Scalloped Neck Guitars: What Is It?

What is a scalloped neck guitar? 

Tonight at the bar I had the privilege of running into a guy who bought a Malmsteen scalloped neck guitar from a pawnshop. I asked to play it and I played it while he was on break from his performance, so I soundchecked it for him. And then later in his gig I asked for one song with the singer, who was also playing acoustic guitar. I played "Now I wanna be your Dog," with him on vocals and acoustic guitar and me on electric guitar. I took two long neoclassical/hendrixy blues solos [one in the middle of the song, and one at the end of the song] on this immaculate conception of an electric guitar. 

A scalloped neck guitar is a guitar where the neck has been 'scalloped,' meaning the wood under the frets has been shaved off and deeply cut, more like an acoustic violin, than an electric guitar. The most popular guitar player that uses, and has popularized scalloped neck guitars, is Yngwie Malmsteen, mostly known for his work in the 1980s with a short lived LA metal band called Steeler. 

Steeler was popular because of Malmsteen's fast fiery technical guitar work, using a scalloped neckboard. The guitar I played tonight at the bar, ironically, through a guy who bought it at a pawn shop for $800, was Malmsteen's guitar, probably one of his older models that was still in good condition. Enough to get him a decent amount of cash at a pawn shop. The guy might be going through some hard times or maybe he just needed some quick cash. But I digress, the guy is a living legend on the guitar. 

Moving on, so now you know what a scalloped neck guitar is. Think of it like a violin but as an electric guitar. That's it. 

Next, so if my electric guitar has a wooden fretboard like a violin, how do I play it, how does that change the sound? 

Well, for one thing, it makes the sound better in a more classical way, like a violin. 

Also, when you play chords, its way easier because the scalloped neck makes holding many notes easier, like a violin. 

However, when you play single notes, it makes playing solos harder, again because its more like a violin. 

Lastly, when you're playing it live onstage with another guitarist [on acoustic/and/or singing] the guitar is harder to hear when the sound is contrasted with other sounds [it sounds more acoustic even though its electric still] to play so you have to control the volume of the guitar more with either the volume control button knob or either by using your right hand more or less [palm muting/lighter touches and/or harder touches.

Speculation Band Rock and Roll Jam

Hello rock and rollers, 

Check out this list of recordings I made on my android phone. The quality isn't the best but its true to the rock and roll spirit. I met a guy at the checkout line at work that wanted to jam with me and this is what we got out of it. I played guitar a bit and played drums a bit, apparently, I'm a drummer too now, and even occasional piano. I do it all, I can even sing while playing drums, super hard sometimes. 

The guitar bits with me on guitar are with Jim's Signature Eddie Van Halen guitar, which he says he got personally from Eddie himself. Well, him telling me that did make me play much better. Check out it. 

https://soundcorset.com/r/lIwPlA-HNs?fbclid=IwAR0MSTg4xQw-1o7RsW6Y2USTP-5mTBjuCOYNT4VJPtFyEAWRk-G-tzj03ag [Speculation band Orlando guitar and Mike on drums/spoken word, played with the signature EVH guitar]

https://soundcorset.com/r/xYrrAAMYzj?fbclid=IwAR2GV6OeZg9rdt3nQK2SqXzCmlykbxhz8u2hS11Lk6UfxnYu214wSsd3U8w [Speculation band Johnny B Goode Orlando drums Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/Qz7I2VzWUL?fbclid=IwAR2-n7VOVIaCcyFZ07NmeFT6BFCMb_3avnsRmx-MekDSNOTtB6hj2GrjNbE [Speculation band metal Orlando guitar, Mike drums, with the EVH signature guitar]

https://soundcorset.com/r/9h-WEVEeqY?fbclid=IwAR16sa_MTa_bTMNB1QB4OHp_xNf_IdH4gM1G9pJ2HSx5p2I4JP-ewoQC4_g [Speculation band Mike guitar/vocals, Orlando drums]

https://soundcorset.com/r/AvXQoK6pCp?fbclid=IwAR2PtgQbUL340Bgs-VYF7Y7_yuAQqYSElWqpg2GZza82xaLT0cXOnzoBL_k [Orlando drum solo]

Keep on rocking in the free world! 

Electric Funeral

Here's Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath played at the open jam I play at regularly, on 9/19. We have Jim X (Ouii3) on drums and a jammer on bass, the bass player kills it here.

Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-x-drums

New Jam tracks (9/5/18)

So I happened to be off work last week so my drummer and I went out and played an open jam, our only real performance space other than practicing at the studio with occasional friends spectating, sometimes even performing too. 

We start the jam off with an instrumental tune, Buckethead's Soothsayer. Then we play Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath, and end the mini-gig with my original death metal tune called Spirits of the Dead. 

Enjoy! 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/soothsayer918
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-95
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-95


Good news is that although my singing and death metal screams aren't "good" they are at least decent enough to pass, and I have improved a lot in my general singing and screams. Back to the shed for practice! 

Mass plays Spirits of the Dead

My band recorded an original tune of mine recently called Spirits of the Dead, a tune I wrote on Halloween morning in 2017. Features my friend Martin Arevalo on drums and myself on guitar and vocals with Dmitri on bass. Dmitri also recorded it. Rock and roll!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfdbEKI_y7g

Mass Live at the studio

Greetings everyone, here's a short live set we did at the studio and recorded on a super old video recorder device. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6yxqnEIsCI

Mass is a duo musical collaboration comprised of myself and my friend Martin Arevalo, who plays drums. 

We go through Electric Funeral by Sabbath and Sunshine of Your Love by Cream. We also play one of my tunes called Spirits of the Dead, a black metal song complete with screams done by yours truly.

We're calling the group Mass, as in we the people, the masses. I also see it as a reference to mass, as in Catholic Church, like Electric Church Music, something I heard someone say about Hendrix's music. 

Enjoy the music!

John Zorn's Simualcrum

Simulacrum is an album with music written and directed by composer, saxophonist John Zorn that features John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin, and Wood fame), Matt Hollenberg and Kenny Grohowski which was released on the Tzadik label in March 2015. John Zorn is a magpie of sorts. Sure he's respected in the improvised music industry but there's always been one problem about his music. Its all over the place. Sometimes he plays straight ahead jazz, sometimes free-jazz, sometimes rock and roll, sometimes pop, and here we have ourselves an instrumental heavy metal album, running at forty three minutes by an organist, guitarist, and drummer. I ain't complaining though. I dig this album very much. But why, you might ask? 

Sure this album treads no new ground and doesn't do anything groundbreaking. But I find a certain amount of fun to the way these guys play on this record. The tunes sound heavily improvised to the untrained ear, but I bet a lot of it was written out by Zorn, after all he's a 'composer', right? 

I first heard the album a year or so ago on YouTube, and about three days ago I bought the actual CD. I like it so much that I threw down thirteen bucks for it. The reason I like it is that the musicians here bring a sense of heightened adventure to progressive rock infused heavy metal jazz. Say what?

The music here encompasses mostly a jamming instrumental sensibility. Oftentimes the guitar takes the lead with distorted metal tropes. And then the organ takes over, leading the charge. The drummer stays away from stereotypical metal blast beat marathons, opting instead for jazzy fills on the snare, toms, and cymbals. The result is oddball jazz and blues sound, oddly enough. Not real blues or jazz, but a kind of white blues, jazz, more about experimental science than emotive sensibility. What the album succeeds at is creating a live open jam sort of environment. Like you're at the studio, watching them record it. 

But this is a heavy metal kid's record. This isn't a jazz aficionado's album. If you're into Miles and Trane, this isn't your bag. However if you're into Slayer or Opeth then this is right up your alley. The guitar playing is very heavy, played with a good but oftentimes stereotypical metal guitar tone. There's not many single note solos from the guitarist, instead he performs as chordal accompaniment to the organ and drums. The organ takes up most of the single note melodies, and does a beautiful job doing so. The drums holds it all together with compelling rhythms, technically brilliant but not showing off and taking over the show entirely. 

The album cover is one that reminds me of King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, their first album from 1969. With song titles like Alterities, Snakes and Ladders, Paradigm Shift, and the Divine Comedy, there's a sense of intellectual curiosity and stimulation. The name simulacrum reminds me of Phillip K Dick, who had a novel called the Simulacra, check that out if you're into science fiction. 

Its a musical curiosity really. And the music portrays this in its style and grace. There's so many musical changes, everything from time signature changes, to many different riffs, to what seems like spontaneous free improvisation. Its quite exciting to hear. 

You can listen to the album on YouTube if you're curious enough to take the plunge into jazz influenced heavy metal.

Open Mic Tracks from 5/16

Hello, here are my recordings from last week's open mic. We played Electric Funeral and Poachers as a guitar, drums duo with myself on vocals. 

I think we did an excellent job on the Sabbath tune considering we didn't have a bass player. It sounds pretty bad ass. Although its not perfect metric (timing)-wise I still think its pretty cool. I can do metal too, haha. Check out the tune here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/electric-funeral-guitar-drum-duo

And the other tune is Poachers, a tune written by new music composer Frank Abbinanti. Here I play it with my friend Martin on drums. I was following the score and he improvised music based on what I was playing. Upon hearing it after I think we could use more practice with this one. However, Martin's drumming wasn't bad. He does pretty well when we improvise. I also like the yelling from the audience. Makes it feel like a rock concert! Check it out here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/poachers-martin-on-drums

Lastly, I have something different, a jazz/blues in c featuring Jim Xaiver on drums, Mike Mitchell on distorted electric guitar, Ken on tambourine, Art on bass, and myself on clean guitar. Check that out here https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/jazzblues-in-c
I like this one a lot because its jazz, which I love!  

Enjoy! 

Untitled Guitar Improvisation #1

Hey, whats up everybody? Me again, back with some more music. This time I have an improvised guitar solo I recorded at my friend Ash's studio. Its pretty basic, its just a solo guitar track (except for the drums in the beginning). There's a ton of reverb, chorus (mostly chorus), and delay on the guitar. I wanted to post this because I was going to start an improvisational set of music where I just improvise guitar solos and post them for fun. 

I'm looking for feedback from people but also just to listen back to myself and see what direction and sounds I was trying to achieve at the time. 

Here I was going for a few different kinds of things.  

For starters there's quite a few freak out free jazz moments. I'm trying to learn how to play a more free jazz style on guitar, like Derek Bailey or my modern free jazz guitar hero Mary Halvorson. I don't think I sound like them at all but it does sound different and interesting enough for me to keep exploring. 

Then there's the traditional post-bop licks (I reference Girl from Ipanema and Hendrix), shred licks, and there's that modern sense of harmony I've been working on. I notice the music sounds good when I blend the modern sense of harmony with the free jazz atonal sort of stuff. 

I think this is the direction I'm going to go in with my more improvisational music. 

However, I'm still a post-bop fan and player. Still exploring. 

Like I said I'm going to compile tons of solos and post them on Soundcloud for fun. 

Listen to the solo here  

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/untitled-guitar-improvisation-1

Enjoy!

Electric Funeral, Music Politics

Here's our rendition of Electric Funeral with my buddy Martin on drums, and Thelma on groans :D https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/electric-funeral
I did a bit of vocals but not the full song. Enjoy!

I've been pretty busy practicing a lot of music, working on jazz guitar, jazz standards, as well as piano. I'm mostly just improvising on piano but I'm getting much better pretty quickly and I've only been playing since October.

The band situation is either getting worse or getting better depending on how you look at it. The drummer has improved a lot and I look forward to continue working with him for a long time. However, the singer might be leaving to join another band, depending on if he gets accepted after the audition process.

In the meantime we're still practicing together with the current singer. However, Martin (drummer) has found a new guitarist (named Stan) that also plays guitar and sings. I sing and play guitar too so if Alex (current singer) ends up leaving we have a good back up plan for the band.

I'm teaching my friend rudimentary rock bass and I'm hoping he can get good fast enough to play with us (our riffs aren't that difficult, just fast mostly).

As if that wasn't enough our current bass player can't play the songs the same way, he just improvises and changes it every time so we're going to have to let him go.

As you can see I'm dealing with a lot of politics! Me and the drummer are the unofficial leaders but man am I glad that he found another guitarist that can do vocals, that will make things a lot easier if Alex ends up ditching us.

Its a lot of pressure and I'm trying to stay positive about the whole metal band thing. One could take a look at my band and just say those guys are just fucking around.

As if that wasn't enough I'm also looking and talking to jazz musicians to play in a jazz setting. Hopefully I can do that soon because my heart is way more into jazz than metal, even if I do have a 7-string Jackson as my current main guitar. 

I'm going to continue to work hard and improve my chops, increase my repertoire and keep playing live at the open jam at Petie's Place, the bar on Reseda. I've got to keep pushing myself. 

Jam notes I

I ended up playing with this older guitar playing friend that plays a Steve Vai Jem guitar while I used my Jackson 7-string. These are pretty much just jams we did, no songs or anything. However, this cool girl named Melinda helped out on vocals on the first jam. Lotta soul!

I think it ended up sounding pretty darn good. I distinctly remember the drummer, my good friend Jim X (from the jazz fusion band Oui3, whom I just saw at the Baked Potato on Sunday) saying that its not really a good idea to have two guitarists soloing at the same time. There are moments where it worked really well. I guess it just depends on how you do it. 

Interesting to note that I thought I was super loud, much louder than the other guitar but after listening back its the other guitar that louder. 

I've been practicing a lot of drop2 jazz chord voicings and learning a lot of rootless inversions as well. I brought my friends' bass to the shop for repairs, I gotta go back and pay them $40 for a a $100 bass, expensive for sure. Haven't had band practice for a while but hopefully we'll practice tomorrow or Friday.  

More Jam Tracks

Got more jam tracks for you all. This was a totally impromptu jam as my drummer was out of town in Mexico and couldn't make this session. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/soothsayer-guest-guitar
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/bad-horsie-guest-on-bass
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-guest-guitar-and-bass

I think this version of Buckethead's Soothsayer is the best I've ever played, that guest guitar player really filled out with some nice chordal and rhythmic riffing comping, it was fantastic, he really made my solo pop out more with the emotional response, which is exactly what you need to play like Buckethead. Bad Horsie was also really well done, at some point I should bring my wah pedal so I can really make it scream like Steve Vai. Enjoy! 

Last week's jam tracks V

Here's the live tracks from last week's open jam we played. Here we started the show off with Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Then we segued into Steve Vai's Bad Horsie and ended everything with my original black metal style tune called Spirits of the Dead. We've been playing these songs a lot at the bar and there's a couple different variations of these tunes on my soundcloud page. However, this stands apart from all those because I think the vocals were especially well done on this night. You'll see what I mean when you hear it. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid-best-vocals
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/bad-horsie-most-recent-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-best-vocals

In addition, good news everyone! So my two man band (this music is me, my friends, and house band musicians at the bar) but now we've decided to work with this metal vocalist named Alex. Its going to be a while before we have some good arrangements and until I get used to his screaming vocals (haha) but we had a practice yesterday and it went really well. I liked the whole two man White Stripes/Black Keys thing but its better off if I only sing the songs I write, and mostly focus on the guitar chords. Really excited to be working in a 'real' band now and hopefully soon we'll get some songs arranged, and be able to play our first gig really soon.

Last Week's Jam Tracks IV

Here's the tracks from last week's jam tracks from the local pub. 

The first track we played was Sunshine of Your Love (a staple of ours-me and martin my drummer friend), but this time it was performed with Jim, the house drummer at the open jam and an unknown bassist to me. The bass player is very good, as is Jim, which makes the guitar playing and singing very easy to do. I'm pretty proud of the solo I did here on Sunshine, a mix of straight up blues rock Hendrix-esque licks with a bit of shred. I like how when we ended the song I played the riff to Day Tripper retardando haha. That cowbell though! 

The next tune we played was Steve Vai's Bad Horsie. I still haven't gotten the hang of playing this so off the cuff and never practicing it with the musicians I play it with but I tried it again. Here it sounded pretty good with Jim's drumming and Bassist X's bass sound. I went for a super fast shred solo here. I really dig that melody and that metal riff. Steve Vai is a pretty big influence.

This week my drummer friend Martin couldn't make it so I played with the ace drummer Jim and this mysterious Bassist X dude with long hair and glasses, it turned out pretty well. My guitar sounded really great here, it sounds really in tune!  

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-cool-bass-and-drums
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/bad-horsie

Last Week's Jam Tracks III

Here are the live tracks from last week's open jam at Petie's Place, this bar I frequent a lot.

The first tune we played was Black Sabbath's Paranoid, pretty easy song right? Well, I did kind of mess up the song last week because I forgot to come in w/ some verses and instead just went into a guitar solo, then found my place back within the song. That's how you cover up a mistake folks, go into impromptu guitar solo mode! I'm still working on bringing more emotion into the singing.

Next, we played Sunshine of Your Love by the Cream. This has been like our swansong so to speak. Sometimes hearing my voice makes me cringe hard but when I hear the guitar playing I think again (lols). My vocals are definitely getting better but its still hard to get past that speaking voice to singing voice transition. Ken, the percussionist playing tambourine (and records everything for me, thank you) is really on point with his rhythm here. With him and my friend Martin on drums its like playing with two drummers. Martin takes care of fills and colour and Ken takes care of timing with precision.

The last tune we played was an improvised version of Steve Vai's Bad Horsie. I have a habit of doing impromptu versions of guitar instrumentals by shredders (check out this version of Buckethead's Soothsayer here). The melody from Bad Horsie is pretty strong here, a bluesy funky sort of melody that runs into some metal riffing. The way we did it this time I stopped playing and motioned Martin to do a drum solo. As you can hear it sounded pretty damn good. My friend Martin is really coming into his own as a rock and roll drummer. At the end I did some tapping and held a note for what seemed like eons while Martin played some crazy rolls. That's pretty cool.

Here are all the tracks, enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid-forget-the-verse-ha
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-latest-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/steve-vai-bad-horsie-impromtu-jam-version

Last Week's Jam Tracks II

Here's last week's jam tracks from Peties Places' open jam that I go to every week. Peties is this really cool bar that I've been jamming at for a while, one drink minimum, a pool table, and free popcorn, wow! Its a cool place and this is where I've met the drummer I'm working with right now, my friend Martin.

The first song we started off the set with (three song set) was Black Sabbath's Paranoid. This one we started off like a bat out of hell and it sounded great. I was pretty happy with the performance as it was the first time we've ever played the song live. I think I did a great job on the solo sounding like Tony Iommi, that pentatonic box shape man! 

Next, we played Smoke on the Water, which we've done in the past but not nearly as well as this rendition. My vocals were a little spotty in certain sections but overall I would say I pulled it off. I really enjoy the hand percussion on this piece, I think I notice Ken's sound a lot more in this particular recording. I liked what I was doing with the vocals on the chorus, giving it that more British pronunciation. This song is a long time coming with Martin, it took him a while to get the drumming down, he does a good job. The improvised guitar solo has some sections where it sounds like things Blackmore would play, but is also unique.

Lastly, we ended with Spirits of the Dead, which has been a 'cult classic hit' for our 'band' (just me and Martin). I've been enjoying posting many versions of the same song because I really like the song a lot. I wrote and recorded it on the first day of October and I was heavily inspired by black metal when I was recording it. Think about coarse singing into a microphone on the first morning of October, bad ass.

You can find the tracks below.
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-most-recent-version
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/smoke-on-the-water
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/paranoid

Check out my Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17
And my other Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763

Long live rock and roll.

Last open jam set of 2017

Here's the last open jam set I played of 2017 at Petie's Place, on Reseda and Oxnard Street. I'm pretty happy with the recordings, mostly because my vocals are a lot better than they've ever been. I've really come a long way with my singing starting last year. I'm really glad I started singing rock and roll. It's a lot smarter and easier, as I don't have to rely on other people to do vocals.

We started off with Sunshine of Your Love with this dude named Allan (a typical blues rocker long hair w/ a Strat). He did a great job jamming with me for the first time ever, I especially liked his leads on Spirits of the Dead, the second song we played. I really liked my solo on Sunshine, I was going for my Hendrix style there.

On Spirits of the Dead Allen's leads really give the piece a new dynamic melody. And then there's me doing black metal style coarse/scream style vocals. Pretty funny! A lot of people say to me that they don't expect that when they see me play. It's cool to have one death metal song, and this is my only one as of now. We played the song a lot faster than we usually do but again Allen's leads really pave the way for a great tune, especially when I repeat the chugging bridge riff and he takes some bluesy leads over it. Spirits of the Dead!

And the last tune we have for you is Blues Improvisation no.1. This tune was just a blues Allen and I called in A. I stuck to dominant and ninth chords in the key of A. I might have switched it to minor ninths near the ending too. Added a little bit of the power chord blues shuffle in there too for contrast. I think my blues solo really hits the heart strong. When I do a blues solo I always try to go for the Hendrixy emotion.

Allen's blues solo on this tune was quite something, as you can hear. He hits a lot of the common cliches but it always sounds good. He's a great player and I'm glad to have jammed with him on the last open jam of 2017. I'm going to do even better to sing better and become a better performer in 2018!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-2
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-2
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/blues-improvisation-no1

Open Jam Tracks

Here's the tracks from last week's open jam at the local pub. I played two songs, Spirits of the Dead and Hey Joe. Spirits of the Dead is an original doomy death metalish sort of thing that I wrote on the first of October. This version here the vocals are a lot more cookie monster than I would've liked. I think I'll work on making the vocals coarse but not so 'cookie monster'. The cool thing is that this is probably the first time the song was performed as it was intended-screaming vocals and all. Not bad. I even threw down a solo in the song when there wasn't meant to be one. My drummer friend Martin's playing was splendid.

The other tune is Hey Joe, a Jimi Hendrix cover. On this one it was pretty rough. My guitar is sorely out of tune and we fucked up royally on the intro. But hey reader we made it through it. As you can hear even my guitar part goes off you can hear Martin is holding the beat steady on the drums. He has really improved his playing a lot. The longer the song goes the better it sounds, me thinks. The solo was well done by yours truly. Martin's fills at the end of the song are great.

Enjoy the tunes!

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead-1
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/hey-joe

Last week's jam

Here's some music I played last week at the open jam I go to all the time. We played Sunshine of Your Love (a staple for us, my drummer and I) and Spirits of the Dead, an original metal tune I wrote on the first day of October this year. Upon listening to Sunshine I've realized I gotta get my vocals better. The first lines of the song are tuneless but later in the song I start to sing with more authority and tone. On Spirits of the Dead I was going to sing the whole song but my lyrics fell off the music stand! Oh well. I sang it again last night and it sounded amazing. I'll post that when I get the tracks from the percussionist, there's a guy who plays tambourines and hand drums that records everything and sends it to me. Whatta guy! You can find the tracks below.

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/sunshine-of-your-love-1
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spirits-of-the-dead

Early December Muzak

I listened to some good music today and I'd like to share my thoughts. 

I ordered two albums from the library and both of them came in today, wonderful. The first listen was John Zorn's Naked City band album also entitled Naked City, released in 1990 on Nonesuch Records.

<sup>The music on Naked City is all over the place but it has its moments. The opening track for instance is quite alluring because it reminds me of some sort of Batman theme, that might've even been the song. Another stand out moment was the James Bond theme, that was memorable and signifies a certain point towards the end of the album. There's tons of free jazz moments, grindcore death metal thrashing, punk rock screaming and shouting, lounge jazz, rock and roll, and more. It does all of these styles in an eclectic way. I can see why this is one of John Zorn's best albums. Its all over the place but it still sounds nice in a "I can put this on for anybody sort of way." However, its not for everybody. Grindcore purists will scoff at this sort of thing and jazz fans won't exactly find the punk parts to speak for them. For someone like myself in the middle I can simply say, "This is ok." I see its relevance in today's musical climate and I think that would be saying a lot of the album and John Zorn's work in general. After all, I have been listening to a lot of his music-enough to make critical assessment of his career.

The other album is also associated with John Zorn. It's a Pat Metheny album called Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20. It's an album where Metheny plays compositions written by John Zorn from his Masada Book 2. It was released on Tzadik Records and Nonesuch Records in 2013. This album I would also say was just okay. However, it had its moments. There was a great moment where Pat plays a melody with the guitar synthesizer and he gets this really cool trumpet/flugel horn sound. *Edit: He actually played real flugelhorn!* That knocked me out. Most of the sonic atmosphere Metheny gets using guitar effects don't really go anywhere interesting but his acoustic guitar playing Zorn's melodies really give the music a Medieval feel. There's a lot of creativity coming out of Pat's arrangements of Zorn's music but at the end of the day there's a sense that John Zorn and Pat Metheny don't really mix. Most of the album combats this idea until you hear the acoustic bits and see the beauty in the melody lines. 

Pat plays so many instruments on this album! Here's a list of personnel.</sup> 

Personnel

• Pat Metheny – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bandoneon, sitar guitar, baritone guitar, orchestra bells, orchestrionic marimba, keyboards, piano, bass guitar, tiples, percussion, electronics, flugelhorn
• Antonio Sánchez – drums
• Willow Metheny – vocals

<sup>Finally we have the last piece of music and probably the most interesting of the bunch. I listened to Stockhausen's Kontakte (Contracts), an electronic piece of music mixing electronics with instrumental music. What can I say about this piece? I don't know enough about it to be too technical with my analysis but here we go.

The other day at dinner I mentioned to my dad's composer friend that I admired Stockhausen and his music. I asked him what he thought of Stockhausen's work and he said "it lacks soul". What I can tell you about this piece is that it has plenty of soul. There's life and beauty to this music. There's melody from the piano and the electronics, and silence is used in an almost rhythmic sensibility. So far this is my favorite Stockhausen I've heard, the first and only other one being Gesang der Jünglinge. 

The point of this post? Yes, sometimes its easy to get distracted by popular musings. But don't forget about the true masters of the avant-garde like Stockhausen (pictured above).</sup>