JAMES BLACKSHAW (UK - Young God/Current 93) 6/17 @ Garfield Artworks

[jdecay at att.net]

 I've never heard of this fellow before, but I'm listening to the songs on myspace, and they sound quite excellent. And I've yet to be disappointed with a single artist on Young God Records that's come through Pittsburgh.

J 
 -------------- Original message from manny at garfieldartworks.com: --------------


> You won't want to miss this!
> 
> Wed June 17 8 pm all ages $7 advance/$10 door
> Garfield Artworks, 4931 Penn Avenue
> 
> live from the UK on Young God Records
> (note: he's also collaborated with lutenist Jozef Van Wissem who was just
> here, on Van Wissem's Incunabulum label. and he is a member of Current
> 93!)
> 
> 12-string acoustic fingerpicking wizard
> JAMES BLACKSHAW
> http://www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw
> 
> on tour with the duo
> GREG DAVIS (Kranky/Carpark Records) & CHRIS WEISMAN
> http://www.myspace.com/gregdavismusic
> 
> and special local guests
> Michael Tamburo
> and Chris Niels / Taichi Nakatani Duo
> 
> Advance tickets will be on sale at stores as of June 1: Eide's
> Entertainment, Paul's CDs, Caliban Books, Wicked Discs, Dave's Music Mine,
> Slacker, and The Exchange Squirrel Hill.
> 
> We'll make it as easy as possible for you to get in for the $7 price.
> Yes, we'll be printing up advance tickets to sell at stores - but if you
> can't make it to the stores we'll give you another option. Simply send an
> e-mail to me with your real name and your real phone number, stating that
> you would like to reserve tickets at the advance price, and just let me
> know how many you want (you can reserve up to 4). This is the simple
> equivalent of a will-call system. Then give me your name at the door, and
> I will read it off the will-call list and admit you for the advance price.
> Sound easy? It is. And as long as you show up, this same courtesy will
> be extended to you the next time this is offered in the future.
> 
> Hope to see everyone at the show.
> 
> Information on JAMES BLACKSHAW:
> 
> New studio album, "The Glass Bead Game", due May 26th 2009 on Young God
> Records
> 
> Initially inspired by the guitarists of the 60’s Takoma label to teach
> himself fingerpicking, James Blackshaw writes long-form pieces primarily
> for solo 12-string guitar and piano that are heavily influenced by
> minimalist composers and European classical music and which use drones,
> overtones and repeating patterns alongside a strong inclination for melody
> to create instrumental music that is both intelligent, hypnotic and
> emotionally charged.
> 
> Born in London in 1981, Blackshaw has so far released six solo studio
> albums, one live recording and has also appeared on numerous compilations
> in the last five years. "O True Believers" (2006, Important
> Records/Bo’weavil Recordings), "The Cloud of Unknowing" (2007, Tompkins
> Square) and "Litany of Echoes" (2008, Tompkins Square) have received huge
> critical acclaim from printed and online publications including Pitchfork,
> Billboard, The Wire, The Observer, The Times, Uncut, The New York Times,
> Rolling Stone Magazine, The Onion, Magnet and Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
> "The Cloud of Unknowing" was also listed as one of the 50 best albums of
> 2007 by The Wire (no. 24) and Pitchfork (no. 34). His latest album,
> "Litany of Echoes" was listed as Uncut Magazine's 13th Best Album of 2008.
> 
> Blackshaw has recently signed to Michael Gira's (Swans/Angels of Light)
> Young God Records label and his seventh studio album is to be released in
> May 2009.
> 
> Blackshaw is currently a member of Current 93, Brethren of The Free Spirit
> (duo with Jozef Van Wissem) and performs live with Pantaleimon.
> 
> He has toured extensively in Europe, US and Japan, playing approximately
> 200 shows since 2005 in a broad range of environments from sold-out 1,000
> capacity venues supporting Jose Gonzalez to intimate church shows and
> institutions such as The Douglas Hynde Gallery in Dublin and The ICA in
> London. He has featured on National Public Radio in the US, BBC Radio 2
> and performed live on VPRO television in The Netherlands.
> 
> 
> Selected Press:
> 
> "... A veritable solo symphony that's as schooled in uncommon beauty as it
> is in complex 20th century composition... Blackshaw writes high drama into
> instrumental music with subtlety and charm, speaking on sentiments and
> stories without requiring a single lyric... Blackshaw seems fully settled,
> engaging his pieces and ideas with the unflinching belief of Tony Conrad
> in 1964 or Steve Reich in 1965... The Cloud of Unknowing carves out a new,
> peerless space altogether-- one that puts Blackshaw at the top of his
> class." - Grayson Currin, Pitchforkmedia.com
> 
> "In the tradition of "American Primitive" guitarists within which he's
> often grouped, James Blackshaw cuts rather an odd figure. Neither
> American, nor primitive, nor as Litany of Echoes begins, even playing the
> guitar, the English musician is all about upending the expectations we
> might have from his instrument. Whereas kindred spirits like John Fahey
> and Robbie Basho looked East for their Raga-inspired guitar diversions,
> Blackshaw instead sounds more East-Coast: his long-distance guitar tunes
> recalling NY minimalism, or Sonic Youth, as arranged for chamber
> orchestra. Mesmerising stuff, and proof that less is often more." - John
> Robinson, Uncut Magazine
> 
> "There's an indecent ease to James Blackshaw's guitar playing. His
> fingerpicking mantras are as melodic as a music box, gliding through
> dizzying tempos like clockwork... Such is the silky control he exherts
> over his instrument, Blackshaw often sounds more like a court harpist than
> a backwoods strummer." - Derek Walmsey, The Wire
> 
> "The hypnotic arpeggios at the heart of James Blackshaw’s acoustic guitar
> playing reflect strong influences from outside the precincts of folk
> music: minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Terry Riley, and some of
> their precursors, like Erik Satie. Mr. Blackshaw, a British autodidact
> still in his mid-20s, fingerpicks his 12-string Guild with an immersive
> focus befitting such heady allusions. At its best, his sumptuous new
> album, Litany of Echoes, conveys a stark and ancient feeling, like
> something handed down through the ages...." - Nate Chinen, The New York
> Times
> 
> "Twenty-seven-year-old Brit James Blackshaw has lately emerged as a major
> force in the world of instrumental guitar, his epic, austere compositions
> and unpretentious 12-string technique perching him somewhere between John
> Fahey and Robbie Basho... Downright beautiful stuff." - Jonathon Cohen,
> Billboard Magazine
> 
> "The most gem-like overlooked album this year is neither hairy nor scary;
> rubber-necking into the great unknown isn't high in its priorities. But it
> is preternaturally beautiful. O True Believers by 24-year-old guitarist
> James Blackshaw features 10 fingers and 12 strings and, frankly, urinates
> all over whatever will be the Mercury Prize's token folk nominee next
> year. Blackshaw is British, but virtually no one has heard of him outside
> the US folk underground; he deserves ticker-tape parades. His style
> derives from the Takoma school founded by John Fahey, but that is all
> detail. Blackshaw's got it all: skills to hyperventilate for, and
> instinctual loveliness in spades." - Kitty Empire, The Observer
> 
> "One of the best and most original instrumentalists in the new, acoustic
> renaissance" - David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine
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