Big Map Idea (Remastered) Steve Tibbetts

• 1 Black Mountain Side 02:57
• 2 Black Year 04:41
• 3 Big Idea 05:14
• 4 Wish 05:26
• 5 Station 05:03
• 6 Start 04:20
• 7 Mile 234 06:23
• 8 100 Moons 05:20
• 9 Wait 02:14
• 10 3 Letters (Pt. 1) 02:49
• 11 3 Letters (Pt. 2) 03:06
• 12 3 Letters (Pt. 3) 05:02
• Total Runtime 52:35

Info zu Big Map Idea (Remastered)

With this release, Steve Tibbetts turned a new leaf in his cartographic imagination. The album’s title betrays its creator’s humility, acknowledging the incompleteness of any landscape, which is never more than a cultural possibility. We see this the moment that signature slack-jawed guitar and worldly percussion paint for us a big map indeed in “Black Mountain Side.” And what’s this? A Led Zeppelin tune, artfully arranged and wrapped in a sparkling bow as only Tibbetts can tie it. But even when he strays into the dripping caverns of “Black Year,” where flames have burnt out long ago yet still flicker with feeling, we are never lost, for there is always something familiar to hold on to. Tracks like this and “Big Idea” teeter at the edge of an all-out frenzy, but stay respectfully perched atop cold mountains, watching the plains with eagle eyes. Each hit of the steel drum forms a new cloud, rustling the foliage in “Wish” and hopping like a bird from branch to branch. The finger tapping and kalimba-infused connections of “Mile 234” make it one of the more masterful turns on this trip. Some of that same instrumental color bleeds into “100 Moons” before an acoustic/electric dance lays track in “Wait.” Sampled voices flow throughout “3 Letters,” turning like a diorama lit by strings, and finish as if living in reverse, turning light into dark, warm and sustained by a maternal hope.

If the majority of Tibbetts’s work is a chant, then Big Map Idea is a lullaby. It is a florid expression of its ancestors, using a relatively intimate palette, one where wings and earth are far closer to one another than logic would dictate.

"Experimental guitar collides with tabla, kalimba, pianolin, cello, steel drum and other percussion instruments, and tapes of “found sounds.” The CD opens with a lush cover of Jimmy Page’s Black Mountain Side, and ever afterwards devotes itself to the vast, mysterious explorations of Tibbetts and percussionist Marc Anderson. The music’s brooding and orchestral, with moments of Eastern intrigue giving way to sudden crescendos, children’s voices, and industrial grunge. Tibbetts’ bold single-string passages pilot twists and turns above slapped and strummed acoustic rhythms, and his quirky detunings and oddball figures provide a cinematic, edge-of-the-seat experience. No timidity or lack of ideas lurking here." (Guitar Player)

"Steve Tibbetts is the thinking-man's guitar player whose music spans a host of influences -- folk, jazz, rock, ethnic, modern classical -- without being bound by any of them. Opening with a tabla-driven folksy cover of Led Zeppelin's "Black Mountain Slide," the album leads us through a collection of original pieces written by Tibbetts and his band members that are full of rich tone colors and inventive rhythms. His main instrument is acoustic guitar, but he also uses guitar synth, dobro, kalimba and something called a pianolin, while his colleagues add tabla, cello, steel drums and assorted percussion. The percussion creates a neo-primitive feel, with the carefully layered instruments often building up to an intense cacophony of refined fury. Sometimes lush, sometimes sparse, this music slips and slides between moods and styles. The crown jewel of the album is the 11-minute final track "3 Letters," where he splices in the sounds of chanting monks, Tibetan horns and cymbals, and children's voices he recorded on a trip to Nepal. Meanwhile cello, acoustic guitar, guitar synth, kalimba, tabla and assorted percussion come and go in a dizzying collage of impressionistic sounds."

Steve Tibbetts, guitars, kalimba, tapes
Marc Anderson, drums, percussion, berimbau
Marcus Wise, tabla, kalimba, pianolin
Michelle Kinney, cello, steel drum, percussion, tapes

Steve Tibbetts
a Minneapolis-based American guitarist, is known for his unique approach to sound-forming and composition. He was born in Madison in Wisconsin in 1954. He was in college when his first two records were made. Although Yr was self-published, it gained some attention, particularly from electric guitar fans. The record had many overdubs. One track could have as many as 50, creating a unique soundscape. Steve Tibbetts, like Brian Eno and other artists, views the recording studio a tool to create sounds. He often works and reworks the sounds he finds, incorporating them into musical tracks. (e.g. the footsteps on Safe Journey’s track “Running”, or the chanting from Nepalese villagers on Big Map Idea’s last tracks). In 1982, Tibbetts made Northern Song for ECM Records. This was an attempt by Tibbetts to be able to record his music in Manfred Eicher’s very fast recording style. ECM albums usually take two days to record. Northern Song received harsh reviews. Tibbetts returned to his old method of recording slowly over several months (or more). Manfred Eicher did not produce his subsequent records. However, they received better reviews. Steve Tibbetts can play acoustic or electric guitars as well as the kalimba. His musical compositions cover many genres and styles, including jazz, rock, fusion and new age. Often, a single composition may contain more than one style or genre. Five albums were released in the 1980s; three in 1990; and two in 2000. Other artists he has collaborated with include Knut Hamre, a Norwegian hardingfele musician, and Choying Drolma, a Tibetan nun. Marc Anderson, Steve’s long-time collaborator, is featured on all of the discography recordings, except for the “Steve Tibbetts.” album. You can purchase a CD-Rom containing a variety of sound textures and loops by Steve Tibbetts. In the middle of the 1980s, Steve Tibbetts stopped performing live. He began to travel extensively in Nepal in the late 1980s, where he met Choying Drolma (a Tibbetan Buddhist nun). Although Cho was not meant to be a commercial recording, it was released and received some positive reviews. Selwa, the second collaboration, was more thoughtfully considered and received very positive reviews. It is an example of a successful meeting between two musical traditions. (Creative Commons By–SA License.)

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet