i like this kid. i just wish the press weren't as clueless about how mike oldfied and al dimeola sounding it is.
distant relative
contemplate if the "press" started to draw analogies to artists of the past every time something new came out, how boring would that be? i've seen your comments on a lot of the same music that i listen to and i totally respect your grasp on music history and all but when you seek to draw comparisons and analyze everything--i feel you lose sight of the raw creative energy that makes these sounds possible in the first place. it's like when you're at a show and people are losing themselves and then there's that one person taking notes... it's a 6, wait no i think it's a 7. nothing's purely original and words are for the birds. i like this kid too, cheers to that. disclaimer: i claim to know nothing, and this is all opinion.
deathtokoalas
i may have been a little terse in my statement. what i meant was the guitar comparisons i tend to see are very off base - santana, for example. or they'll try and talk about frusciante jamming with the animal collective, or something. as a self-proclaimed guitar geek, it's at times difficult to sort through, especially considering how overwhelming the oldfield influence is. it's just a question of getting the influence right.
in a bigger scheme of things, you see this a lot in the press. oldfield and di meola rarely get mentioned because most music journalists just aren't very aware of their music - they never existed in a hip music scene, and their commercial successes have had very little to do with their artistic output. but, no guitarist into their craft could possibly pass these guys over, they're both just far too important.
so, listening to this and going "it sounds like hendrix" is basically equivalent to stating "i have no idea what i'm talking about". it's a reduction to "all guitar music is equivalent". when you're dealing with the incredible levels of inaccuracy that come out of the general music press reviewing guitar music, the result neither helps old guitarists that might get a plug in the review or new ones trying to build up a base from fans of existing artists.
the solution is that there really needs to be a bigger focus on allowing guitarists to analyse guitar music.
