Matt Sweeney (far left) knew that if he got his friends Stephen Malkmus (second from left), Emmett Kelly (second from right), and Jim White (far right) in a casual recording environment, the four of them could make something awesome together.
Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, and Emmett Kelly formed a casual supergroup around their shared love of beat-up, lo-fi guitar sounds. They tell us how the band and their debut self-titled record came together in a dying Brooklyn studio.
Stephen Malkmus and Matt Sweeney go way back.
The two musicians and songwriters have been part of the same cohort since Malkmusā band Pavement took off in the early 1990s. Pavement went the way of indie-rock royalty, defining an entire new generation of slightly left-of-center guitar music. Sweeney slugged it out for years inbands like Chavez and Zwan, that never reached those levels of influence. Still, he was an indispensable sideman and in-demand collaborator. But it wasnāt until just before the pandemic that the two friends recorded together, on Malkmusā solo acoustic record, Traditional Techniques. It went wellāreally well.
So when Sweeney suggested they get together again, Malkmus was game. But this time, Sweeney invited some friends. He knew the guitarist Emmett Kelly from their time playing with Will Oldham, aka Bonnie āPrinceā Billy, and the two developed a bond over a mutual aesthetic sensibility on the guitar. And Kelly played in a duo called the Double with drummer Jim White, another serial collaborator best known for his instrumental Australian group Dirty Three. So, White and Kelly got invites. (It turned out that Malkmus was a fan of Kellyās lo-fi weirdo-folk project Cairo Gang.)
The Hard Quartet - "Earth Hater" Official Music Video
They all met up at Strange Weather, a Brooklyn studio where Sweeney was working. The studio was on its deathbed: The buildings on either side of it had been demolished, and it was slated for the same fate to prep the way for a new condo build. The owner and house engineer, Daniel Schlett, was depressed. Sweeney figured some fun, no-stakes sessionsācommitted to the studioās original vision of total artistic freaknessāwere called for. āThe idea was like, āLetās go and try recording, everybody bring songs and weāll see what happens, and if it sucks, we donāt care because itāll just be a nice thing to do in this beautiful studio thatās going away,āā he explains.
When the foursome initially met at Strange Weather in early summer 2023, there were no plans and no expectations. Over a year later, we have the Hard Quartet and their self-titled debut record, an epic, 15-song double LP that captures the spirit of adventure, imagination, and unedited, base instinct that unites the four musicians. When time came to pick a name for the project, Malkmus suggested they use the word ābandā or āquartet.ā āMatt was just immediately like, āHard Quartet, because weāre hard as fuck,āā laughs Kelly.
āFinding phrases that make it sound not boring is the basic idea: simple things with twists.ā āStephen Malkmus
Sweeneyās boldness, in both the band name and in pulling all the players together, is perhaps the key to all of this. āMattās always confident, or at least he likes to pretend he is, in a good way,ā says Malkmus. āHe knows thatās how music should be sometimes. Most people that make music actually are confident or they wouldnāt do it. They like their own music and theyāre confident itās good, and then they have to kind of act. Theyāre also needful and worried that people wonāt like it, and want people to like it but also think that itās good.ā
The Hard Quartet is heavily indebted to ā90s indie and alternative rock, but the 15-track double LP dips into Americana, country, and weirder territories, too.
Maybe Sweeney was being tongue-in-cheek, but more likely, itās just the honesty of a group of musicians who canāt be bothered to affect an air of deep reasoning or artsy symbolism. Though, Hard Quartet isnāt terribly hard music. It moseys through different guitar-based genres, most of it fairly lo-fi and garage-ish. Thereās plenty of Pavement-leaning indie-rock, charged with clever wordplay, edge-of-breakup chording, and general slacker charisma. Thereās a certain Guided by Voices sensibility to it all, too; the feeling that guitar rock doesnāt need to be perfect or cohesive or together to be good.
Songs on Hard Quartet shamble along loosely between movements and moods, and often, they sort of dogleg and fall apart after wanky outros, just like the end of an in-person jam. Opener āChrome Messā is a thrashing, dark, noisy piece of indie-grunge, followed by the quirky, fuzzy alternative of lead single āEarth Haterā and its nursery-rhyme chorus. āRioās Songā is like a gentler, college-rock rendition of T. Rex, featuring Sweeney pulling off a Marc Bolan vocal character. Another Sweeney-led joint, āKilled by Death,ā is driven by Whiteās snare-roll shuffle and plucky Americana guitars. The back-to-back of āSix Deaf Ratsā into āAction for Military Boys,ā both with Malkmus on lead vocals, pull the record into more borderless, atypical grounds. Hard Quartet feels deeply, profoundly artistic not in production or complexity, but via a feeling of total artistic freedom and intuition.
āItās not magic, itās actually just work and saying, āDo it again.āā āStephen Malkmus
āWhen youāre doing a first thing, itās not so bad to go simple,ā says Malkmus. āLike, you know, to have these adherents of the Velvet Underground and the Stones. These songs are like, I wouldnāt say simple, theyāre complexly simple to give us some credit.ā
Malkmus has been watching a YouTuber who switches between two chords on piano while playing nearly limitless inversions of each chord. āHe takes the mystery away from things that I do that I think are really clever or something,ā he continues. āAt any rate, thatās what weāre doing too. But pianos somehow have less magic because you canāt bend the notes too much. Itās all math, almost. Of course thereās feel and thereās going off the grid, but with the guitar sometimes it feels more magical. Those real simple little moves you make with the bending of the strings. Itās chops and itās also ideas, creativity. Finding phrases that make it sound not boring is the basic idea: Simple things with twists.ā
Stephen Malkmus's Gear
Stephen Malkmus, performing here with his band the Jicks in 2018, has known Matt Sweeney since the beginning of Pavement. After he invited Sweeney to play on his 2020 acoustic record, Sweeney had the idea to take things a step further.
Photo by Mike White
Guitars
- 1959 Fender Jazzmaster
- 1965 Hƶfner Verithin
- 1958 Martin 000-18 strung with flatwounds
- Vintage Gibson Firebird
- Vintage Guild S-100
Effects
- Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz
- Love Pedal High Power Tweed Twin
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
- Foxx Tone Machine
Malkmus likes to dig around for different voicings, but he prefers to do his digging by feel. āWhat you donāt know is a good thing,ā he says. āToo much knowledge, I think it can hurt you at that early time instead of just being sort of primitive.ā
The four members of Hard Quartet share a āmusical language,ā according to Malkmus, which made it easy to create without much structure to their initial sessions at Strange Weather. āI donāt think any of us wanted to spend the whole time saying, āIt goes like this,āā says Malkmus. āWe just kind of wanted to start messing around, having fun.ā
āThereās a throughline in everything I like, that is this aspect of harshness, or bloodiness. Things need to be bloody for me to like them.ā āEmmett Kelly
Part of the three guitaristsā shared language on the instrument is a passion for wonky sounds. Kelly explains the aesthetic in-depth: āWe really connect on things sounding like shit, kind of. I love the sound of the guitar when it sounds like itās about to die or itās broken. We love this music thatās like fucked up and damaged, like the rawest, most screwed-up thing. Thereās a throughline in everything I like, that is this aspect of harshness, or bloodiness. Things need to be bloody for me to like them. We just want to sound fucked up and terrible, but itās gotta sound really good, you know what I mean? You pass through this pain threshold, and thatās when you start to hear all these beautiful, weird harmonic things, especially with a damaged amp or a really insane overdrive or fuzz. You just start to hear aspects of harmonic series come shooting out in really interesting ways. Sometimes youāll hear phantom notes, things that ring-modulate the sound a little bit.ā One time in a studio, Kellyās friend pointed out a pedal that he said was the least useful pedal of all time. āI immediately went home and bought one,ā says Kelly. āI mean, none of this shitās useful. Should we be plumbers?ā
Matt Sweeney's Gear
Matt Sweeney and Emmett Kelly became close friends while on tour with Will Oldham. Here, they flank Oldham on a tour supporting 2022ās Superwolves.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Guitars
- 1958 Martin 000-18, strung with flatwounds
- Vintage Fender Esquire
- Vintage Gibson ES-335TD
- 1970 Martin dreadnought acoustic
Amps
- Austen Hooks Bell and Howell Filmosound amp
Effects
- Blackstrap Electrik Co. fuzz pedal
Hard Quartetās debut record is also shaped by the fact that none of the players brought their own gear to the studio; Malkmus, Kelly, and Sweeney all opted to use whatever guitars, amps, and pedals were kicking around at Strange Weather, and later at Rick Rubinās Shangri-La studio in Malibu, where Sweeney secured the group a few days of extra sessions. A late-ā50s Fender Jazzmaster, ā60s Gibson Explorer, vintage Hƶfner Verithin, 1958 Martin 000-18, Squier Bass VI, and purple Guild S-100 were among the tools used to create Hard Quartet. Malkmus says he didnāt even want to bring his own guitars. āI like to use new shit all the time,ā he says. āItās just fun to hear the little tonal differences. I donāt really have a sound. I just want to try new things and Iām not afraid to do that. And we all know itās in your hands.ā
āI donāt even feel like itās a guitar record, but obviously thatās all we fucking know how to play.ā āMatt Sweeney
āIāve gone through the whole gamut of identity crises with guitar and Iāve gotten to a point where I really just want something that wonāt break if I check it on an airplane,ā Kelly says. His main guitar is a 1988 Japan-made Fender Stratocaster, with the middle pickup removed and a TBX circuit instead of the traditional tone control. Kelly is skeptical of too much attention put on gear. āThereās a lot of artifice in music and gear and it all seems to be related to this whole kind of like, rehashing, redoing; sort of like the AI conversation,ā he says. āItās like, just play fucking music. It doesnāt matter.ā
The three guitarists often played through one of Sweeneyās amps, built by amp tech Austen Hooks and housed inside an old Bell and Howell Filmosound projector. But it was mostly a matter of convenienceāthe amp was simply ready at hand. āI think me and Steve are similar in that when youāre making the thing, youāre not thinking about the gear,ā says Sweeney. āYouāre grateful that thereās stuff there that you can pick up and play.ā
Emmett Kelly's Gear
Hard Quartet (from left: Kelly, Sweeney, Malkmus, and White) bonded over an affinity for deliciously crappy guitar tones. Their debut record is a treasure trove of lo-fi 6-string sounds.
Photo by Atiba Jefferson
Guitars and Basses
- 1988 Japan-made Fender Stratocaster with middle pickup removed and TBX tone circuit
- 1994 Fender Jerry Donahue Signature Telecaster
- 2005 Martin 00-28
- 1959 Les Paul Jr. Double Cut
- 1957 Fender Esquire
- Squire Bass VI with Lollar overwound pickups
Amps
- Fender ā68 Custom Deluxe Reverb with added master volume
- Peavey Roadmaster with 2x12 cabinet
- 1950s Supro
- Ampeg B12XT
Effects
- Crowther Double Hotcake
- Crowther Prunes & Custard
- Death By Audio Octave Clang
- Fredric Effects Verzerrer
Strings & Picks
- La Bella Pure Vintage (.011ā0.50)
- La Bella Silk & Steel
- La Bella Bass VI Stainless Flats
Given the playersā combined ethos, itās not really a surprise to learn that they rarely, if ever, discussed who would play what instrument on any given song. Leads were improvised and swapped at random, and the bass guitar was passed around from song to song. Some songs and parts would come together quickly; others required massaging. Having to plug away at something doesnāt make it any less valuable than an instant hit, says Malkmus. āItās not magic,ā he says. āItās actually just work and saying, āDo it again.āā
The equal-footing, collaborative nature of the Hard Quartet has been a bright spot for Kelly, who was getting burnt out on the emotional anxiety and tension of being a bandleader. With Malkmus, Sweeney, and White, there are combined decades of camaraderie that equate to an open, trusting ease. āItās probably safe to say that the Hard Quartet is about the continual relationship between each two people,ā says Kelly. āEveryone had a strong connection with each other in some way so that new relationships could then develop.ā
In the end, Sweeneyās little jam experiment has paid off. āIām happy with what we did on it guitar-wise, and thatās because we played together,ā says Sweeney. āI donāt even feel like itās a guitar record, but obviously thatās all we fucking know how to play.ā
YouTube It
The Hard Quartet have a ā90s-style, apartment-stoop jam in this video for the Sweeney-fronted, alt-rock-meets-alt-country tune, āRioās Song.ā
Music is a lifelong pursuit, and all of us who love guitars and the sounds they make are in it together.
When you pick up an issue of Premier Guitar, youāre chasing music. And Iāll bet thatās something you and I have been doing, whenever we can, our entire lives. Driven by love, curiosity, and the excitement of discovery, we pursue the sounds that thrill us or might thrill us, and the more we learn or find, the brighter the flame grows.
For me, the first sparks happened in my parentsā kitchen, where my mother, Rose, listened to WEXT, a country station broadcasting from New Britain, Connecticut. There, I learned that music takes you places, like Marty Robbinsā āEl Paso,ā and introduces you to the vastly different lives of others, via songs like Johnny CashāsāThe Ballad of Ira Hayes.ā TV also became a path of exploration. I was only 6, but I remember seeingāand hearingāthe Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and not exactly understanding (all that screaming!), but grasping that rock ānā roll was something I should look into. Soon, Shindig! and Hullabaloo introduced me to the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Hermanās Hermits, and the giant whose birthday I share, Howlinā Wolf. (June 10 ⦠feel free to send cards!) The Johnny Cash Show spotlighted Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Derek and the Dominos. And The Midnight Special turned me on to virtually every major rock and R&B artist of the early ā70s, and sent me down a lifelong rabbit hole of blues and soul when Ray Charles and Ike & Tina Turner appeared. My first allowancesā50 cents and eventually $2 a weekāwere spent on music. (First album: The Sound of Johnny Cash, for $2 at Woolworthās, and I still own it. It features my first guitar hero: Luther Perkins.)
Shortly, I discovered there was such a thing as music journalism, and I fell for the writing of Robert Palmer and Lester Bangs, and found a magazine called Musician, where I would eventually make my bones as an editor. Each of these discoveries enflamed the chase, and by the time I got to college, I spent part of nearly every weekend combing new and used record shops from New York City to Hartford. I was also able to get to Manhattan easily from school in Bridgeport, to experience the punk revolution. And so it went, and still goesāthat unquenchable pursuit of musical discovery.
Somewhere along the line, a guitar fell into my hands, and a new dimension slowly and painstakingly (I am far from a natural) developedāwhere I could be part of that great musical continuum in a deeper way, and where, eventually, I learned the wordless language of musicians. Itās a rich tongue that conveys so much emotional information without as much as a single vowel. The dialog of sound. It is amazing, powerful, profound, and unlike anything else. If there is real magic, it is in listening to and playing music.
That magic has taken me many places. I went from seeing bands at CBGB to playing its stage many times. I played the New England clubs that I would sneak into when I was underage, catching G.E. Smith with the Scratch Band and other regional heroes. Eventually, the music I played took me across the country and to Europe, and to the stages of Bonnaroo and Memphis in May and Franceās Cognac Blues Passions and Switzerlandās Blues Rules and so many roadhouses, dive bars, and breweries and barbecue joints youād think I wouldnāt remember them all, but I do.
The point is this: Music is a lifelong adventure. We are in the chase together, no matter how different we may seem. The sound of it thrills us, and Iād be surprisedāshocked, actuallyāif it hasnāt taken you somewhere. As guitar players, even those of us whoāve never left the couch have been transported. Tell me youāve never played a song, plucked out a melody, or slammed out a favorite riff and suddenly found yourself completely removed from your surroundingsāin a kind of reverie. And make no mistake, even if youāve never played a gig and have a hard time forming an open-position B chord, youāre a guitar player. No one should be judging you (although I know itās hard not to judge yourself).
Itās an honor and a privilege for us at PG to offer signposts for your chaseāto introduce you to new players or reintroduce you to ones you love, to turn you on to new guitar music, to shed light on new gear and how to use it, and make using the gear you own even better. We do not take this lightly. And we love the chase every bit as much as you do.
This heavyweight digital solution packs a mighty punch. How does it stand up to the competition?
Excellent amp models. Neural Captures are really cool. Smartly designed footswitch knobs. Excellent mobile app.
Unable to run Neural's native plug-ins at press time. Some lackluster effects.
$1,849
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
neuraldsp.com
Neural DSP built its reputation on producing high-quality plug-ins. But packing great sounds into an all-in-one floor unit is a very different design challenge than creating a plug-in. In the form of the Quad Cortex, however, Neural succeeds at creating an intuitive interface and adding interesting features that even seasoned fans of digital setups will find intriguing.
Like a Rock
The Quad Cortex feels solid. Eleven dual-purpose foot switches and an oversized master volume control are situated around a 7-inch full-color touch display. Around back are a wealth of different I/O options including multiple XLR and 1/4" inputs, independent XLR and 1/4" outputs, headphone jack, dedicated Neural Capture output, MIDI, two effects loops, and support for 8-in/8-out USB audio. You'd be hard pressed to find morerouting options on a comparable unit.
Clip 1 goes through various presets that are shipped in the unit.
Clip 2 is a Wampler Hot Wired overdrive feeding a Fender-style amp emulation. The second half of the clip is a Neural Capture of the Hot Wired.
The foot switches not only feel sturdy, but double as rotary knobs that adjust various parameters depending on the function you have selected. For those hesitant to go digital because they miss manual level adjustments, this might be a game changer.
On the Grid
Whether you pull up a preset or start from scratch, the Quad Cortex displays a grid that illustrates almost any signal flow you can imagine. I started simple and loaded up a Fender-style amp impulse response from a Bassman 4x10 with Jensens, and a Myth Drive (Neural's Klon emulation). I monitored through a set of headphones and a powered Electro-Voice EKX 12-" speaker. The warmth and presence in the amp models is easy to hear, and the midrange and low end have a particularly authentic feel. Just to confirm what my ears were hearing, I tried similar patches on an HX Stomp and Kemper Stage. The Quad Cortex easily held its own.
Within about 20 minutes I had a fully functioning stereo setup that sounded great and was easy to tweak.
My next rig was more complicated: Two amps, effects in pre- and post-amp positions, plus an expression pedal. Using Vox-and Hiwatt-style emulations together allowed me to test the unit's wide-ranging "gig" functionality. Here you can use one of three different modes: scenes, presets, or stomps. These functions allow you to assign effects blocks to foot switches (stomp), move between different settings in a single rig (scene), or change rigs entirely (preset). Depending on how you set them up, these three modes offer nearly limitless options. I was able to move between amps, high- and low-dwell reverb settings, and a wacky Whammy-style effect that I operated via an expression pedal (not included). The programming wasn't without a bit of trial and error, but within about 20 minutes I had a fully functioning stereo setup that sounded great and was easy to tweak. With units like these I find that ease of use is nearly as important as sound quality. The Neural excels on this count.
With over 70 effects, Quad Cortex hits all the bases. There are faithful emulations of classic overdrives, compressors, filters, and pitch shifters alongside Neural's proprietary effects. I hope for more modulation effects in future updates, though. Having just one type of chorus, flanger, and phaser underutilizes the Neural's impressive power.
The Neural Cloud system definitely merits mention. It's the most streamlined method for sharing and discovering presets I've encountered. Once you connect your Quad Cortex to wi-fi and download the free mobile app, you can access thousands of user- and artist-sourced presets, captures, and IRs. In minutes I had the exact setup that Rabea Massaad used with Stormzy. Wild! It's a great way to reverse-engineer your own presets, too.
Capture It!
Neural Capture enables you to create a snapshot of an amp or pedal at a specific setting. The function works for amps, cabs, and overdrive pedals. (At press time, Neural mentions that higher-gain drives like fuzz pedals aren't compatible). I hooked up a Wampler Brent Mason Hot Wired following the instructions in the handy on-screen guide. (When capturing a pedal, you don't need to hook it up through an amp and speaker.) The Quad Cortex went through its process and out popped a fresh capture. Neural includes a handy preset template that allows you to A/B the capture and the original pedal. After a few tweaks I was able to mimic the sound without much discernible difference in tone.
Capturing an amp means capturing the properties of the entire signal chain including the speaker and mic. I set up my Revv D20 with an Avatar 1x12 cab and miked it up with a Shure SM57. The capture process is similar to a pedal, except there are more audible artifacts from the analog chain. After a few stops and starts I ended up with a fairly accurate capture of the amp. To my ears, the pedal capture was a bit more accurate. However, you can visit the online version of this review to hear the results for yourself.
The Verdict
The Quad Cortex is an immensely powerful unit. The complete array of features, tones, and expandability via Neural Capture make it a worthy peer to similar units. The grid system is a great way to organize complex routing options. It isn't perfect, and you'll want to consult the manual to optimize the deep functionality. But if you're interested in a more open digital ecosystem and recreating rigs that would occupy a whole rehearsal room in the analog world, the Quad Cortex is a truly impressive way to achieve those aims.