Over the course of a decade Tompkins Square’s Imaginational Anthem compilations have proven reliably pleasurable in their wide-ranging exploration of solo guitar artistry. The early numbers benefited from the selective prowess of label head Josh Rosenthal, but more recent arrivals have traveled different avenues and utilized the curatorial input of others. Such is the case with Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7; assembled by Hayden Pedigo of Amarillo, TX its 14 contributions extend the impressive relevance of the series. It’s out on CD this week.
Recorded history is rife with crummy compilations, some purely mercantile, many more uninspired as most of the guilty specimens come from the pop and rock divisions. Certainly there are exceptions, Warner Brothers’ Loss Leaders series for example, but it’s very smart to look askance at the vast backlog of comps.
Yes, noticeable improvement did coincide with the rise of the independent scene, and yet due to a confluence of reasons a high ratio of lackluster entries persisted, as did the suspicion that anybody possessing a well-rounded collection and a little inspiration could do a better job; i.e. the enduring phenomenon of the mix-tape.
There are myriad ways to be snide regarding the whole mix-tape thing, but it’s undeniable that a truly inspired assemblage of tracks, perhaps distributed for various holidays or just uploaded online, can give one pause and remain close at hand for years. Similar factors surround the progression of Imaginational Anthem; the title of curator gets bandied about a bit too frequently these days, but in this circumstance the appellation is fully deserved.
Outstandingly documenting the lasting importance of American Primitive guitar by amassing loads of solo string brilliance, the first three volumes saw the guidance of Josh Rosenthal expertly mix older names with varying degrees of notoriety (John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Richard Crandell, Max Ochs, Peter Lang, George Stavis, Michael Chapman, Sandy Bull, Harry Taussig, Fred Gerlach) and younger figures (Shawn David McMillen, Jesse Sparhawk, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Glenn Jones, Jack Rose, Jose Gonzales, Christina Carter, Sharron Kraus, Cian Nugent, Nathan Salsberg).
That’s a lot of nimble digits, but the second group is composed of descendants rather than mere disciples, and if inextricably linked to the American Primitive concept, right from the start Rosenthal peppered the selection with a variety of angles, the inaugural set (which also kick-started Tompkins Square) featured jazzman Bern Nix, a vet of Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time, pigeonhole-eluder Kaki King, and the son-father duo of Gyan and Terry Riley (the latter on piano); volume two included the great Billy Faier playing banjo and singing.
The overall thrust across the Imaginational Anthem experience differs from the range encompassing many pop and rock comps. The focus here is on the specificity of a sound, the gist much closer to the diligent regional and stylistic annotation that helped to define the golden age of folk recording. Volume four did adjust the template to solely spotlight the current generation; aptly titled New Possibilities, amongst the lineup is William Tyler (of Lambchop), Tyler Ramsey (of Band of Horses), Chris Forsyth (leader of the Solar Motel Band), and Sam Moss.
Subsequently, Rosenthal drafted Moss to compile the fifth Anthem, the results retaining youthfulness via such participants as Steve Gunn, Nick Schillace, Daniel Bachman, and Yair Yona with sweet twists by Eric Carbonara, Alexander Lindquist, Cam Deas, and Bill Orcutt. Then, a curveball; volume the sixth, The Roots of American Primitive Guitar, surveyed exactly that, offering nuggets of 1923-30 vintage from old-school string killers Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Davy Miller, Lemuel Turner, Bayless Rose, and Frank Hutchison.
Surely a fine and valuable history lesson, but Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7 has chosen to return to the fertile soil of entries four and five as curated by 20 year old guitarist Hayden Pedigo. It additionally casts illumination on Grass-Tops Recording of Bloomington, MN, a label owned by Kyle Fosburgh and co-operated by Pedigo, who humbly eschews programming his own work in favor of Fosburgh and Grass-Tops personnel/associates Christoph Bruhn and Mariano Rodriguez.
Fosburgh’s “The Great North American Wilderness” is a solid piece of Takoma Records-styled note-flurry, though certain patterns and timbres do subtly differentiate him from precedent. Bruhn’s approach to the Takoma sound on “Something, or Oil Paintings” starts off slightly bluesy, launching into a superb beauty move and then following with extensive introspective and sturdy picking.
Like Fosburgh, Bruhn hails from Minnesota, but Rodriguez is of Argentinean descent, and born in 1971, he’s one of the older contributors here. His “Shadow Study at 6 am” oozes much American Primitive flair however, though as it unwinds a detectable worldliness is asserted. And together with his involvement in Grass-Tops, Rodriguez is a main component in Vol. 7’s internationalism, the global flow extended through Norberto Lobo, the Lisbon resident also one of the disc’s more prolific artists.
Lobo’s LP Fornalha emerged last year on the Swiss label three:four alongside Oba Loba, his second duo affair with drummer João Lobo, their album pressed onto vinyl by home country imprint Shhpuma. This writer has heard neither or for that matter any of his five prior discs, a recurring issue with numerous artists here. My introduction to Lobo is Vol. 7’s “Enchiridion,” which finds him in firm command of varied intensity as he reels off crisp, circular note runs.
Some will recognize Simon Scott as the drummer for UK shoegazers Slowdive, though he was also an integral part of Imaginational Anthem alumnus James Blackshaw’s 2014 live-score recording for Tompkins Square Fantomas: Le Faux Magistrat; Scott’s second label appearance is “Trees Return to Soil,” a brief slice of warm strumming redolent of what one might hear in a log cabin beside a blazing fire after a day of chopping wood and foraging for nuts and berries.
Scott’s Brit cohort here is Daniel Bridgewood Hill; a Mancunian credited on this set as DBH, his “Sea Retreat” reinforces the quiet breadth on display in Vol. 7. Absorbed in isolation there’s nothing overtly suggesting a connection to American Primitive tradition; instead, it’s just a leisurely attractive instrumental tune.
Rounding out the intercontinental contingent is occupant of Malta (apparently by way of Canada) M. Mucci, his “Zero for Three” deftly employing percussion additives as he investigates the resonant tunings that have long made the American Primitive a favored style for lovers of the drone and experimentation in general. Of course the scenario extends to adventurous rock fans and by extension rock musicians; not only Slowdive’s Scott but Chuck Johnson, a former member of Shark Quest, an oft-excellent and terribly underappreciated North Carolina outfit completing three long players for Merge.
He currently resides in Oakland, and along with inclusion on Tompkins Square’s Beyond Berkeley Guitar has issued a pair of solo full-lengths, the newest being Crows in the Basilica on Three Lobed Recordings. His “On a Slow Passing Through a Ghost Town” opens Vol. 7, Johnson’s dexterity and mastery of mood and shifts of tempo in evidence throughout the track’s seven minutes.
Also from Oakland via North Carolina is the massively productive Andrew Weathers; he works alone and in collaboration, leads an ensemble, plays in the bands Parties, Kirtan Choir, and Tethers, and has studied with giants of the frets Fred Frith and Eugene Chadbourne and saxophonists Mark Engebretson and Roscoe Mitchell. Considering all this background, Weathers’ “Olympic Peninsula Blues” exudes compositional heft and a bit of drone, though it still lands squarely into the Guitar Soli milieu.
One of Weathers many collaborators is fellow Carolinian Wes Tirey. He has over a half dozen releases available on Bandcamp, and his “My Grandfather’s 12 Gauge” closes Vol. 7 with a helping of edgy, echo-laden stomp and pluck. But before we get there, Pedigo’s sequencing provides necessary exposure to Floridian Sean Proper’s gorgeous mess of loose-string strums and crystalline cascades “Culverts” (I look forward to his digital EP “Canal Machinery”) and Oregonian Jordan Norton’s especially drone-friendly and meditative “Araucaria” (I likewise anticipate checking out his batch of online stuff).
If Norton’s aurally contemplative, Chicagoan Michael Vallera’s “USA Self” is downright atmospheric, but in a brawny, Midwestern sorta way; his credit as one of the 200 guitars on Rhys Chatham’s A Crimson Grail (Outdoor Version) makes total sense (in smaller contexts he’s half of Cleared with Steve Hess and pilots solo project COIN). That leaves Oklahoman Dylan Golden Aycock; even with a touch of wind instrument accompaniment, his “Red Bud Valley” should help soothe any fears of this collection having lingered too far from the original objective.
After all of the above, it’s relatively simple; if one desired to impress upon another why the intersection of a solitary human being and a guitar matters this late in the chronological game, playing the contents of Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7 would work perfectly well. A decade down and Rosenthal’s concept has come nowhere near exhaustion.
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