Discover 3 solo guitar releases with free Bandcamp download codes from independent artists and labels.
"We might well ask upon whose wall this sword hangs, this sword Álvaro Domene testifies to in his music. It is a simple comparison to link the guitar and the sword and to ask which bodies and minds might be set free by each. Both are part of a techne that captures vectors and arcs which force-multiply through other systems- separating them, clarifying them. Domene’s sound sculptures pose questions of emotion, spirit, intellect, the cosmos- and in the end, these questions of sound invite us to act in some way. The sword hangs upon all our walls and in ringing metal it leads to one destination in unison. A ‘land of song’, puissance, voices raised in glorious clamor. In unison against a falling power. ‘This machine ends all fascism.’ Domene’s work on this album explores the outer limits of engagement with the instrument itself and is in dialog with a broader milieu of guitarists who operate in the New York orbit and beyond. He deploys a galactic array of forms that include jazz, various species of metal, palettes of sonic texture from inside and outside the instrument’s techniques, experimental guitar which we can trace emerging in part from the 70s NYC downtown scene [and in Álvaro’s other collaborations with a key protagonist in that NYC scene, the magister ludi Elliott Sharp]. Domene joins a project which has been underway for many decades and accelerates it forward."
“Ambient clean tones morph into Wagnerian waves of distortion, as he employs the entire range of his 7-string guitar. Álvaro Domene has mastered the art of turning non-pitched abrasive sounds into a kind of beauty.” – Michael Ross (Guitar Moderne). With its nebulous barricades of visceral tension and epic soundscapes, ‘The Compass’ exhibits virtuosic expertise of both conventional guitar performance and the incorporation of live electronics and extended technique, generating a sonic cathedral of ear-splitting proportions. Textures, feedback, walls of sound, polyrhythmic inventiveness, glitch and real time sampling are some of the key elements that form the fabric of this stunning recording in which the boundaries between metal, contemporary classical and jazz musics are not only blurred but ingeniously manipulated beyond recognition. The 10 pieces on the album traverse a wide range of sound, style and sonic permutation. From the elegant and more classically aligned “solo guitar” pieces like “Pendulum” to the distorted bone-crushing eminence of the title track, ‘The Compass’ reveals Domene’s creative and compositional approach to be equally inspired by classical composers Anton Webern, Scelsi, and György Ligeti, as contemporary forward-thinking metal acts Gorguts and Meshuggah. Performed on an electric seven-string guitar and stunningly recorded without overdubs, mixed and mastered by the legendary Colin Marston at Menegroth, The Thousand Caves in Queens, the album is a commanding statement of creative solo guitar music and a phenomenal solo debut release by the young Domene. ‘The Compass’ is essential listening for all plugged-in creative music fans and reveals what a steady diet of metal, jazz and contemporary classical music can do to a Spanish guitarist living in post-fact USA. Who says anger can't be a constructive emotion?
7 track album "Domene's an utterly uncompromising, fearless presence on his seven-string instrument contextualized within creative processing and experimental techniques. His work yields outcomes ranging from the tranquil and calm to raging, volcanic intensity. ‘Illustris' is an ever-surprising thunderous distortion fest. The entire album morphs seamlessly from mood to mood and makes for a thrilling listen for the open-minded." - Anil Prasad (Innerviews.org)
