Andee Blacksugar : Sheer Velocity Volume 1, Crop Circles

June 2010 - Brooklyn guitarist/composer/producer Andee Blacksugar (Black Sugar Transmission, Acey Slade) has released a 27-song collection of solo recordings under the title, ‘Sheer Velocity - Volume 1: Crop Circles.’ Andee composed, performed, programmed, mixed and mastered everything himself, producing an album that will thrill fans of high energy instrumental guitar. A precision-fingered assemblage of "daredevil" works, it is filled with what he calls “bizarre and indulgent musical notions.” The collection appeared quietly on CDBaby.com, but the material is anything but low-key.

Despite being described by their creator as “Instru-Mentals,” the tracks on Crop Circles maintain an almost Zen-like focus and immediacy. This is perhaps due to by the fact that each was conceived, written, recorded and mixed in one sitting -- experimental rites of passage from 'before' to 'after.' When such improvisational stream-of-consciousness is channeled through virtuosity like Andee's, the result is truly compelling. The “Sheer Velocity” supertitle is quite fitting.

For Andee, however, the recordings (of which he has “stacks and stacks” – over 80 more from roughly the same period during which he recorded Crop Circles) are more than just passing explorations of the musical moment. In comparison to how diligent expenditure is required to craft sensible pop songs, here, expansive creativity itself is manufactured, brought to the surface and validated, to create stockpiles of raw musical material. The process is part of how Andee broadens his own horizons as a guitarist, a songwriter, and a producer.

“In comparison to a lot of the other music I produce, I am not sweating anything on recordings like these except really playing well and trying to capture some unique performances. They can surprise me, and they definitely expand my vocabulary on the guitar. I’ve been woodshedding, and the best way for me to incorporate new ideas is to put them in the context of actual music -- something that someone would really want to listen to.”

And you will want to listen. The opening track, EADGBE, sets the stage. Screaming guitar is front and center over a bed of slamming drums, fat synth pads and resonant bass. It proclaims, “We are here.”  But just when you think you’ve got it licked, a wild new tone comes, then goes, followed by… What is that? A Nintendo? A marimba? Wait… it’s over. And suddenly we’re Marching to Mars. An alien army’s rhythm section advances menacingly, the gutsy lead tone a snarling three-eyed  company commander. He bellows tactical orders, grinding a six-fingered fist in gutsy notes, increasing in intensity as a pliable platoon Sergeant squeals along. Commands propagate through the lines with extended harmonies as the troops riff forward, the cries of lone heroes jabbing here and there through the onslaught. Yes, there are 24 more like this, ranging from surreally beautiful to simply relentless, spanning poly-scalar passages, altered tunings, linear arrangements, and much much more. (It really is more like Sheer Fun.)

In the same way that the album offers these kinds of contrasts (and cooperations) so too do the individual tracks.

“The soundscape part of recording is really important to me. I’ve always been a fan of artists who can create a whole universe you can get inside of. Plus, with guitar instrumentals there can be so much guitar that it becomes important to give the listener a break--an ebb and flow of dynamics-- a change from the intense velocity and volume -- some interesting sounds and variations to evoke completely different spaces. And synthesizer breaks are just great to solo over.”

If steering towards this kind of variation is something of a natural tendency for Andee, his methods are anything but contrived.

“I don’t get hung up or fuss over the actual sound selections because that’s kind of beside the point. I want to get done while there’s a lot of freshness about it. I’ll literally just spin the dial until I find something that works.”

As far as guitars are concerned, that "dial" selects from presets on Andee’s Fractal Audio Axe-Fx, which he uses instead of traditional amps, cabs, effects, and mics for guitar tones across the entire album.

“I used it for everything. What’s really great about the Axe-Fx is that there are so many great sounds in there it actually suggests ideas to me. The quality of my work has gone up dramatically since I got into it, and it’s obviously become a really important part of making this all sound so interesting.”

On Crop Circles, “interesting” includes the way in which Andee’s instincts have naturally steered him towards a spectrum of different distortion sounds, some really tight, crisp and pre-amp-ish with others saturated like a fat stack cranked to the breaking point. Cleans cut crystalline or lie in radiant pools, swathed in lush effects. Honestly, you’d never imagine that this entire guitar-powered record was made with just one processor and a DiMarzio-equipped 80’s Japanese Strat.

That so-called limitation—like recording each track-at-once, or keeping within in a 3-5 minute format, or Andee's forward-facing approach to creativity—actually seems to fill the album with free-spritedness. Don’t be surprised if after listening you suddenly find its exotic geometries impressed in the fertile fields of your musical mind. The main surprise of Crop Circles, however, is that it even exists at all. It is incredibly refreshing in an age of mass-produced slickness to know that one guitar, one Axe-Fx, one computer, and one Andee Blacksugar can produce such works of audible art. So what's next for Andee?

“The next thing coming up is Hot Noise, a Black Sugar Transmission EP—totally different from Sheer Velocity and a more representative indication of my musical persona (‘hard electro with a post punk attitude.’) If people show an interest in buying Sheer Velocity, however, and I get a vibe that they want to hear more, I will release another one. I’m curious...”

So are we, Andee: curious to hear what Volume 2 could hold in store.

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/SheerVelocity

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