Featured Artists: May & June 2010

Hi -

I never got around to doing a featured artist column for the month of May, so I'm going to combine it with June.

The first artist is from May, a guitarist named Carl Weingarten. He's actually been around a long time. Back in the early days of my show, he sent me cassettes of some music he was doing, mostly pioneering work in ambient music with folks like Walter Whitney and Gale Ormiston. He's since moved on to mostly acoustic guitar, but the talent still shows through. He's been reissuing the old cassettes here and there, and they're worth picking up to hear some great early experimental ambient work. He recently reissued Dreaming In Colors, which he did with Walter Whitney. For more info, check out his website.

http://carlweingarten.blogspot.com/

Next up is Erik Wollo, from Norway. He's also been around for a while, mostly doing electronics, and sometimes guitar music as well. He's got a new album out on Projekt Records called Gateway that is absolutely incredible. Dynamic electronics in the same vein as Patrick O'Hearn or Steve Roach, but with his own style. One of my favorite albums of the year. And he's touring the US in October, too. You can see him at the Gatherings in Philadelphia on October 16, or at the One Thousand Pulses house concert series in Woodcliff Lake, NJ on October 17. Definitely a must see.

http://www.wollo.com/home.htm

The last artist feature this month is ARC, a duo comprised of two UK synth masters, Ian Boddy and Mark Shreeve. Both have been around for a long time and are pioneers of the European electronic music scene. Together they create some incredible electronic music. Their newest album, Church, holds special significance for me. It was recorded live at the Gatherings concert series last November in Philadelphia. It was Mark Shreeve's first live performance in the US, and I was there, right up front. If you want to hear what the show was like, pick up the CD. The only thing missing is the encore, which was a version of Mark's classic "Assassin".

http://www.din.org.uk/news.html