tabla 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: 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.”

Life Of–Bio & Press Page

I like the physicality of playing 12-string. I don’t use a pick. If I’m drifting off to sleep at night and feel my fingertips throbbing I know I had a good day.

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)…

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.”

Chö–Isthmus Review, 11/20/98

Steve Tibbetts and Choying Drolma in Madison, 1998

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

Chö–Philadelphia Inquirer

Chö by Steve Tibbetts and Chöying Drolma

“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”

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.”