We introduced Jonathan Kane to you over here, and interviewed him more recently over there to mark the release of his new album, Jet Ear Party. Yesterday, director Tyler Hubby’s new video for “Gripped,” one the opus’ punchiest (and dare I say, most gripping) numbers, made its debut on YouTube.
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Posts Tagged ‘February’
Sightings: Jonathan Kane’s February releases “Gripped” Video
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Jonathan Kane, Jet Ear Party, Radium/Table of the Elements
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Mining the vein opened by his first solo album, February (2005), and later by his very successful EP, I Looked at the Sun (2006), Jonathan Kane continues down the shores of “progressive blues” with Jet Ear Party. Kane winds and unwinds catchy loops, purging the genre of all incidentals, keeping only the essential: the telltale chiseled riff, repeated ad infinitum. A pursuit that began with his collaborations with some of New York’s most prominent minimalists, Kane’s quest travels backwards in time to the blues, the genre from which he draws his main inspiration: “Listen to Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House, John Lee Hooker. These artists will often play pieces consisting of one droning chord and a hypnotic, repetitive riff!”
Guitar Parts: An Interview with Jonathan Kane
Monday, June 15th, 2009
Minimalist and pop music have always been closely linked, the vocabulary of the latter coloring the austere principles of the former. Terry Riley and Philip Glass drew inspiration from jazz, just as Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca, in their monumental symphonies for electric guitar, did from rock ‘n’ roll. Since 2005, and February, his first opus, Jonathan Kane has been revisiting the history of the blues. What could be more logical? “The blues is an intrinsically minimalist art form,” he shares. “John Lee Hooker [...] often played consisted of one droning chord and a melodic, repetitive riff. Minimalism, yes?”
