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On 2 Jul 1997, Jon Durant wrote: > BTW, did anyone catch the review of my new CD in Guitar Magazine (in the >Stevie > Ray cover issue, July I think)? The reviewer, Jon Chappell, had an >interesting > hook: "Progressively Textural." OK, sounds about right. I was just in a bookstore the other day, leafing through the magazine rack, when I thought, "Say, Jon Durant said his new disc was reviewed in the SRV issue of _Guitar_ magazine." Sure enough, there it was. A very positive review, as well -- congratulations, Jon! And it's good to see that the Alchemy roster is being picked up for in-store distribution -- no mean feat for an avante-oriented indie label. (I think CMP -- or whatever they're called now -- could learn a thing or two from you as far as what to do with a roster of talented artists... but anyway...) _Guitar_ and _Guitar Shop_ both seem to be good outlets for coverage of more "out there" music; Pete Prown in particular, who writes for the former and edits the latter, is an avowed prog-rock/experimental fan, and devotes a substantial amount of print space to more off-beat, unusual releases. It's nice that there's some sort of outlet for that music seeping through the pop market-oriented coverage that tends to pervade most of the mainstream music press, particularly as the aforementioned mags tend to be slanted towards more mainstream-minded readers. They're not really any closer than anyone else towards coming up with elegant labels for more off-beat music, however. I still think that we're moving into a good period in terms of general receptiveness for what I'll generally refer to as electronically-derived loop-based music, which I think probably applies to just about everyone on this list regardless of stylistic or genre-specific orientation. Whether or not one buys into the whole "electronica as the new pop music" scenario (though I am curious to see if the new Prodigy album lives up to its prophecy as 'the "Nevermind" of techno,') I do think there's an increased curiosity and receptiveness towards electronically-based music, particularly of the live variety. Now is perhaps as good a time as ever for us to take our craft out into the public eye. --Andre p.s. - with the deluge of guitarists releasing techno/dance albums these days, I can't help but think how far ahead of the zeitgiest Torn was when he dabbled so successfully with electronic music on last year's _What Means Solid, Traveller?_. I suspect it'll still sound fresh when most of the rest of the current crop of electronic music reeks of late-'90s dance crossover. Too bad CMP didn't know what to do with it!