WHISKEY IN THE JAR · 2017. 9. 11. · Digital Music News has recently published a report...
Transcript of WHISKEY IN THE JAR · 2017. 9. 11. · Digital Music News has recently published a report...
NEW ALBUMS: SUFJAN STEVENS AND FLEET FOXESSummer 2017 has seen a bumper crop of
releases by some of the big players of acoustic
guitar-centric indie, with two long awaited
new releases by US artists Fleet Foxes and
Sufjan Stevens among the season’s offerings.
The fi rst reviews are now in for Fleet Foxes’
new album Crack-Up, released in June via
Nonesuch Records. Crack-Up comes six years
after the 2011 release of Helplessness Blues
and nearly a decade since the band’s 2008
best-selling self-titled debut topped best-of
lists around the internet.
Culture website Vulture said: ‘[For Crack-
Up] the band shakes off its penchant for
baroque arrangements for a string of two-
and three-part epics with sudden shifts in
tone, while singer Robin Pecknold peppers
personal refl ection with musings on beautiful
mountains and cryptozoological wonders
like nymphs and monsters. It looks heavy on
paper, but in headphones, Crack-Up is light as
a warm afternoon breeze.’
Meanwhile Sufjan Stevens followed up
his 2015 release Carrie & Lowell, which
reached #6 on UK album charts, with a new
collaboration with The National’s Bryce
Dessner, composer Nico Muhly and Stevens’
long-term collaborator James McAlister. Fans
can apparently expect: “Grand orchestrations,
subtle guitar work and deep electronic
textures [that] hang like constellations around
sing-song melodies, and atmospheric fusion of
elaboration and simplicity.”
WHISKEY IN THE JARIconic brands Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Lowden Guitars – two of Northern Ireland’s fi nest exports – have joined forces to create a limited edition guitar made from Bushmills Irish whiskey barrels and ancient bog oak.
For the limited edition Bushmills x Lowden F-50 guitar, of which only eight are available to buy, George Lowden personally selected Bushmills Irish Whiskey barrel wood for the 12th fret and back inlays, the bindings, rosette and head facings, ancient bog oak for the back and sides of the guitar; and sinker redwood for the soundboard.
The design includes a cross symbol formed of a cooper’s hammer and luthier’s chisel, representing the coming together of these two crafts. On the back, two lines echo the staves found in a Bushmills Irish Whiskey barrel and “represent the passing of skills from one generation to the next.”
George Lowden said: “We scour the
world for the best tonewoods which are the real ‘stars’ of our guitars, determining how they sound, feel, and play, so my sons and I relished the opportunity to work with the Coopers to select the best Bushmills Irish Whiskey barrel wood for the guitar.
“The three woods used to create the guitar play an integral part in making the Bushmills x Lowden so unique. The barrel wood is steeped in over 400 years of whiskey making heritage and used throughout to perfectly compliment the other tone woods. The back and sides are made up of ancient bog oak to offer a mellow, warm sound and when paired with sinker redwood on the soundboard, it helps extract a clarity and sparkle from each and every note the guitar produces.”
The eight guitars retail at £8,500 each. To fi nd out more visit www.lowdenguitars.com/bushmillsxlowden
String snappage is one of those pain-in-the-
neck facts-of-life that many newer guitarists
don’t see coming – to their peril. Now
London app developer Gismart have released
DoubleTune, a brand new tuning app for iOS
with unique Tune Guard mode – which, they
say, makes the tuning process fast, accurate,
intuitive and fear-free for inexperienced
musicians who are afraid to snap the strings
while tuning a musical instrument.
DoubleTune has several tuning modes
such as standard guitar, ukulele, open string,
drop tuning, double-dropped tuning, custom
tuning, manual chromatic tuner, tune-by ear
mode and pitch fork. There is also unique Tune
Guard mode, a smart feature that helps tune
string musical instruments safely and avoid
breaking strings. With Tune Guard users are
alerted with visual red signal and highlighted
string when it is too tight and about to break.
This mode is recommended for beginner
musicians with lack of experience in tuning
string instruments to keep the strings safe.
Info: https://gismart.com/
APPY AS LARRY
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VIN GARBUTT - RIP
you’re working your squeezing muscles.
You’re carrying packages, squeezing a
shampoo bottle, brushing your teeth, lifting
something. But there’s very rarely the
opposite action of stretching.”
Blues guitarist Kelly Richey, a carpal
tunnel syndrome sufferer, told the site
that instead of doing traditional ‘crunches’,
she swore by an ‘isometric’ routine – a
constant hand stretching motion that
pushes flexibility in the extensors. She
added: “I diligently committed to doing these
different hand strengthening exercises
daily, and they have really helped my
playing in terms of hand strength, dexterity
and accuracy.”
Folk legend Vin Garbutt – known to many
as the ‘Teesside Troubadour’ – has died at
the age of 69, following heart surgery. The
Middlesbrough-born folk singer had a four
decade career, recording his fi rst album, The
Valley of Tees, in 1972, and continuing to tour
worldwide right up until recent years.
In 2001 Garbutt won the ‘Best Live Act’
award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards,
and Teesside University awarded him an
Honorary Degree of Master of Arts for his
cultural contributions to the North East of
England that same year. Synthetic Hues,
Garbutt’s 16th and fi nal album was released
in 2015. A tour was originally planned for this
summer.
His family posted the following message
on Facebook: “It’s with great sadness and
extremely heavy hearts that we must inform
you that our beloved Vin passed away [that
morning]. He
loved the life
he shared with
you all, and we
know how much
he’ll be missed.
Although we
won’t be able to
see him again,
we’re grateful
that we will be
able to listen to
him for the rest
of our lives.”
Undertaking regular strengthening exercises
to prevent against repetitive strain injuries
to the hands while playing guitar seems like
a no-brainer, doesn’t it? One medical device
company is now suggesting otherwise.
Digital Music News has recently published
a report suggesting that conventional
wisdom surrounding hand exercises for
guitarists has been getting it all wrong, with
an overemphasis on strengthening that
ignores the need for maintaining fl exibility –
sometimes damaging the ability of guitarists
to play in the longer term along the way.
Scott Kupferman, creator of the Xtensor (a
contraption that claims to increase strength
and fl exibility in this area), said: “Every day,
Six of the world’s most distinguished
instrument builders have come up with a
novel way to make a lasting difference in the
lives of sick children. Luthiers Steve Grimes,
Beau Hannam, John Kinnard, Jay Lichty, Jake
Maclay and Joji Yoshida will set themselves
the challenge of building a tenor ukulele
from just two trees between them, with the
proceeds from the sale going to The Ukulele
Kids club – a well-established charity in both
the US and the UK that helps hospitalised
children by giving them the gift of music.
Explaining how the idea came about, the
group said: “Several luthiers and friends were
discussing an often-asked question in the
acoustic instrument world, ‘how much does
the wood contribute to tone and how much
does the luthier contribute?’ The challenge to
answering this question stems from the fact
that there is great variability from tree-to-tree
in the same species.
“They quickly agreed that they would need
to constrain the source to a particular tree.
Excited, they agreed that if they could get half
a dozen of the world’s best luthiers to each
LUTHIERY FOR CHARITY
build a tenor ukulele from the same exact
tree, it would allow the world to see and hear
the unique aesthetics and tonal voicing each
brings to virtually identically wood sets. The
group determined right away that such an
interesting project could be used to educate, to
KEEPING NIMBLE?
entertain and to raise money for a charitable
cause. Thus, Luthiers for a Cause was born.”
The ukes will be completed later this year. For
more information and to donate directly, visit:
www.luthiersforacause.org and https://uk.theukc.org
JULY 2017 ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE
DONATE YOUR UNUSED UKES NOW!
ATO THE UKULELE KIDS
CLUB, VISIT HTTPS://THEUKC.ORG/
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