The SSS - Six String Sonics
Again, a variation on the theme of interface. Meet the Six String Sonics, from Japan.
The interface here begins life in a fairly interesting manner - the guitar is broken in to 6 separate one string instruments. The concept of breaking apart a traditional instrument in order to create something new isn't terribly new (on a larger scale, ensembles can be seen as attempts to put disparate elements together to create a new instrument - a sort of reverse of the process at work here).
As you might predict, however, the results are astonishingly pedestrian. Be sure to watch the video on the website. They truly believe that they removed traditional limitations and come up with something really new. But then why is the music no different than what a band with 9 members (the lineup has 6 guitarists, two bassists playing one instrument, and a drummer) could easily achieve? If you gave 6 players a traditional guitar, and limited them to one string, you'd get exactly the same result, which is to say that the songs end with 6 aspiring guitar heroes trying to play as loud, fast and high as possible. Watching the video was almost as painful as watching Jon Matis's improvised guitar quartet.
PS - when I spell-checked this post, it suggested "fascist" for "bassist"
The interface here begins life in a fairly interesting manner - the guitar is broken in to 6 separate one string instruments. The concept of breaking apart a traditional instrument in order to create something new isn't terribly new (on a larger scale, ensembles can be seen as attempts to put disparate elements together to create a new instrument - a sort of reverse of the process at work here).
As you might predict, however, the results are astonishingly pedestrian. Be sure to watch the video on the website. They truly believe that they removed traditional limitations and come up with something really new. But then why is the music no different than what a band with 9 members (the lineup has 6 guitarists, two bassists playing one instrument, and a drummer) could easily achieve? If you gave 6 players a traditional guitar, and limited them to one string, you'd get exactly the same result, which is to say that the songs end with 6 aspiring guitar heroes trying to play as loud, fast and high as possible. Watching the video was almost as painful as watching Jon Matis's improvised guitar quartet.
PS - when I spell-checked this post, it suggested "fascist" for "bassist"
posted by Kristian Twombly at 1/24/2006 10:20:00 AM
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