I’m like… who is this nerd… oh… he’s friends with Rick Beato, interested… Rick seems to be really keen on craftsmanship, but also heavy into the “pop” aspect, not just wankery for the sake of wankery. The interview was interesting, and he was rather less of a turd than first impressions might lead one to expect.
To throw my hat into the ring, Animals as Leaders Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes, but to be honest, I think their drummer Matt Garstka is the clincher… god damn he is good. He clearly just loves to play so much and his passion and energy make it so much more alive… now if they could just find themselves a god damn bass player… (also Tosin and AAL have made several Rick B appearances Tosin talks Prog Metal w Rick B
Honorable mentions: Cynic’s Paul Masvidal, Fallijah’s Scott Carstairs, Mars Volta’s Omar Rodríguez-López and while I’m at it, what the hell, the Reverend Horton Heat (Jim Heath)!
To be honest, it’s just not possible to choose. Maybe using some quantitative measure like total listens or etc, but it still won’t make everyone happy, because music is a personal experience unique to each individual. What a wonderful thing!
First, let me say I have a hard time with people complaining about his tattoos or saying “he was rather less of a turd than first impressions might lead one to expect.” Like literally wtf.
All of the band are very nice people as far as I can tell, and they all produce a lot of individual content. I came across the band because I first saw videos of Tim Henson (the guy in the video in the OP) playing songs or doing other stuff. I think I probably came across him because I was watching Ichika Nito videos.
A fun video is them watching videos of fan-produced covers and interpretations of their songs. At one point one of them comments that they have the best fans, and I think they kinda do. (Polyphia Roasts Fan Covers - YouTube)
I’m a guitarist but my favorite of them is probably the drummer, I love his phrasing, his playing is immaculate.
(assume /s)
I reckon the 2 videos you posted give a pretty good insight into the emotional power that this band can generate. Closed my eyes and the trap drums behind a co-opted Latin guitar virtuosity really sold this as groundbreaking music. Kinda takes me back to The Gypsy Kings and Los Lobos.
Fast runs up and down whatever diminished minor scale or mode to get to a melody is fab.
Depending on how hard one frets a note will change the pitch. Hard will sharpen, which is what gives the guitar it’s slippery sonics.
I get the body choice of ‘what you do with your skin’ but for me a crucial masculine grooming decision is combing neck tats with a man bun and manicured beard. I guess the ability to grow a beard (beardability) shows us a mans band… not a boy band.
With regard to the Prog Rock instrumental influence I would suggest they listen to Bon Scott (ACDC) in his Fraternity days… he really made the recorder sexy!
Some guitar players I’d prefer to listen to:
Joni Mitchel
Nile Rodgers
Ed Sheeran
Slash
Hendrix
Maybelle Carter
Angus
Prince
BB
Melissa Etheridge
Several of their songs have classical influences, definitely. Their progression as a band also kind up came up through modern metal, so you’ll hear some of that. It also seems heavily R&B/hip-hop influenced to me, specifically in how guitar parts are phrased. I don’t know quite how to explain it well, but just sort of a feeling I have.
Too many comments to reply to individually so I’ll just say this. Tim Henson is awesome. He’s one of the best guitarists under 30, if not the best (someone asked his age…he’s 29….Tosin Abasi is 40, by the way, if anyone is curious, so a decent bit older than Tim). If you’re curious to learn more about him and how he views music, check out one of Rick Beato’s interviews with him. As for Polyphia, I think they’re amazing. Several people here are saying they’re boring, and frankly, that’s ridiculous, imo. But I get it. That’s always been a criticism of prog rock, and Polyphia is very prog rock-y and most of their music is instrumental. But it’s bands like Polyphia and Animals as Leaders keeping guitar centric music alive and innovative, I’m a big, big fan of Polyphia and Tim Henson in particular, and I’m a 54 year old who is trying (mostly badly) to learn to play guitar. I’m gobsmacked that anyone on Boing Boing would focus on his appearance.
And? They’re still almost entirely wrong on this topic. I worked as a luthier for a good bit and there are a lot of myths floating around on what makes expensive guitars better. This was just an incorrect and weird spot for them to focus on.
Face it - we’re all getting older, and the kids are getting younger… The only reason we hate this is because our society worships youth and dismiss anyone over 30… But aging has it’s privileges!
I’m still waiting to see those privileges… So far, the only one that seems to have arrived is that I can say “You kids get off my lawn!” and people think it’s age-appropriate behavior from me.
I think that, as with Steve Hackett (formerly of Genesis), he sees that prog rock guitar ‘artistry’ has limitations in what can be said musically. SH long ago (and now apparently TH) have recognized that extreme technical skill does not guarantee a musical experience. Even a die-hard keyboard prog-head such as I felt compelled to move on years ago, even though some friends clearly signaled that they thought it odd. I mean… why on earth listen to Hugo Largo, or Pell Mell?
Privileges don’t have to be how others see you. It can be in just having a more well-informed perspective on life… for women, you gain a bit of invisibility in life that allows you a bit more freedom to just be yourself.
