"The landscape of the modern solo guitar is dominated by two monumental peaks, each looming on opposite sides of the horizon. One peak is John Fahey, his accomplishments representing the zenith of what happens when you combine robust technique, folk forms and modern compositional ideas. The other peak is shared by Keith Rowe and Derek Bailey, their literal as well as figurative dismantling and reassembling of the guitar bringing new levels of abstraction and visceral impact to the instrument. Each of the above has hordes of devotees plumbing their innovations for inspiration.
Shadowed by these peaks, and with seemingly very few followers of his own, is the figure of Loren Connors, who for close to thirty years has played the quiet heretic, going against the orthodoxy without ever sounding the call to revolution. He neither flashes virtuoso chops nor overtly mines folk forms. He tempers his abstraction with intimacy, and his noise soothes rather than agitates. He is, above all, a poet, one who has pared down the classic language of the blues guitar, fleshed it out with bits of his Irish heritage, fused both these ideas with a subtle and less rigorous minimalist dialect, and given the world a body of work that explodes our notions of the traditional and the experimental" -Dusted
Originally trained on the trombone and the violin, Loren Connors - also known as Loren MazzaCane, Loren Mattei and Guitar Roberts at different points - has also trained as painter and won prizes as a haiku poet. He played in his first band as a teenager in 1966, and has in more recent times collaborated with the likes of John Fahey, Jim O'Rourke, Keiji Haino, Alan Licht and Christina Carter, but the great majority of his prolific output has been a singular and solitary take on electric guitar.
Avant Gardening presents a diverse sampling of this elusive master, ranging from the small, polished minimalist blues "airs" through cracked, trebly mutations of traditional folk-blues with Kath Bloom to the densely powerful psych-rock of his band Haunted House.
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Playlist
1. Loren Connors, 'Suzanne's Rain' from Night Through (recorded 2000, released 2006)
2. Loren MazzaCane Connors, 'In a Street Full of Rain' from split 7" with Roy Montgomery (1996)
3. Guitar Roberts w/ Suzanne Langille, 'Horses Blues' from Bluesmaster 2 (1988)
4. Kath Bloom & Loren Mazzacane, 'How It Rains' from Restless, Faithful, Desperate (1983)
5. Kath Bloom & Loren Mazzacane, 'Sand in my Shoe' from Sand in my Shoe (1983)
6. Loren Mazzacane, edit from Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Improvisations vol 3 (1979)
7. Loren Mazzacane, 'Blues#10 (Fallen Son)' from Fallen Son (1990)
8. Loren Mazzacane, 'The McCaffrey Playground' from Hell's Kitchen Park (1993)
9-18. Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Stations of the Cross pts 1-9' from Stations of the Cross dbl 7" (1996)
19. Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Flames' from Harmony of The Spheres compilation (1996)
20. Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Gathering' from Harmony of The Spheres compilation (1996)
21. Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Revolt!' from Harmony of The Spheres compilation (1996)
22. Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Fand (A Tear)' from Harmony of The Spheres compilation (1996)
23. Loren Connors & John Fahey, 'Dark is the Night, Cold is the Ground' from Sails (2006)
24. Christina Carter & Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Smoke pt 1' from Meditations on the Ascension of Blind Joe Death (2005)
25. Christina Carter & Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Smoke Pt 6' from Meditations on the Ascension of Blind Joe Death (2005)
26. Christina Carter & Loren Mazzacane Connors, Mirrors pt 3 from Meditations on the Ascension of Blind Joe Death (2005)
27 Loren Connors & David Grubbs, 'The Highest Point in Brooklyn' from Arborvitae (2003)
28. Loren Mazzacane Connors & Alan Licht, 'Block That Nixon' from Hoffman Estates (1998)
29. Smog, 'Sweet Treat' from Knock Knock (1999)
30. Loren Connors & Jim O'Rourke, 'Most Definitely Not Koln' from Two Nice Catholic Boys (rec 1997, released 2009)
31. Haunted House, 'Thomas Paine' from Blue Ghost Blues (2011)
32 Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Airs #1' from Airs (1999)
33 Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Airs #2' from Airs (1999)
34 Loren Mazza Cane, 'Moonyean #3' from Moonyean (1994)
35 Loren Mazza Cane, 'Moonyean #7' from Moonyean (1994)
36 Loren Mazzacane Connors, 'Art of the Blues pt 7' from The Little Match Girl (2001)
37 Loren MazzaCane Connors, 'Evangeline' from Evangeline (1998)
38 Loren MazzaCane Connors, 'Ships' from Evangeline (1998)
39 Loren MazzaCane Connors, 'The Bridegroom of Snow' from Evangeline (1998)
40. Loren Connors, 'Little Earth' from Red Mars (2011)
41. Loren Connors, 'Sails' from Sails (2006)
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