STEPHAN THELEN — Fractal Guitar 2

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3.57 | 2 ratings | 1 review

Album · 2021

Filed under Nu Jazz
By STEPHAN THELEN

Tracklist

1 Cosmic Krautrock 14:08
2 Fractal Guitar 2 7:58
3 Mercury Transit 12:03
4 Ladder To The Stars 14:54
5 Celestial Navigation 12:29
6 Point Of Inflection 12:12

Line-up/Musicians

- Stephan Thelen / electric guitar, choppy organ (1), granular synth (1,6), programming (1,3,5), fractal guitar (2), formant swell (2), EBow (3,5), particles (3,5), keyboards (3-5)

With:
- Markus Reuter / U8 touch guitar (1,2,4,5,6), soundscapes
- Jon Durant (Burnt Belief) / electric guitar (1,3), fretless guitar (2,5,6), VCS3 guitar (3), filtered & sliced cloud guitar (4), cloud guitar (6)
- Andi Pupato / percussion
- Stefan Huth / touch guitar AU8 (bass) (1-3,5,6)
- David Torn / electric guitar (1,6), live looping (1,6)
- Bill Walker / electric guitar (1,5), live looping (1), feedback (1), lap steel (2,5)
- Andy Brugger / drums (1,3,6)
- Barry Cleveland / 6 & 12-string guitar (2,6), filtered guitar (2), bowed guitar (3,6), revox loops (3), chopped guitar (6), fuzz orchestration (6)
- Manuel Pasquinelli / drums (2,4,5)
- Fabio Anile / keyboards (3), electric piano (4)
- Henry Kaiser / electric guitar (4)
- Chris Muir / electric guitar, live looping (4)
- Andy West / bass (4)

About this release

Moonjune Records – MJR113 (US)

Recorded at various locations across Europe and North America between November 2019 and July 2020

Thanks to snobb for the addition and js for the updates

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STEPHAN THELEN FRACTAL GUITAR 2 reviews

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“Fractal Guitar 2” is the second installment in Stephan Thelan’s ongoing fractal guitar series and it bears a lot of similarity to the first album, although you can also hear some improvement as Stephan and his returning all-star cast of electronic guitar heroes refine and develop their approach to modern day spatial guitar explorations. The emphasis on “2” is a little more focused on rhythm and mood, but you still get a good share of fret board fireworks from Stephan, David Torn, Jon Durant, Markus Reuter, Henry Kaiser and others. I don’t know how directly Stephan may have been influenced by contemporary African music on this one, but the carefully interlocking guitar patterns and poly rhythms bear strong similarities to today’s African fusion. Despite a healthy dose of great solos here and there, the real pleasure in “2” are those chiming guitar riffs that mix together and create kaleidoscope textures floating in a very welcome outer space.

The best tracks are the first four which seamlessly flow together as just one long song. The final two tracks are still good, but “Celestial Navigation” has a stop-start ¾ time feel that doesn’t flow as well as the previous tracks, and closer, “Point of Inflection” has a slightly different production that leans a bit in a rockish direction, although the song’s fade to ambiance does make for a good album closer. These are minor complaints and are only included so that this evaluation does not come across as too glib. Overall, “Fractal Guitar 2” is an excellent choice for fans of cosmic guitar and ambient groove music along the lines of Bill Laswell, Steve Hillage, Ozric Tentacles, Terje Rypdal, and Miles’ mid 70s band with Pete Cosey on guitar.