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CHRIS FORSYTH

Chris Forsyth

Solar Motel - Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition

    Expanded 2xLP 10th Anniversary Edition includes two studio outtakes from the original sessions, and a side-long live session recorded at WFMU by the then brand- new Solar Motel Band.

    Over the last two decades Philadelphia-based guitarist Chris Forsyth has released over a dozen critically lauded albums that have established him as one of today's most unique and acclaimed guitar player /composers - a forward-thinking classicist synthesizing cinematic expansiveness with a pithy lyricism and rhythmic directness that makes even his 20-minute workouts feel as clear, direct, and memorable as a 4-minute song.

    Named after a run-down lodge in New Jersey near where he grew up, Solar Motel was the first full-band project from Chris Forsyth. Originally released in 2013, it was considered his most ambitious and sublime work of Cosmic Americana to date, and the idea of the Motel also figured into a band where vacancies would open and close.


    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: One of the finest examples of psychedelic country music from the 2010's get a much needed and wonderfully accentuated reissue. Chris Fosyth's lysergic journey, 'Solar Motel' flows like a dreamy trip, swerving from heady distorted bliss into woozy, minimalist primitive. Brilliant.

    TRACK LISTING

    A1 - Solar Motel Part I (11:41)
    A2 - Solar Motel Part II (10:05)
    B1 - Solar Motel Part III (12:17)
    B2 - Solar Motel Part IV (07:26)
    C1 - Harmonious Dance (08:43)
    C2 - Long Warm Afternoon (06:47)
    D1 - Solar Motel Part I - Paranoid Cat - Live On WFMU (20:44)

    Chris Forsyth

    Evolution Here We Come

      To wit, if you think you know already what you’ll be getting into here heady, Television-esque multi-guitar jams played with motorik precision and a fiercely American intensity: you know, a Forsyth record well, go ahead and think that. I won’t stop you. Only . . . maybe the pulsing bass, curiously lurching drumbeat, and lunar synth squiggling of Sun Ra Arkestra maestro Marshall Allen that opens “Experimental & Professional” will set you back on your heels. But just for a moment, before Ryan Jewell’s drums and Tortoise alum Douglas McCombs’s bass twine into perfect alignment and then guitars played by Forsyth and Tom Malach (of Garcia Peoples) start chipping and hammering, twittering and sparring, the whole thing managing to evoke Remain in Light without sounding remotely like it.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Experimental & Professional
      2. Heaven For A Few
      3. Bad Moon Risen
      4. You're Going To Need Somebody
      5. Hey, Evolution
      6. Long Beach Idyll
      7. Robot Energy Machine

      Chris Forsyth / Dave Harrington / Ryan Jewell / Spencer Zahn

      First Flight

        The ideal of the residency was to mix things up with special guests, different band lineups, and varied set lists, keeping things fresh and new week-to-week, and this show was the wild card of the bunch.

        That's because although Ryan and I have played together for years, and Dave and Spencer have played together for years, neither half of the band had ever met each other. I was tangentially aware of Dave and his music and was intrigued by what I'd heard, so I thought it was a cool idea when Chris Tart, the residency promoter, suggested a collaboration.

        So, about 30 minutes after we'd all heard each others voices for the first time, we got up and played for a little over an hour, uninterrupted. The only thing discussed beforehand was that we shouldn't discuss anything beforehand - not a key or a riff to start with, nothing - so as to preserve maximum spontaneity.

        I think this music demonstrates a real connection on stage. In other words, each player was completely present and actively listening on the bandstand. Listening back, there are moments I can hear Ryan saying - musically - "Hey, let's go over here! Check this out!," or Spencer being like "Wouldn't it be cool to go down this path?" And we followed. And it was cool.

        In my mind, that listening thing is the number one most important factor in any collaboration or cooperative effort, but especially in improvised music.

        And I think it's fair to say that a little more listening, a little more presence, would do the whole world some good right about now, don't you think?

        -Chris Forsyth

        Chris Forsyth

        All Time Present

          The annals of music history are overflowing with gifted guitar players whose egos prevented them from reaching their full potential: rather than being content to be exceptional members of a band, they instead create unexceptional records as leaders in vain attempts to prove their worth as solo artists. Guitarist-songwriter-bandleader Chris Forsyth is the rare exception that proves the rule. Rightfully but somewhat reductively known as a guitar player par excellence, one listen to Forsyth's latest double album, All Time Present, reveals that while his dazzling musicianship can always be taken for granted, it's hardly the whole story.

          Forsyth's albums-presented with his Solar Motel Band or nominally solo, as here-have always been evidence of a musical mind brimming with ideas. Forsyth is joined on All Time Present by bassist Peter Kerlin and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Edward Hansen, both longtime foils; new to the group is Ryan Jewell, a sublimely talented drummer whose musicality is seemingly bottomless. With this group, Forsyth is at the peak of his powers. All Time Present is the rare double album that goes by in a flash. Indeed, one of Forsyth's greatest strengths as a composer and bandleader is his consistent ability to sustain interest even when at his most brazenly improvisational: he drifts, but he never meanders. On All Time Present, Forsyth's particular drift is like that of a proverbial wallflower with a sudden surge of unselfconscious courage toward the dance floor. 

          TRACK LISTING

          1. Tomorrow Might As Well Be Today
          2. Mystic Mountain
          3. The Man Who Knows Too Much
          4. Dream Song
          5. The Past Ain’t Passed
          6. New Paranoid Cat
          7. (Livin’ On) Cubist Time
          8. Techno Top


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