There is one instrument that will always lead the way in musicians choosing to express their music through it, the guitar. Lately there has been a lack of quality stand alone guitarists in the mainstream music scene. We had to dig a little deeper but we came across a great showcase for instrumental guitar music in the Electric Gathering project.
The compilation album puts together both undiscovered and established talent to show off the skills that are out there on the electric guitar. To make it a truly global party Anchorage Records brought in virtuosos from the USA, Canada, UK, Finland, Israel, Japan, and Argentina. There is no particular style that limits the Electric Gathering either as there is music from a wide variety of genres from Hard rock & Metal To Jazz & Blues.
The 15 track record is a fantastic listen for any lover of the beautiful sounds a guitar can make. The opener is “Unintelligent Designs” by Elmo Karjalainen. It is a fast paced yet technical exercise in sound. The raw power of the electric guitar stands out on the rock track by internet sensation Jeff Fiorentino called “Deafen Thy Neighbor”. There are some tremendous Jazz sounds to be heard on Female Jazz Virtuoso, Yue’s Bumping Jam, and the energetic melody of “Jungle’s Traffic Jam”. Probably the most experienced guitarist on the album is Jeff Kollman. On his song “Shedding Skin” he begins with a beautiful acoustic line before blasting into some fancy fretwork that would impress anyone who ever picked up a guitar. There is not enough room here to talk about the perfection of every track but by the time you get to the closer “War Machine” by DRW you will know that there is still a wide array of super talented guitarist out there to be in awe of. Get a taste of it all at: http://anchoragerecords.wordpress.com/
