State of the Axe: Guitar Masters in Photographs and Words, collects dozens of portraits by seminal American photographer Ralph Gibson. It pairs portraits by Gibson with brief essays, written by each of the players profiled, about their relationship with the guitar. The list of players featured includes David Torn, Allan Holdsworth, Jim Hall, Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Andy Summers, Nels Cline, Les Paul, and many others. I’m deeply honored to have had my image and thoughts collected in this fabulous book. The picture of me is from a show in New York City in January 2004, opening for David Torn (who himself makes a very gracious mention of me in his own essay in the book.) It’s published by Yale University Press, and is available at most book stores and online retailers.
ARTICLES
Looping – Guitar Player Magazine, March 15, 2006. Written by Barry Cleveland.
I was profiled, along with David Torn and Paul Dresher, as one of “three loopists you should steal ideas from” in this comprehensive looping primer. The print version of the article also contained a list of recommended looping albums, which included Normalized.
Avant-Garde Party – Electronic Musician Magazine, September 1, 2004. Written by Matt Gallagher.
The engineering side of making Normalized, from recording to mixing and mastering, is covered in this article.
QUOTES AND MENTIONS
“Andre LaFosse is truly one of my favorite musicians; his deeply signaturised music is simultaneously both ‘statement’ & ‘commentary’, and signals a beautifully clear & concise call to the bright future of an instrument previously known as ‘guitar’. HA!”
(david torn / splattercell, 2003)
“Aside from Tom Morello, most of the current ‘guitar heroes’ are not doing it for me. I love a good riff, but I want to hear some noise, I want to hear some new harmonic stuff, and I want some freaky technique that is unique to that player. It freaks me out that there isn’t more room for expression. There is in the underground, and players like Raoul Bjorkenheim, Nels Cline, and Andre LaFosse are all doing amazing things. But in popular music, the guitar has lost its danger.”
(David Torn in Guitar Player Magazine, May 2004)
“Andre LaFosse is a really creative guitarist/composer people should be checking out.”
(Mike Keneally)
“When I resurface after a long winter’s hibernation this is exactly what any smarter than average bear needs to take his mind off the state of his personal grooming. Proof positive that there is hope amongst the mouskateer ra ra Pat Boone with an exposed nipple bubble gum bathwater music. And just be thankful that he only has the factory spec number of limbs.”
(Reeves Gabrels)
David Torn makes a couple of very generous references to my work in this 2003 interview for BIAS software.
Music writer Jedd Beaudoin named Normalized one of his “Best of 2003” CDs at Sea of Tranquility – click here for the full list. (Also making the list is the Salve EP by Shawn “Yogi” Farley, which contains a remix of mine.)