November 2011

In Your Eye

you gotta see this

Vanaprasta

NineequalsNine / G-

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After Los Angeles modern rockers Vanaprasta laid us on our butts last week, we feel compelled to share a slice of their gleaming, electrically charged sound. These are two knockouts from their just released debut Healthy Geometry, which we’ll be discussing in fuller detail next week. You can check out Dennis’ full review of the show here, and now, taste the future…

In Your Eye

you gotta see this

Battles

Ice Cream (Live at TLA)

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Battles spent their Halloween at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philiadelphia, and our man of brotherly love Jake Krolick was on hand to capture this sexy version of one of the standouts off sophomore album Gloss Drop. Singer Matias Aguayo croons in absentia on video screens and the trio makes rockin’ irregular seem naturally groovy. As usual, Krolick’s distillation of the moment makes one want to leap into the crowd and do the worm right in the middle of all those smiling youngsters.

And for your prurient pleasure, here’s the original video for “Ice Cream” in all its pro-dairy glory.

In Your Eye

you gotta see this

American Babies

Winter War Games

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Watching the rain come down as the wind takes the last of the leaves from the trees outside DI HQ, this yearning number from American Babies has been running in our heads. It’s from their boffo second album, Flawed Logic, which came out in April. It’s surrounded by equally great material but this one felt right for the season at hand. And we’d like to dedicate it to the folks braving the elements out there for the Occupy Movement. Bodies on the front lines that understand it’s time for a change.

Hey Shredder

7 questions for guitarists

Tony MacAlpine

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Tony MacAlpine by AlexSolca

For my debut foray into the great DI section we like to call Hey Shredder, I thought it would be great to obtain the insight of one of the men whose picture should be in the dictionary next to the very term. For a solid quarter-century, Tony MacAlpine has defied racial stereotypes and fleeting sonic trends as one of the most technically proficient guitarists to ever set fire to a fretboard. On his eponymously titled 13th solo album, released June 21 on longtime friend and collaborator Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label, the former member of the underrated 80s prog-rock act Planet X delivers a tour de force of dexterity and versatility that, along with the help of drummers Virgil Donati and Marco Minnemann and bassist Philip Bynoe, delivers a perfect storm of jazz, metal and rock that could very well be his best album to date.

Mr. MacAlpine took some time out of his busy schedule decapitating heads with his indelible skills on his custom-made eight-string (yes, eight) to speak with us about his new album, appearing on That Metal Show with admitted Tony acolyte Tom Morello, his stance on Guitar Hero and whether or not he remembered that guitar clinic I saw him conduct 20 years ago. (Ron Hart)

read on to see what MacAlpine had to say