accepted standards especially the majors. No hits? no radio airplay? New material at every show? yikes..ahaha.But seriously, I wouldn't do it any other way because I am on a musical journey that challenges me at every moment and I would like to see where it leads musically".
Denis has completed work on "Modern guitar.vol.5:2 Worlds" which is a double live CD that showcases his unique improvised instrumental compositions using guitar and guitar loops done on the fly. Denis is currently playing shows and is shopping the CD to labels. Also look for a feature of Denis in the July issue of 20th century guitar magazine.
More info on Denis can be found at his website at
http://www.dtguitar.com .
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