Various Artists: I Never Meta Guitar Three

Few would be more equipped to produce this series of various guitarists parading their avant-garde stuff other than New York City-based, and world-renown experimental guitar acolyte, Elliot Sharp. This third installment of the ongoing extravaganza showcases the far-flung imaginations of 18 artists, continuously pushing the envelope via a kaleidoscopic presentation sketched with unconventional acoustic-electric tone poems. It's a rousing celebration of oscillating sound designs, fuzz-toned voicings, and startling digressions as each piece tells a distinct story, largely nestled in atypical milieus.

Expect the unexpected on a per-track basis. For instance, Kirsten Carey's "Sasquatch / Happening" is crafted with scratchy and distorted lines, amped by an avant-metal chord-crunching impetus. On "Dressed up like a Church," Adam Brisbin salutes German free-jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann with raw energy and piercing expressionism, performed on acoustic. The plot thickens even further as Bruce Eisenbeil's "Song for Katsu" boasts a fractured blues motif amid his employment of volume control techniques; scintillating harmonics, and anarchic phrasings.

One of the most compelling works is Simone Massaron's "Willie." Here, the guitarist uses his Gibson J200 electric with a toy fan and samples, inducing hyper-mode, vacillating currents and ricocheting effects. Consequently, Jim McCauley's "Mystery Loves Company" is an improvisation for 12-string guitar and slide, offset with real time detuning processes and comprised of sweeping gestures and an intermittent bottleneck blues riff. Other highlights include nascent guitarist Brandon Seabrook's ridiculously fast and disciplined chord structures during "Fingertupper," and Alexandra Novaga's multilayered utilization of objects and a tape recorder on "Untitled." Thus, Volume Three encompasses another mind-blowing string of eccentric solo guitar performances, concocted with outlandish musical vernaculars and polychromatic sound-shaping treatments.

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