marcus wise Archives · Steve Tibbetts

Hellbound Train: An Anthology

“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.” -David Fricke, MOJO

Compilation–Acoustibbetts / Elektrobitts / Exotibbetts

This three-CD compilation has over three hours of remastered music culled from 11 records and is meant as an introduction to Tibbett’s far-reaching imagination and to whet the appetite for his back catalog and future endeavors.

Life Of–Downbeat

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

MyECM

I curated a playlist for ECM as part of their venture into the world of streaming (an article from Pitchfork is here). My annotations for the playlist are below, and a more concise version is on ECM’s website here. The playlist is now up at Tidal and Spotify. Steve’s ECM playlist I curated selections from (mostly)…

Live Concert Reviews / NPR Interviews

Audio files from various radio reviews.

The Fall of Us All–ECM Bio

“Most reviews of Steve Tibbetts’s music describe it in the context of what it’s not; what it is, plain and simple, is Tibbettsian.”

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.”

The Fall of Us All–RollingStone

“a trip of another, more explosive and enriching kind, a dynamic study of Eastern modality and universal spiritualism driven by rock & roll ambition” -Rolling Stone

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.”