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CD Review Spam: jambands.com and Tape Op Magazine



Two new spiels for "Normalized": A new online review from a major
jamband website, and the full review from the latest Tape Op magazine
(which was mentioned here a few weeks back.)

--------------------------------
Tape Op #38, Nov./Dec. 2003 
http://www.tapeop.com

Andre calls his guitar technique "turntablist guitar" - using loops,
multitracking and bare hands to coax a variety of rhythms and sounds out
of the guitar. The results are rhythmic, grooving pieces with fuzzy
guitar melodies on top. A digital Echoplex provides the backbone loops
of much of this CD, and multitracking and/or editing and cleanup were
performed in a computer. A cool experiment that luckily turns out to be
musical and interesting. 

--------------------------------
jambands.com, Dec.29, 2003, by Matt Brockett
http://www.jambands.com/CDReviews/content_2003_12_29.02.phtml

If you think you've heard everything a guitar can do, Andre LaFosse
would like you to hear something. 

LaFosse's second solo record, Normalized is essential listening for any
guitar player, if not simply to see the incredible untapped sonic
capabilities of an instrument that was previously thought by some to
have been played every way possible. True, LaFosse does have the help of
the Echoplex Digital Pro and LoopIV software, but this can fairly
readily be compared to the modern guitarist's use of effects pedals and
various other sound manipulating gadgets. 

The difference with LaFosse is the concept that he calls "Turntablist
Guitar," which is best described in his own words. "I can drop tiny
fragments of guitar into the loop, I can play the loop backwards, slow
the loop down, chop the loops up... and I can do this all live, as I'm
playing. It's like my guitar is the record, and the Echoplex is the
turntable and mixer. Just like a turntablist uses their technique to get
sounds that are far beyond what's on the original record, I can come up
with noises and rhythms that would be impossible to play on just an
unlooped guitar." 

Truly a pioneer of the Echoplex as an instrument, his confidence in his
mastery is proven by the fact that 14 of the 18 tracks on the album are
live Echoplex solos. While most artists relish the fact that "studio"
albums or commercial releases can be polished and mixed until they are
just right, LaFosse decided to show his guitar and Echoplex capabilities
in their rawest form. 

The result is somewhere between Aphex Twin, Art of Noise, Squarepusher,
and some kid making beats on his computer late night in Mom's basement,
except it's all guitar -- manipulated guitar, yes, but guitar
nonetheless. That's the part you have to keep reminding yourself of
while listening to Normalized, that and the fact that your CD isn't
skipping, even though sometimes you would bet the farm that it is.
Although the album is surely not for everyone, it definitely is for
anyone who enjoys experimental music, or who enjoys hearing a musician
brave enough to laugh in the face of convention and create a truly
original musical voice. We're talking over an hour of a full-on
collision of rock, drum & bass, hip hop, pop, jazz and who knows what
else, all told through the electric guitar via Echoplex. 

In an odd twist, the title track of this experimental and electronic
sounding album is a single solo unlooped twangy guitar piece, hauntingly
different from the rest of album. It is a fitting homage to the most
basic element of LaFosse's music: his guitar.