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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.