I'm an ambient-electronic-deeplistenings musician: please listen my music here: http://solyaris.altervista.org

I recently discovered some amazing pedal-steel guitar great artists; they are

1. Susan Alcorn
2. Chas Smith

Do someone may suggest me some others artists like Susan and Chas ?

I mean musicians that explore lap-steel guitar and pedal-steel guitar in ambient /electronic musics / atonal / avant-garde styles ?

Btw, enjoy photos of my preferred lap steelers here: http://solyaris.altervista.org/friends.htm

http://pedalsteelmusic.com/music/bobhoffnar.html#cd2

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www.tyack.com

http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/j/japancakes-sleepy.shtml

[This message was edited by John Lockney on 24 April 2005 at 12:56 PM.]

www.soniccircuits.com/listen/

Mostly I play pretty straight these days because I don't have another job and people don't normally pay me to make new sounds for them. I will start doing some of my own concerts in a month or so though. A composer named John Zorn talked me into doing my own music for a concert coming up in NYC.
If there is nobody to reel me in my playing gets pretty out there. At one session an English metal band brought me in to sweeten a ballad. We knocked that out pretty fast
so in the time left over they thought they would screw with the redneck American steel player. They put on some thrash thing and a condecendingly told me to see if I could come up with something scary. I pulled some rusty pieces of sheet metal out of my case, cranked the nearest mashall and started sawing the strings off my C neck. It sounded like 50 cats screamimg and clawing a blackboard really really loud ! They ran out of the control room holding there ears and stopped me. I said "whats up, you wanted something scary,right ?" and they said "yes, but you are actually frightening us !"

Sorry for the long post but I thought some guys would get a kick out of that story.

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Bob
intonation help

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 24 April 2005 at 01:45 PM.]

No doubt they thought all the steel could do is play pretty, whiny sounds.... so many people make that mistake. Guess you showed them!

Reminds me of the Tommy Tedesco story of when he was doing a session with Mike Nesmith. They told him to do something really far-out, freeform, crazy at the end. He cranked his amp and threw his electric guitar straight up into the air, it came down on the studio floor and you can just imagine the sounds. The other musicians looked at him in horror and whispered things like "Tedesco's crazy!".

Later, Nesmith said in an interview about the song, "One guy, Tommy Tedesco, knew what we were after...." !

Keep the rusty sheet metal handy.

[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 24 April 2005 at 01:57 PM.]

ciause my poor english I dodn't understand completely your story,
anyway thank you for the listenings piece; interesting!

About you CD sold here: http://pedalsteelmusic.com/music/bobhoffnar.html#cd2
A good idea would be to put some MP3 to invite people to buy; maybe you can suggest Bob to insert MP3 if you agreethat is a good idea to improve sell.

> I will start doing some of my own concerts >in a month or so though. A composer named >John Zorn talked me into doing my own music >for a concert coming up in NYC.

I believe that is a very good "advertisement" for your music/person, cause the "named" John Zorn is a musician very famous also in Europe for his free-jazz music!

I thank you many people wrote me ...

Honestly, what I'm looking for exactly is "slow-motion" (pedal or lap) steel guitar (solo) music (something related to deep listening "genre"! )

I do not like personally for example John Zorn music (because is skizophrenically "fast-motion" is too mutch related to my every day life in crazyness cityes!) and I do not like *new age* music (because superficial and often cunning)

I like the deep exploration of sounds (and soul ) out of "simple" genres.

Steel guitar speaking ... what I mean is music where the inner beatiful harmonic features and nuances of multi-strings *chords* come out amplified in any shades!

At the moment the only artist I listened that do that in nowadays music contexts is the superb Susan Alcorn ( http://www.susanalcorn.com ) and Chas Smith!

Please give me more artists! :)

Giorgio, I couldn't have said it better than you have--and I am an English teacher!

Ciao,

Chris

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now living in the Ocean State ....

Plus you need to check out BJ Cole.
www.bjcole.co.uk
Is CD "Heart of the Moment" might be something you would be into.

quote:

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Steel guitar speaking ... what I mean is music where the inner beatiful harmonic features and nuances of multi-strings *chords* come out amplified in any shades!

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Bob
intonation help

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 25 April 2005 at 07:54 AM.]

sometime incredible meetings between people happens!!

http://www.bjcole.co.uk/Photos_lukebj.html

I just see that BJ cole performed with Luke Vibert ??!!

It's very strange! Maybe no many people i guess know here who is Luke Vibert ...
in fact I think it's an incredible crazy composer in the drum's'n'bass dance music area ??!!!! ... he become very very famous in "electronica" - trip-hop area with the beatiful "Drum'n'bass for papa" album.
He is a kind of genial composer ... immo
and one of the few young-generation musician that we can hope in the future ...
I mean: he play for "dance music" audience but he is a great composer.

So, I don't know BJ Cole, sorry for my ignorance, but because Luke Vibert is an extraordinary person, I presume BJ Cole is too an extraordinary person!

Btw, i'll investigate Buddy Emmons!

about music is certain that buying CDs is the way! :) I only have to save money for the correct CDs becuase my budget is modest :)
This is becuase MP3 are a must for check out the and decide to purchasing (in my opinion)!

strange matchings! : http://www.astralwerks.com/vibertcole/default.html

I saw in a photo that Daniel Lanois plays a pedal steel without plectrums (only with fingertips); it's this possible in your opinion ? :)

Do you suggest a specific Daniel's solo album ?

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www.tyack.com

Yes, I already read that interview with great interest translating english - to italian (my language) to avoid to lose any nuances on what great Susan Alcorn, Bruce Kaphan, and Chas Smith said; I love especially Susan Alcorn listened here:
http://www.wps1.org/include/shows/Sonorama.html#alcorn

About David Toop ... interesting ... I read "ocean of sound" book (transalted in italian)! but honestly I didn't appreciated his "view" of modern music and I was disappointed cause he didn't mentioned *real* new electronic music but only glorifyng something trivial ... Brian Eno etc. etc.
but this is a very personal approach maybe ... as frequently in my life I have to correct myself! I'll re-read "Speedy West" poragraph! thank you and sorry for my arrogance.

To Dave:

>Perhaps it brings you closer to the >instrument and feels more natural.
>I like the tone and when I use a pick I feel >too distant from the instrument.

yes, the same for me I play electric guitar without pick from years but sincerly I didn't experimented figertips on my little lap-steel; I'll do!

To David:

>I am also very fond of the Indian lap slide >guitarists Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Debashish >Bhattacharya.
>Indian music is sort of ambient in the slow, >introductory "alap" sections,

I dont't know this artist but I'm using listening indian music of course!
Listening my music I concluded that the delayed sound I use realize a kind of indefinite indian strings instrument.
A part jokes I love alap especially maybe this music is one of the "seeds" togheter with pink floyd and electronic space music (please look at italians great artist Alio Die and Oophoy at www.hypnos.com)

>but these guys also have ferocious >bar-movement chops. Very "skizophrenically >fast-motion'" once they get going.

Yes, but the pardox is that these very fast movements are done with a wood-made tone bar ...as I know ... in fact the resulting sound of the beatiful "south of indian - slide super bassguitar" the GOTTUVADYAM ( http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/gotuvadyam.html
) is really mellow!

Personnaly I like very mutch the sound of this instrument that I prefer to sitar and in general I prefere music of south of Indian cause less "serious" about the respect of very old "indian classic music" ... more spontaneous ... more freee pheraps

to all:
thank you very mutch for suggestions of new artists; it would be very kind of you if you can post MP3 or whatever links to nusic so we can get the sound at first glance!

Excuse the outburst. Anyway, there was one episode with David Byrne, and he had a pedal steeler who was all over the place. He had a rack of effects that was taller than his guitar. He never played a trad lick, but used it as an ambient instrument with these almost synth sounds, and he filled the songs in with texture. It was a very cool approach. I am not sure who he was, but he may have very well been one of the names already mentioned on here.

I gotta go, I have a lead on that exec!

but infortunately I have no idea of music they played togheter
you know David Byrne played very different style of music ... (that often, personally... sorry, I dislike)

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Cheers!
Dave

Please I need to know more more pedal steel artists! :)

He also plays a wrist lever like no one else, and is killer on rock guitar and mandolin.

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Drew Howard - website - Fessenden D-10 8/8, Fessenden SD-12 5/5 (Ext E9), Magnatone S-8, N400's, BOSS RV-3

One guess for the steel player on the Eno stuff would be Daniel Lanois. I'm not positive about that though.

Anybody know BJ out there so we can get the inside poop ?

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Bob
intonation help