Music Review: To All My Dear Friends

To All My Dear Friends
A Review of a Live Performance at that was held at Evolution Records in Lakeland, Fl


His voice is rough, ragged, sharp, and raw.
He evokes the feeling of the beat poet era, immortalizing it for a new generation.
His singing is more a recitation, or an enactment, or perhaps a wrenching of his heart and laying it bare before those seeing him live.

An Electric Violin, an Electric Six String guitar and pure unadulterated genius rounds out what I witnessed on that Friday night, sitting on an upholstered bench, most likely a long church pew my wife thought. We sat and enjoyed the prior two groups perform their 30 some minute long sets. Then a tall, lanky, vest buttoned up gentleman started setting up. One time he said, I Play the Voilin, there was more to that sentence but I cannot recall what else or the context.

My wife said we should stay and see what the last group, For All My Dear Friends, were like. I naturally agreed. I owe my wife for this recommendation.

From the moment he got up on stage, in those first few seconds, within the first four bars, I was hooked, unable to believe what was unfolding.
The entire performance was live and looped at the same time. He would play a minute to three minute piece on his violin, recording it, then set that to loop and play another 4 to 8 bars, loop that, repeat for a third element, sometimes adding in his guitar, and then with the 3 elements playing, would play more, riff hard, mute and then play and sing or speak/chant/recite his lyrics which are poetry that I wish I was writing, and then bring it all down. Bring it all down hard, and powerful, and utterly into his music.

I tried to watch his footwork, see where he set the MIDI or whatever he uses to start and stop, sometimes I got it, sometimes I was just too entranced with the music and the bodily performance that was being enacted on the tiny stage about 15 feet away from me.

Acoustics were a little ragged for all 3 bands, concrete walls echo and kids coming in and out, still it was sheer urban loop purity in strength and soul.The roughness being environmental vice performance for the most part.

If you make music, go see him perform.
If you love loops, violin, guitars, creation, go see him perform
If you love the unique, go see him perform
If you are alive at all, go see him perform

I know he played the following tracks:
Motions of a Generation
Clouds
The Book of Tofu
Vision

I believe he also played:
Synchro Convergence
Midnight at the Leucadian
Japan to Kenya & Back


He played a few other songs, all were incredible, insane, inspiring. It was only like a total of 6  or 7 tracks he performed (singing and playing just does no credit to this show, it was a performance).

At the end of the show the appreciative audience mobbed him, while I purchased his two CDs (one at $10 and the other at $6) along with two magnets for my home office area and we left for the night.

If you have a chance to see To All My Dear Friends, do not pass on the occasion. This is both new and eclectic and unique and as such, deserves praise and support for the courage to break boundaries and barriers.


Relevant Links to All My Dear Friends and to Evo Records:
http://www.facebook.com/TAMDF
http://www.toallmydearfriends.com/
http://www.myspace.com/toallmydearfriends

http://www.facebook.com/EvoRecords