{"id":2353,"date":"1987-07-05T13:30:43","date_gmt":"1987-07-05T18:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/?page_id=2353"},"modified":"2022-06-11T20:17:31","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T01:17:31","slug":"downbeat-june-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploded View–Downbeat, 6\/87"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Steve<\/a>

Walker Art Center 1985<\/p><\/div>\n

Steve Tibbetts seems intent on producing music that doesn’t have a name.<\/p>\n

It ain’t Third Stream, though he mixes lots of acoustic guitar and wordless vocals a la<\/em> Steve Reich in his typically lengthy structures.\u00a0 It ain’t New Age, because it’s got balls and ideas.\u00a0 It ain’t jazz, though it’s shot through with mode-based improvisation and relies on a jazz-style sensibility.\u00a0 It ain’t rock, though his electric guitar often sounds like a renegade from the College of Musical Knowledge, post-grad division, Jimi Hendrix Studies.\u00a0 Carrying the electric innovations of that unmatched professor to certain of their logical conclusions, Tibbetts paints with sound: notes and their harmonic relationships often seem less important than the tones through which they are conveyed.<\/p>\n

He’s not alone in thinking something like that.\u00a0 Besides Tibbetts, there are lots of other pickers exploring this fertile region-and it seems plenty large enough to support many different, even conflicting, concepts.\u00a0 Among the primary pioneers are Adrian Belew, Eugene Chadbourne, Ronnie Drayton, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Jody Harris, Henry Kaiser, Robert Quine, and Vernon Reid.\u00a0 What these players all share with Tibbetts is an ironic ’80s sensibility that plays with tradition, a developed-if skewed-sense of musical structure that gloms together disparate elements literally from around the globe, and a fondness for raging guitar explosions.<\/p>\n

All of which gives you some context for Exploded View<\/a>.\u00a0 Take another look now at the instruments listed above, and you may even be able to imagine a rudimentary sonic picture of the kinds of contrasts, sometimes witty, sometimes violent, that Tibbetts engineers on this latest effort.\u00a0 Better yet, of course, get it and stretch your ears while you hear for yourself.<\/p>\n

–Gene Santoro<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Gene’s review for\u00a0Guitar World<\/em>, July 1987)<\/p>\n

Steve Tibbetts rides a wide variety of percussion and rhythms–congas, steel drums tablas–and he often overlays wordless vocals as a backdrop to his ax-work, which veers from exploding raunch to acoustic filigrees. \u00a0Like label-mate David Torn<\/a>, Tibbetts seems intent on cannibalizing (in the best sense) musical parts from anywhere imaginable.<\/p>\n

Bits of kalimba ring out next to an electric guitar that creaks like an un-oiled door (“Drawing Down the Moon”). \u00a0Jagged ax growls rip through circling and intensifying percussion and vocals to peak in an overdrive cloud, then yield to Eastern-evoking acoustic solos (“The X Festival”). \u00a0Cowbells crescendo into industrial-strength drumming behind multi-tracked acoustics that buzz and rattle as distant tape loops whimper (“Metal Summer”). \u00a0A melody reminiscent of an early-morning Moslem chant bursts into percussion crosstalk and spasms of scraping before closing out with some acoustic warbling (“Assembly Field”).<\/p>\n

It’s a weird and fascinating blend that doesn’t have a label–yet. \u00a0What it does have is a voice and power of its own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Steve Tibbetts seems intent on producing music that doesn’t have a name.\u00a0 It ain’t Third Stream, though he mixes lots of acoustic guitar and wordless vocals a la Steve Reich in his typically lengthy structures.\u00a0 It ain’t New Age, because it’s got balls and ideas.\u00a0“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[12,16,22,23,96,91,33,40,46,60],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Steve Tibbetts seems intent on producing music that doesn't have a name.\u00a0 It ain't Third Stream, though he mixes lots of acoustic guitar and wordless vocals a la Steve Reich in his typically lengthy structures.\u00a0 It ain't New Age, because it's got balls and ideas.\u00a0"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Steve Tibbetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Tibbetts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Tibbetts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Tibbetts\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bfb60107745d64815e759674cb62d357\"},\"headline\":\"Exploded View–Downbeat, 6\/87\",\"datePublished\":\"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\"},\"wordCount\":461,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Acoustic guitar\",\"Bob Hughes\",\"ECM\",\"Electric Guitar\",\"Ex\",\"Exploded View\",\"Jimi Hendrix\",\"Loud\",\"Marc Anderson\",\"Steve Tibbetts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\",\"name\":\"Exploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Steve Tibbetts, Marc Anderson, Bob Hughes, 1985\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exploded View–Downbeat, 6\/87\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/\",\"name\":\"Steve Tibbetts\",\"description\":\"Quamque\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c\",\"name\":\"Nick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2671b1d1a288cf0a7fc1082a085d1b3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2671b1d1a288cf0a7fc1082a085d1b3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nick\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bfb60107745d64815e759674cb62d357\",\"name\":\"Steve Tibbetts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acd1d28c8ca95d664668211536ae7a58?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acd1d28c8ca95d664668211536ae7a58?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Tibbetts\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts","og_description":"\"Steve Tibbetts seems intent on producing music that doesn't have a name.\u00a0 It ain't Third Stream, though he mixes lots of acoustic guitar and wordless vocals a la Steve Reich in his typically lengthy structures.\u00a0 It ain't New Age, because it's got balls and ideas.\u00a0\"","og_url":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/","og_site_name":"Steve Tibbetts","article_published_time":"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Tibbetts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Tibbetts","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Tibbetts","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bfb60107745d64815e759674cb62d357"},"headline":"Exploded View–Downbeat, 6\/87","datePublished":"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/"},"wordCount":461,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg","keywords":["Acoustic guitar","Bob Hughes","ECM","Electric Guitar","Ex","Exploded View","Jimi Hendrix","Loud","Marc Anderson","Steve Tibbetts"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/","url":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/","name":"Exploded View--Downbeat, 6\/87 · Steve Tibbetts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg","datePublished":"1987-07-05T18:30:43+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-12T01:17:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1985-Steve-Bob-Marc-Band-01.jpg","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"Steve Tibbetts, Marc Anderson, Bob Hughes, 1985"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/downbeat-june-1987\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exploded View–Downbeat, 6\/87"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/","name":"Steve Tibbetts","description":"Quamque","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d9fc366f3bb3112b4585ed0db3a9f3c","name":"Nick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2671b1d1a288cf0a7fc1082a085d1b3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2671b1d1a288cf0a7fc1082a085d1b3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nick"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bfb60107745d64815e759674cb62d357","name":"Steve Tibbetts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acd1d28c8ca95d664668211536ae7a58?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acd1d28c8ca95d664668211536ae7a58?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Tibbetts"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2353"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6339,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353\/revisions\/6339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevetibbetts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}