Mattias IA Eklnudh – Grow your own Moustache (Volume 1)

Grow your own moustache - Volume One

If you haven’t heard of Mattias IA Eknlundh and Freak Kitchen then you have probably been asleep for some time so play the above video very loudly, make yourself a cup of tea and come back when you’re refreshed…..or possibly take some drugs, stay here, stay freaky and read on!

Mattias has been at the edge of Avant-garde guitar for some time (Avant garde? Shred? Crazy off the wall musical genius? All of the above, and probably a whole bundle more superlatives that you can insert for yourself) and whilst Grow your own Moustache is a couple of years old now no-one has taken the time to do a review of it until now!! That’s right ladies and germs, a bona fide Shred-reviews First!!

I could give you a short bio, a long and exhastive look at his life and career, and even a complete discography but hey, it’s been done better than I ever could so I’ll stick to the review, and give you a link to the rather awesome Freak Guitar site so you can do your homework in your own time -- Go here for enlightenment.

Where to start…..ok, Grow your own moustache isn’t the first instructional product IA has released -- that honour goes to his 1995 video simply called “Freak Guitar” and that covers some of his more innovative techniques in greater detail -- as do the huge amount of YouTube videos, lessons on his site, and numerous clinics he travels the world to deliver. Instead, Grow your own moustache is a collection of songs and jams from the numerous Freak Guitar Camps that have been held over the years and while I had some initial concerns vis a vis the cost compared to other products on the market please be assured -- this is NOT like any other product on the market! There are no less than 22 different tracks to download from the Website, each in two different formats (one with guitar, one without) as well as a .pdf for each and an explanatory .pdf covering the creation process and methods of notation (tablature and standard)  when it comes to IA’s frequent use of harmonics in various bizarre ways.

Each track involves various diferent approaches from odd time signatures, tapping, harmonics, exotic scales, string skipping, more tapping, arpeggios, finger picking….pretty much every single technique the modern rock guitarist is fond of, and a few that no-one apart from IA could have thought up. Now…a word of warning….some of this is very challenging. No wait…make that VERY challenging.

You swtich back and forth between modes, tapping, whammy bar manipulations, 9/4 and 13/16 time signatures, fast picking…..and often in the space of a few bars. Having some knowledge and experience of these techniques is going to ease the initial shock but everything is presented with the utmost clarity and I firmly believe that with some application if you want to absorb some of the inspiration from this release then there’s nothing stopping you. Included in the notation are constant reminders to “Grow your own moustache” indicating that there is ample opportunity for you to spread a little of your own brand of insantiy over the backing track….or in my particular case scream loudly into the pickups whilst hitting the whammy bar and poking myself in the eye. I don’t know how it sounded, but it felt great!

Criticisms? I honestly found it very difficult to think of anything negative to say about Grow your own moustache and simply had to settle for ” not all of IA’s improvised solo’s are transcribed” . Then I realised….the production on the mp3′s is crystal clear and of course transcribing them myself is a fantastic way to learn…so…..it’s not actually a negative. This is definitely an absolutely essential purchase for fans of IA and his music, and if I widen that category to Vai/Zappa/Avant Garde fans (with a fair amount of overlap I assume) then it’s still possibly the best thing you’ll buy all year.

Rating:

Available from:

http://www.freakkitchen.com/index.html

For The Road Less Travelled and Freak Guitar you need to go here:

http://www.favorednations.com/artists/me/me.html

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