“Parker, probably best known as a member of the post-rock band Tortoise, has absorbed so many styles
and worked in so many situations that he really comes across as an individual with vast roots.”
-Jazz Times Magazine
Tag Archives: guitar
A Drum Kit And A 7-String Guitar
Scott Amendola and Charlie Hunter have a music making relationship going on 20 years. Here is a press kit video for their latest record is called Pucker. All shot and edited by me.
I found that I really love doing this work. If I had discovered this long ago I would probably be a film editor now.
This is called “Viva Experimentation” for a reason
There are benefits to doing thing the wrong way. Moe! Staiano at Bar 355 in Oakland. Guitarist, Kevin Thomson calls this “Hoovering.” If you get the right amount of friction going as the guitar headstock is swept across the floor you get sublime sounds.
They call this guitar a ‘Petite Bouche.”
Paul Mehling at Speisekammer /May 23, 2013
STS / Ava Mendoza, Episode 5
Guitarist and composer, Ava Mendoza, is an essential member of the SF Bay Area creative music scene. She is part of a breed, comfortable in a wide variety of situations – playing the yearning rock of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, note-y guitar sparring with Nels Cline, or performing a live score to a Buster Keaton silent film with Tune-Yards. Her recent focus has been Unnatural Ways, a jazzy rock(or rock-y jazz?) ensemble with Dominique Leone on keys and Nick Tamburro on drums.
Unnatural Ways is Ava Mendoza’s current project. It started as a duo, with Nick Tamburro on drums, but evolved into a trio when they found the perfect person to fulfill the bass parts on synths, a familiar face – Dominique Leone.
more about Ava:
avamendozamusic.com
weirdforest.com/store/bandPages/mendoza.html#quit
STS / Ava Mendoza, Episode 4
Guitarist and composer, Ava Mendoza, is an essential member of the SF Bay Area creative music scene. She is part of a breed, comfortable in a wide variety of situations – playing the yearning rock of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, note-y guitar sparring with Nels Cline, or performing a live score to a Buster Keaton silent film with Tune-Yards. Her recent focus has been Unnatural Ways, a jazzy rock(or rock-y jazz?) ensemble with Dominique Leone on keys and Nick Tamburro on drums.
The combination of film and live music is an age-old idea in cinema. In 2011, the San Francisco Film Society commissioned her to score a silent film for their Cinema By The Bay series. She chose The Bat (1926), a strange and goofy mystery by Roland West. In this episode she shares here thoughts on why she picked that film and her approach. Her longtime cohort, Nick Tamburro, played drums with her for this project.
Thanks to the SF Film Society. Learn more about them at – SFFS.org
more about Ava:
avamendozamusic.com
weirdforest.com/store/bandPages/mendoza.html#quit
STS / Ava Mendoza, Episode 3
Guitarist and composer, Ava Mendoza, is an essential member of the SF Bay Area creative music scene. She is part of a breed, comfortable in a wide variety of situations – playing the yearning rock of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, note-y guitar sparring with Nels Cline, or performing a live score to a Buster Keaton silent film with Tune-Yards. Her recent focus has been Unnatural Ways, a jazzy rock(or rock-y jazz?) ensemble with Dominique Leone on keys and Nick Tamburro on drums.
She is also a teacher. In this episode she explains what she gets out of teaching besides a paycheck.
Thanks to San Francisco Rock Project – rockprojectsf.org/
more about Ava:
avamendozamusic.com
weirdforest.com/store/bandPages/mendoza.html#quit
STS / Ava Mendoza, Episode 2
Guitarist and composer, Ava Mendoza, is an essential member of the SF Bay Area creative music scene. She is part of a breed, comfortable in a wide variety of situations – playing the yearning rock of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, note-y guitar sparring with Nels Cline, or performing a live score to a Buster Keaton silent film with Tune-Yards. Her recent focus has been Unnatural Ways, a jazzy rock(or rock-y jazz?) ensemble with Dominique Leone on keys and Nick Tamburro on drums.
In this episode she discusses her reasons for expanding the sonic palette of her electric guitar by adding various pedals to the signal chain and the use of conventional and unconventional ways to physically coax sound from her instrument.
For more info about Ava go to:
avamendozamusic.com
weirdforest.com
STS / Ava Mendoza, Episode 1
Guitarist and composer, Ava Mendoza, is an essential member of the SF Bay Area creative music scene. She is part of a breed, comfortable in a wide variety of situations – playing the yearning rock of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, note-y guitar sparring with Nels Cline, or performing a live score to a Buster Keaton silent film with Tune-Yards. Her recent focus has been Unnatural Ways, a jazzy rock(or rock-y jazz?) ensemble with Dominique Leone on keys and Nick Tamburro on drums.
In this episode we start where we usually finish – a performance. Let the music do the talking. This is Ava’s take on “Goodnight Irene,” and American folk standard from early 1900’s.
For more info about Ava go to:
STS / The Mattson 2, Episode 5
In this episode Jonathan and and Jared play an acoustic version of ‘Black Rain’ , track no. 2 from their latest album, Feeling Hands.
In this series of So To Speak we focus on The Mattson 2, a twin brother guitar and drums jazz duo from San Diego. Like most young musicians today their interests span a wide spectrum. Their playing can go from traditional jazz to avant-garde serialism. Jared Mattson plays electric guitar while brother Jonathan provides the rhythmic foundation on the drum kit.
While they have strong connection to the surf and skate community through their collaborations with artist/filmmaker Thomas Campbell and musical collaborations with Ray Barbee and Tommy Guerrero they explore territory outside of that world by listening to many different genres and playing experimental and improvised musics.
For more info about The Mattson 2 go to:
lennygonzalez.wordpress.com 