Plini – ‘The End Of Everything’ [Review]

plini the end of everything

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Instrumental guitar EPs shouldn’t sound like this. They should be awful, self-indulgent shitfests full of pointless musical masturbation. They definitely should not be beautiful, glorious, or epic.

On The End of Everything, Plini has done everything wrong.

Take the drums, for instance. They should be Read more…

Posted on 04 March 2015

Yossi Sassi – ‘Desert Butterflies’ [Review]

yossi sassi desert butterfliesIn an endless ocean of heavy-shredding soundalikes, instrumental rock guitarist Yossi Sassi stands out a mile. Fusing impressive compositional skills with masterful technique and no small amount of hard-earned feel, Sassi quickly dives into subtle time signature changes on the mellifluous Marty Friedman collaboration Orient Sun before Read more…

Posted on 10 February 2015

Cea Serin [Interview]

cea serin

Cea Serin’s upcoming sophomore album The Vibrant Sound of Bliss and Decay will be more than worth the ten-year wait. Fusing a multitude of styles both metallic and non-metallic and sprawling over almost 50 minutes despite being composed of only five tracks, The Vibrant Sound of Bliss and Decay is a tad epic, and raises a number of questions. TMMP posed a set of said questions to multi-instrumentalist J. Lamm – and the answers were nothing short of fascinating… Read more…

Posted on 04 October 2014

Dragons That Make Love To Pandas – ‘Roundabouts EP’ [Review]

dragons that make love to pandasTheir name might evoke images of seedy backstreet Chinatown massage parlours, but Dragons That Make Love To Pandas offer much more than just happy endings. Every moment on Roundabouts is masterfully tuned to elicit maximum pleasure of a different sort – the kind of excitement that comes from having one’s auditory cortex stimulated by a unique combination of stylistic elements. DTMLTP drop ska, math, guitar-pop and more into the musical equivalent of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, and what emerges is appropriately awe-inspiring. Read more…

Posted on 24 September 2014

Marco Minnemann – ‘EEPS’ [Review]

marco minnemann eeps

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If I’d recorded my reaction to this album’s opening bars, it’d be viral on YouTube by now. You have to ask: How does this guy do it? Most drummers would struggle with that very first high-speed drum flourish, let alone everything that follows. Let’s get stuck in.

Cheap As Fuck And Awesome As Hell sounds like Jeff Beck at his finest. The guitar is brutally tortured, notes squeezed to within an inch of their lives, there’s a super-cool keyboard line and some immense effects, and it all adds up to a fusion tour-de-force that, you’d assume, was created by a group of virtuosi working in collaborative harmony.

Only…it isn’t. On EEPS, Marco Minnemann plays everything. Everything. Vinnie Colaiuta may well be known as “The Alien”, but maybe it’s time that nickname jumped ship. Read more…

Posted on 16 July 2014

Marco Minnemann [Interview]

marco minnemann eepsGiven his status as one of the world’s top drummers, it’s safe to say that Marco Minnemann is a bit of a legend. Whether drumming for Joe Satriani, recording and performing as one third of The Aristocrats alongside Guthrie Govan and Bryan Beller, or working with the likes of Jordan Rudess, Tony Levin, Alex Machacek, Mike Keneally, Terry Bozzio, Nina Hagen, Necrophagist, Kreator, Buddy Rich Big Band, and Steven Wilson, Marco never fails to bring his A-game to each and every project he throws himself into. While most players would be content to hit one of the above achievements and then rest on their laurels, Marco Minnemann is clearly not.

In addition to his long list of collaborative victories, Marco Minnemann is also an immensely talented solo artist in his own right. On his latest release, EEPS – which drops today, and can be previewed and ordered via the links at the end of this post – Marco wrote and performed every note and lyric and even got involved with the production, alongside Lazy Bones Recordings head honcho Scott Schorr. In an increasingly DIY-oriented industry, Marco Minnemann is showing every up-and-coming solo artist exactly how it’s done.

In our very first Artist Interview, Marco tells TMMP about EEPS, the future, and the importance of good sex. Read more…

Posted on 09 July 2014

Sean Ashe – ‘Hemisphere’ [Review]

sean ashe hemisphereStrident and ultra-confident strutting delivered via thick, lush tones. Sensual melodic contours that become rolling hills and deep valleys while skilfully avoiding Satriani-esque clichés. Instrumental guitar that leans on the less-wanky and more-emotional end of the spectrum. A damn good tune. Read more…

Posted on 05 June 2014

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