May 2012: Two New Albums Around The Corner
So, because I'm really bad at updating my news - and because I have a bad tendency to write posts that are way too long when I finally do get around to updates - here's the quick gist of it:
I'm about to put out two new solo albums; the mixes are being finished as we speak. Why two albums? Because I found myself inspired in two different directions at the same time.
Album 1: The Hard Bargain - the mid-life crisis rock album. Songs - with actual melodies, chord progressions, and tightly-arranged structures - and a strictly guitar-bass-drums instrumentation. This is me finally giving myself permission to make an instrumental rock guitar album, after spending most of the last 15 years doing everything in my power to avoid it. It is, by a large margin, the single most unfashionable thing I've ever made.
Some of my points of reference for The Hard Bargain: Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth, Living Colour, Nels Cline, Jeff Beck, King Crimson.
Album 2: Do The Math - the mad scientist modular synth krautrock hauntology album. Lots of guitar on this one, too, but the foundation is a ton of bleeping, sputtering, buzzing synthesizers. Still very composed in comparison to anything I've released previously, but this album is more concerned with texture / vibe / sonics. This is me tearing up my "all guitar, no synthesizers used!" manifesto of the last decade or so - and since I was noodling on synths and drum machines before I ever got a guitar, it's a roundabout "back to my roots" kind of thing.
Reference points for Do The Math: Pink Floyd, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Silver Apples, Laurie Spiegel, Raymond Scott, Public Enemy, '70s Miles Davis. (I know, I know - EVERYBODY quotes '70s Miles as an influence.)
There's no echoplex, or live looping of any kind, on either album, although Do The Math is, in its way, as purely loop-based as anything I've ever done.
If you haven't listened already, rough versions of four songs (two from each album) are available at my Bandcamp page.
Looking at those four tracks now, I wouldn't say they're "unrepresentative" of their albums, but neither do they totally encapsulate what either one is "about." Reactions from people who have already heard this stuff have been all over the place, but I feel really strongly about putting this music out right now.
When are they coming out? As soon as I finish them - late May, early June...?
Note that I didn't say what YEAR. (Kidding. [God, I'd BETTER be kidding.])
There's the update! (See, that wasn't so bad. I should do that more often...)
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.
June 2011: Two new songs from two new forthcoming solo albums
I've nearing completion on two new studio albums of material. "Subway Psychology" is the first single from The Hard Bargain, which is my idea of a totally unfashionable, full-on rock guitar album. "The Process Of Elimination" is from Do The Math, a radiophonic droney anglophile studio hermit synth album.
Both tracks can be downloaded for free, or for however much you feel like dropping into the tip jar. The Hard Bargain and Do The Math are both due out as soon as I can finish them. Stay tuned for more updates and more music, and feel free to connect on Facebook and Twitter.
January 2011: Grannykart
I'm delighted to contribute to Grannykart, a new electronic/noise/musique concrete project. I play electric guitar on two tracks, "Minor Antarctic Island" and "The Equalizer." The entire album is available on a pay-what-you-want basis from Bandcamp.
March 2010: New Music, New Ensemble
"Crack the Code" is the first new studio recording I've done in six or seven years. Stream and download for free, in many high-quality formats.
Shadow Language is a new group I play in, dedicated to performing new works for electric guitar quartet. Upcoming gigs in April and June in Los Angeles - visit the group's web site for details.
December 2009: Please excuse the mess while I rebuild and update things.
Listen and interact using the links on the left. More details, updates, and music coming soon.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.
"Andre LaFosse is truly one of my favorite musicians; his deeply signaturised music is simultaneously both 'statement' & 'commentary', and signals a beautifully clear & concise call to the bright future of an instrument previously known as 'guitar'. HA!" "If you think you've heard everything a guitar can do, Andre LaFosse would like you to hear something. LaFosse's second solo record, Normalized, is essential listening for any guitar player, if not simply to see the incredible untapped sonic capabilities of an instrument that was previously thought by some to have been played every way possible." (jambands.com) "The 18 tracks on Normalized show Andre's dazzling mastery of his insrument, and more importantly, his ability to execute densely packed improvisations that rock your booty as well as blow your mind." (Ebong.org) "Andre LaFosse is a really creative guitarist/composer people should be checking out." "When I resurface after a long winter's hibernation this is exactly what any smarter than average bear needs to take his mind off the state of his personal grooming. Proof positive that there is hope amongst the mouskateer ra ra Pat Boone with an exposed nipple bubble gum bathwater music. And just be thankful that he only has the factory spec number of limbs." "LaFosse - as evidenced on his second disc, Normalized - wields his ax like a DJ manning the wheels of steel... his ability to arrange using unconventional means can be likened to that of musical revolutionaries like Frank Zappa or Miles Davis." (Ink 19) "Rhythmic, grooving pieces with fuzzy guitar melodies on top... A cool experiment that luckily turns out to be musical and interesting." (Tape Op Magazine) "Along with his first outing, Disruption Theory, Normalized displays the depths of LaFosse's genius and explains once more why he's grown a reputation within the guitar community as a fresh voice that deserves wider acclaim. If you've not yet heard Normalized or Disruption Theory you owe it to yourself to do so today. Artists with LaFosse's impact are rare, unique, and deserve to be heard." (Sea of Tranquility) "Andre LaFosse is an astonishing guitarist of a very different ilk. On Disruption Theory he lets fly with some incredibly fast, weird, and funky playing over drum & bass backing tracks. Fripp and Zappa, step aside." (MOJO Magazine) "An advanced guitar clinic, with equal parts technique, technology, and taste... For electric guitar enthusiasts everywhere, this one's essential." (Alternative Press Magazine) "His six-stringer is pumped up with energy, creating a firestorm of pyrotechnics and burning sounds, but with a sensitivity to weirdness and experimentation. Here is one that deserves the title 'unique'." (Expose Magazine) "A spectacular collision of manifold musical thoughts and patterns." (20th Century Guitar Magazine)
