There was a time when it was all about the music. Oh yeah, there were groupies and drugs and excesses, but in the end was the product (thanks in large part to great engineers) that mattered . Some of you might be too young to know of this and some might be too old to remember, but here--right here!--is why we came to love music. And we will never see that time again. I keep up on modern music and love some of it, but I can't think of one rock INSTRUMENTAL in the last 20 years that compares to this. Slainte.
deathtokoalas
i mostly listen to modern instrumental music. there was a thing called post-rock that hit it's peak about ten years ago. most of it is closer to pink floyd or king crimson than this, but here are some more upbeat things.
1) 65daysofstatic is often fast breakbeats with driving "mathy" guitars. it's not dissimilar to radiohead, but far more intricate.
2) fredericia, particularly, by do make say think. dmst are more of a smooth jazz, in general.
3) i'd suggest indricothere I for a top notch taste of modern instrumental guitar music.
going back a bit to the 90s, the smashing pumpkins probably did the winter/beck thing best. try ascendo to start with. also, mike keneally and adrian belew have both been active over the last 20 years.
generally, though, guitars are rarely used as lead instruments in instrumental music nowadays. you may want to check some of my own "recent" stuff out for a bit more, although it's way more abstract than this :)
Triplet Tam
Love Adrian Belew. And Pat Metheney (jazz) and Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson et al. GREAT instrumentalists. BUT . . . their stuff gets so little airplay. Thanks for the suggestions. I WILL check them out. My passion for music demands it. Slainte.
deathtokoalas
if you're more into fusion, i'd also try animals as leaders (instrumental fusion metal, heavily influenced by john petrucci), three trapped tigers (this is what is today called math rock, and takes in elements from progressive rock, punk rock and jazz), adibisi shank (also math rock, but with almost an ac/dc stadium feel) and squarepusher (this is actually usally considered techno, but is jazz fusion at core).
keywords: post-rock (but be careful of long, boring ambient pieces), djent (but be careful of dumb macho metal shit), math rock (but be careful of fratboy rock), idm (but be careful of lame techno). each of those are tips of icebergs and will take you in a different direction of intricate modern instrumental music....
i fear i just provided way too much information, though.
