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FAT: #awesome
by John Kelman
While the appropriately titled #awesome represents Alex Machacek's third album in six years with his (similarly witty and self-effacingly monikered) FAT (Fabulous Austrian Trio), this trifecta of virtuosic Austrian musicians goes much further back. Both bassist Raphael Preuschl and drummer Herbert Pirker appeared on roughly half of the expat-Austrian/Los Angeles-based guitarist's acclaimed 2006 Abstract Logix debut, [sic], while Machacek and Preuschl can be heard together on the even earlier The Next Generation of Sound (Extraplatte, 2000). In the ...
Continue ReadingUltimate Collectors' Edition
by John Kelman
Well, there's certainly been a wait for this one, but for fans of what may be the last high profile progressive rock group to emerge in the 1970s, U.K.'s Ultimate Collectors' Edition proves well worth it. What began as an already sizeable 16-disc box for a group that, during its relatively brief tenure, released just two studio albums and one live recording, has become an 18-disc set with the addition of a recording of the group's final show in Nijmegen, ...
Continue Reading(Living the Dream)
by John Kelman
While he's been living in Los Angeles for many years, Alex Machacek clearly values longterm musical relationships. While the majority of his recordings for the Raleigh, NC-based Abstract Logix imprint have seen the Austrian-born guitarist working with the likes of Jeff Sipe, Matthew Garrison, Neal Fountain and Gary Husband, his 2005 label debut, [sic], was notable--beyond its stunning compositions and mind-boggling post-Allan Holdsworth-ian guitar gymnastics--for the participation, on most tracks, of two fellow Austrians: bassist Raphael Preuschl and drummer Herbert ...
Continue ReadingFAT: FAT
by John Kelman
Around for more than a decade, Alex Machacek's first record as a leader (renamed, with characteristically bone-dry wit, as Mc Hacek) was Featuring Ourselves (Next Generation, 1999), but it was when the Austrian-born/California-resident guitarist moved to Abstract Logix that more significant attention came, first with his stunning, year-besting [sic] (2006). Three more records followed, culminating in another year-topper, 24 Tales (2010), an equally staggering set where the guitarist repeated [sic]'s concept of “recomposing"-writing music around, in the case of [sic], ...
Continue ReadingAlex Machacek: Fat Beyond Belief
by Ian Patterson
Alex Machacek is back with a tremendously exciting new record and a wonderful new trio. Well, not quite. Drummer Harold Pirker and bassist Raphael Preuschi have been playing with the Austria-born/California-based guitarist on and off for the guts of a decade and both contributed significantly to Machacek's [sic] (Abstract Logix, 2006). A trio recoding by FAT (Fabulous Austrian Trio) has been a while coming, but Machacek is already thinking about its next recording. Clearly, the chemistry between the three musicians ...
Continue ReadingAlex Machacek: FAT
by Ian Patterson
Alex Machacek has been turning heads with his incendiary guitar playing and striking writing since he burst on the scene with Featuring Ourselves (Next Generation Enterprises, 1999). Whilst drummer Herbert Pirker and bassist Raphael Preuschi have a less visible profile, their equally outstanding chops play a big part in the success of FAT. These musicians also played on half the tracks on Machacek's [sic] (Abstract Logix, 2008), and there's significant chemistry between them, whether tearing it up on jazz-fusion/rock of ...
Continue ReadingAlex Machacek: A Very Tall Tale
by Ian Patterson
Be careful what you wish for, for you may get it-so the saying goes. When Alex Machacek asked drummer Marco Minnemann if he had a drum solo he could pass his way to compose around, he could never have expected a drum improvisation lasting 51 minutes. Before he could say, “Hey, 13/16 is a really odd meter," he found himself committed to composing, or recomposing as he puts it, around the entire piece. Minnemann's drum improvisation is amazing ...
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