Reviews Archives · Steve Tibbetts

Hellbound Train – MOJO Magazine

Tibbetts has been an ECM artist [since 1982], pursuing a movable crossroads of modal psychedelia, dreamscape electronics and ceremonial rhythms across the eight albums anthologised in this set. If you are new to Tibbetts, Hellbound Train is an exciting introduction – with an epic journey on the other side of the door.

Hellbound Train – Absolute Sound Review

Steve Tibbetts is less famous than some other guitarists in the ECM catalog, such as Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal, Pat Metheny, and Bill Frisell. This 2-CD retrospective shows why he deserves equal attention. As obsessive in his sequencing as he is in layering his compositions, Tibbetts sampled the endings and beginnings of 28 pieces and programmed the songs into a non-chronological narrative flow.

Hellbound Train – Downbeat Review

Hellbound Train is a collection that moves seamlessly from atmospheric world music to industrial rock to experimental acoustic jazz and everything in between. Each song flows seamlessly into the next while also referencing a consistent set of textures and themes throughout. The hypertextual nature of this anthology perfectly encapsulates Tibet’s signature sound and methodical artistry.

Hellbound Train – Santa Cruz Sentinel Review

“Hellbound Train” is the new double album from extraordinary guitarist Steve Tibbetts. His music is energizing and calming while moving across terrains of cascading 12-string guitar to explosive electric distortion and feedback. As always, Tibbetts is accompanied by the driving, tribal rhythms of Marc Anderson.

Life Of–CD Hotlist, 10/18

“a floating cloud of sound that unpredictably delights when a note suddenly (but subtly) blossoms into three or four others”

Life of–WeGotMusic, Germany · 9/18

“Es ist schon ein erhabenes Gefühl in die Unendlichkeit des Tibbett’schen Klangkosmos einzudringen. In dieser Musik findet sich so viel, man sollte sie mehrfach hören, um die Stimmungen auf sich wirken zu lassen.”

Life Of–Downbeat

“It might be less than an hour long, but Life Of will provide years of deep and rewarding listening.”

Life of–Rolling Stone, August 2018

“The effect is a seductive impressionism of fluid melodic figures and rippling arpeggios with a quietly firm, emotional undertow.”

Steve Tibbetts - Stereophile review photo

Life Of–Stereophile’s Recording of the Month

“This mannered approach has resulted in a soft, glowing sound that manages to capture plenty of detail and character across a deep, wide soundstage.”

Life Of–Washington Post, May 2018

“one of the most underappreciated musicians of our time”

Knut with Steve Tibbetts and Steve's son Joel

Å–Xpress Magazine Review

“a beautiful, soothing and utterly unique sound.”

The Fall of Us All–Atlantic Monthly

“Tibbetts’s guitar-from-beyond-the-solar-system will take you to realms hitherto glimpsed only by the Hubble space telescope and will offer several plausible explanations of dark matter.”

Live Concert Reviews / NPR Interviews

Audio files from various radio reviews.

Natural Causes–Downbeat Review

“To call Natural Causes exotic would be to deny the labor of love that went into making it. You might say Steve Tibbetts has, in a sense, redefined the word ‘natural’ for all to hear.”

Chöying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts: Selwa

Selwa–Tricycle Magazine

“On Selwa, a Tibetan nun and American guitarist grant each other the space to move freely through their respective disciplines, and the result is a lesson in listening for anyone who is fortunate enough to come across the album.”

Choying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts in Philadelphia

“The voice becomes even more magical when shared with the exquisite accompaniment of Tibbett’s guitar and the diversified percussion talents of Anderson.”

Selwa–Isthmus

“Great stuff and a must for those who enjoyed the collaborators’ earlier album Chö. Now if only Tibbetts and Drolma would return to Madison for a live concert. Their last one here (which included several other members of Drolma’s order) was among the most poignant live musical events the city has hosted.”

A Man About A Horse–Guitar World / The Sensible Sound reviews

“when a new CD from Steve Tibbetts unexpectedly showed up in my mailbox a few weeks ago, I literally shouted for joy, pumped my fists in the air, and ran up the driveway so that I could get it into my CD player just as quickly as possible”

A Man About A Horse–Downbeat Review

“A Man About A Horse embodies Tibbetts’ established strengths – feral electric guitar solos, complex percussion and meticulously detailed production.”

Jacket Sacrifice - photo by Steve Tibbetts

A Man About a Horse–Isthmus

“Tibbetts is one of this city’s great, underappreciated native sons precisely because he deals in a potent magic that’s not easily understood”

A Man About a Horse–New Note Magazine

“Tibbetts operates a fine balance between sensitive acoustic shivers and heavily petted electric fuzz…”

Lotus Festival review

“Deep stirrings I can’t even begin to discuss here were triggered by the sound of Chö, and from the response I felt from the audience, it wasn’t just happening to me.”

Chö–The Sensible Sound

“What Steve has done on Chö is to produce an utterly compelling musical synthesis by recording traditional Tibetan singing and then weave into it synthesized and acoustic layers of sound that truly capture the imagination.”

Ottawa Citizen

American guitarist and soundscape artist Steve Tibbetts was in the middle of his first tour in support of the album Chö last November, and things seemed to be going pretty smoothly. Until he lost one of the Tibetan nuns.

Steve, Turid, Knut, and Marc standing outside the church they recorded in.

Å–Downbeat, August 1999

“Å (just say “ah”) successfully joins the hardingfele, a.k.a. hardanger fiddle, with Tibbetts’ distinctive, often beautiful constructions.”

Å–Amazon.com

“Å brims with haunting moods and textures that splinter like the spider-web cracks of an ice-covered lake”

Å–Billboard Magazine, 1999

“Å” conjures up an enveloping and imagistic soundscape.

Olav Vinndal, Knut Hamre, Turid Spildo and Håvard Kvanndal

Å–Musician Magazine

“The result is pan-cultural sonic magic that transcends the limitations of language.”

Å–Minneapolis Star-Tribune & Playboy

“repeating fiddle phrases evolve into fresh ideas, while Tibbetts’ guitar slithers off on sympathetic tangents, and gongs and other elements chip in their own wry commentary, creating an ebb and flow of stylish nuance like mist on the fjords”

Turid, Knut, Steve, Marc near Utne, Norway

Å–Jazz times

“…music is the only genuine universal language… That idea springs to mind while listening to the latest project from the category-defying tone poet guitarist Steve Tibbetts, who has teamed up with Norwegian hardanger fiddler Knut Hamre for an intriguing and impressionistic set”

Å–National Post (Canada)

“…this new collaboration between jazz guitarist Steve Tibbetts and world music is dazzling”

Steve Tibbetts and Choying Drolma in Madison, 1998

Chö–Isthmus Review, 11/20/98

“There was no encore, and, frankly, none was needed. The window onto bliss that Tibbetts, Anderson and the nuns offered was treat enough.”

Chö by Steve Tibbetts and Chöying Drolma

Chö–Philadelphia Inquirer

“Tibbetts is a man enthralled by the sound of a single strummed chord vibrating in space, his love of the sheer physicality of music makes a perfect marriage with the disembodied songs of Tibetan nun Choying Drolma on Chö”

Steve Tibbetts, Choying, Marc Anderson, etc.

Chö–Guitar Player, 3/97

“Steve Tibbetts… dressed the pieces in the spacious, almost transparent robes of bouzouki, opened-tuned guitar, strings and percussion. A miracle of East / West alchemy.”

Exploded View–Car Stereo Review 3/95

“Ever wish you could take a ride on the Space Shuttle? Here’s the alternative: Pick up Steve Tibbetts’ The Fall of Us All instead. It’ll transport you to places in the cosmos you never knew existed.”

The Fall of Us All–USA Today

“The guitarist’s extraterrestrial groove music is a supersonic kick. He melds spacey jazz, rock and world beat into a gripping soundscape that fluctuates from primal rage and caustic guitars on the industrial sizzlers to ambient ear massages on acoustic interludes… The Fall never falls short of exhilarating.”

The Fall of Us All–The Sensible Sound

“The Fall of Us All is a stunning recording, a whirling devilish dervish of a disk that alternatively assaults and seduces listeners with electric and acoustic energy.”

The Fall of Us All–Soundscapes

“A sense of looped transcendentalism is never far away in the first suite with its swooping guitar distortions, Anderson’s relentless and entirely appropriate percussion and the carefully mixed contributions from samples and the other musicians which creates Tibbetts’s unique kinetic sound sculptures.”

The Fall of Us All–Philadelpia Inquirer

“he adds droning guitar textures that shift in slow-motion to create gripping, ever-changing polychords. And atop those come his solos, which fracture every guitar cliche”

The Fall of Us All–CD Review & Baltimore Sun

“the best thing about “The Fall of Us All” is the astonishing fluidity of Tibbetts’ guitar work, which can be as percussive as a tabla pattern or as liquid and lyrical as a Hendrix solo”

The Fall of Us All–Pulse Magazine 7/94

“…his music screams with the brain-melt electric guitar overdubs and pounding percussion which dominate the first half of his latest album, The Fall of Us All.”

The Fall of Us All–Downbeat

“The Fall Of Us All ranks with his best and wildest work (alongside Yr and Exploded View), because it smoothly reconciles Tibbetts’ volatile mood swings with his developing interest in the music of Indonesia and Tibet.”

The Fall of Us All–Riverfront Times, St. Louis

“this man’s musical teeth seem to be getting sharper and sharper”

The Fall of Us All–Lawrence Journal World

“if you’ve grown weary of the Viennese confections underscoring large chunks of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001,” tune out the Strauss and plug in the Tibbetts, and ponder the monolith once again”

The Fall of Us All–Guitar Player, 7/94

“Veering from ambient dreamscapes to violent, post-industrial rave-ups, from spellbinding acoustic fretwork to apocalyptic electric fret burn, Tibbetts’ first album in five years is an emotional and sonic tour-de-force.”

Big Map–Cartographic Perspectives review

“fingered guitar sings a wanderer’s muse, improvised intricate as gnarled branches of winter oaks”

Big Map–Downbeat, February 1990

“we hear original sounds produced from the elements of World Music, intelligent sounds that caress the ear and stir the imagination”

Big Map–Sounds Like…

“In short, the sound here is about as fine as you’re likely to wish for: I rate Big Map Idea at the top o′ the heap, sonically.” -Glenn Hammett

Steve Tibbetts - photo by Martin Daniels.

Yr–Rolling Stone, 6/88

“Yr… a trancelike otherworldly quality that is nevertheless rooted in the rock & roll here and now, thanks to periodic wake-up blasts of frenzied Frippaphonic soloing.”

Le Droit, Ottawa-Hull

“A beautiful sensitivity displayed by this trio, a contemporary truth…”

Steve Tibbetts, Marc Anderson, Bob Hughes, 1985

Exploded View–Downbeat, 6/87

“Steve Tibbetts seems intent on producing music that doesn’t have a name. It ain’t Third Stream, though he mixes lots of acoustic guitar and wordless vocals a la Steve Reich in his typically lengthy structures. It ain’t New Age, because it’s got balls and ideas. “

Exploded View–Guitar Player, 3/87

“weaves through two sides, running the emotional gamut from serene to violent, always intense. This is truly unclassifiable, but then, it’s not searching for a compartment.”

Steve Tibbets band, with Marc Anderson and Bob Hughes

Exploded View–Minneapolis Star-Tribune 3/87

“Tibbetts does it with impeccable taste and economy…”

Exploded View–College Media Journal, 2/87

“the drums pound, the guitar riffs flutter and fly, tapes mess around, the energy flows, and somehow it all falls together”

Safe Journey–Musician Magazine 8/84

“there is a sobering purity about Tibbetts’ alien mix that shakes you up in some wondrous ways” -David Fricke

Yr & 1st Album–The New Rolling Stone Record Guide

“the album is a startling combination of electric guitar, tabla, acoustic guitar, kalimba and a little synthesizer. Tibbetts weaves from heavy rock to several kalimbas playing a duet and it never falters.”

Northern Song by Steve Tibbetts, Marc Anderson

Northern Song–Stereo Review, 10/82

“In a sense, this album is an acknowledgement of the ultimate power of silence over music.”

Northern Song–Twin Cities Reader, 4/15/1982

Review by Paul Fishman Maccabee.

Northern Song–Oakland Tribune 4/25/82

“It has overtones of classical, jazz, rock and Martian style but mostly it is just an extreme pleasure for the senses. Approach with an open mind.” -Larry Kelp

1st album–Trouser Press, November 1978

“Another homage to the guitar, but a good one: intricate acoustic excursions (and one crazed electric burst) that never become limp, topped off with enough electronics to produce gimmickry in less sensible hands. Superior background space music that is also actually fun to listen to!”

Bad Reviews

A few clippings of bad reviews…