See the transformation from digital efficiency to a sprawling setup for Ghost Tapes #10 that now includes Gretsches, Jazzmasters, traditional tube heads, and more stomps than a store.
Facing a mandatory shelter-in-place ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the 40th video in that format.
For over 20 years and two handfuls of records, God Is an Astronaut have been exploring emotive, shape-shifting atmospheric instrumental anthems. Most instrumental post-rock bands follow a build-and-crash formula, whereas GIAA eschews those conventions in search of movement, melody, musical suspense.
Now PG has done some rig reprisals (Joe Bonamassa, Mastodon, Russian Circles, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, The Black Keys, Baroness, Gary Clark Jr, Primus, 311, Mr. Big, and others), but none of those compare to the overhaul God Is an Astronaut underwent during the COVID-19 quarantine. Every instrument, amp, and pedal (aside from a few preamps/DIs) are completely different than our previous 2016 Rundown. We can’t say any other setup has been rethought, restructured, and reformed to the degree that Torsten Kinsella (guitars), Jamie Dean (guitars/keyboards), and Niels Kinsella (bass) executed in the search for superior soundscapes.
Just before releasing their 10th album, Ghost Tapes #10—a 7-song collection that seamlessly navigates from spacy and delicate to surly and destructive—the stirring post-rock powerhouse piled all their gear into Windmill Lane Recording Studios to showcase what was used on the new record and possibly heard on future tours.
Inside this episode, we find out why Torsten and Jamie swapped out humbucker-loaded semi-hollows for single-coil offsets and Gretsch solidbodies, while Niels explains the move from a P to a snappy short-scale Mustang. And they pour over all the 50+ pedals (including 10 Muff or Muff-inspired clones).
[This recording was supported through funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media of Ireland as administered via the Music Industry Stimulus Package 2020 and Bad Apple Music. Video by Jaro Waldeck. Visit@DeptCultureIrl (website) and @fmc_ireland (website).]
Ghost Tapes #10 (new album) — https://smarturl.it/GhostTapes10
“A lot of the earlier material—The End of the Beginning through All Is Violent, All Is Bright—definitely suits this guitar,” suggests God Is an Astronaut founder Torsten Kinsella when introducing his Fender Deluxe Strat HSS. It has the stock Twin Head Vintage humbucker still complimenting the pair of Vintage Noiseless Strat pickups. The bridge is blocked to help intonation since the band uses several tunings.
If you recall our 2016 Rundown, Torsten Kinsella was exclusively using a 1968 Gibson ES-345. This Stephen Stern-built, red-sparkle Gretsch Custom Shop Penguin has replaced the 345 and typically lives in drop-A tuning. It features TV Jones Filter’Tron pickups and to keep tension up, he employs a custom set of Optima 24K Gold Strings (.060-.044.-.032-.020-.014-.011). For lighter-tuned guitars, he will swap out the .060 for a slimmer .056 or .058.
Here’s Torsten Kinsella’s second custom-built Gretsch Penguin that has a set of TV Jones Classics (bridge and neck) and a TV Jones Magna’Tron in the middle. The only thing he’s changed on this green machine is putting in the wooden bridge that’s more harmonious to his ears.
Torsten Kinsella’s 1961 National Glenwood is a studio tool that never sees the road because it’s a vintage piece and was once owned by The Who’s John Entwistle. Kinsella had his tech put in a truss rod to make the guitar more playable and Curtis Novak re-wound the bridge pickup.
Here is Torsten Kinsella’s Fender American Original ’60s Jazzmaster that’s been upgraded with a Staytrem tremolo (constricting the arm movement so its intentional) and Staytrem bridge with Mustang-style saddles.
Torsten Kinsella’s stomp stations deserve their own zip code. As he states in the Rundown, the Axe-Fx II was crucial when flying around the globe and wanting a consistent sound, but with COVID-19 shutting down touring for over a year now, the band rekindled their love for amps and pedals. And coming out on the other side of the transformation, Kinsella asserts that the traditional gear setup better captures their full sound and dynamic range.
Starting with the left-side Pedaltrain Classic PRO pedalboard you have a couple Strymons (Mobius and BigSky), a custom Moose Electronics HM23 distortion (based on the classic HM-2 circuit), Chase Bliss Mood, Secret Audio Red Secret DI, Red Panda Particle, ChiralityAudio Splinter Drive, a pair of Boss pedals (MT-2 Metal Zone and DD-500 Digital Delay), two large-box black-Russian Electro-Harmonix Big Muffs, Friedman BE-OD Deluxe Overdrive Limited (clockworks design was exclusive to Thomann), Recovery Effects Bad Comrade, Meris Hedra (“special weapon for Ghost Tapes #10”), Boss DS-1 Distortion (with Keeley mod), Dr. Scientist The Elements, and a Chase Bliss Brothers. Bottom center rests a Meris Preset Switch that allows Torsten to quickly access up to four different sounds on the Hedra. And off both boards in the middle sits a Moose Electronics Nomad (inspired by the Foxx Tone Machine).
The right-side Pedaltrain Classic board starts with two utilitarian (but vital) Empress boxes—Buffer+ and Compressor—followed by a DigiTech Whammy (set to chords), and two more EHX Big Muffs. And keeping everything in check is a TC Electronic PolyTune3 and harnessing dynamics is the Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner.
Torsten Kinsella now uses an Orange AD30 and matching 2x12 cab.
And on top of the AD30 sits a pair of Two Notes tools—a Torpedo C.A.B. M Speaker Simulator/DI and a Torpedo Captor Loadbox/Attenuator/DI. Also there is a LNDR Line Driver MIDI Range Extender and a T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon.
Like Torsten, Jamie Dean rocked a single guitar (1985 Yamaha SA800) into an Axe-Fx II in our last Rundown. Above you see he’s gone offset with a Fender American Vintage ’65 Jazzmaster reissue. He’s subbed in a Mastery bridge and a Staytrem tremolo, while the rest of the guitar is original.
Seen here is a Fender American Professional I Jazzmaster that has been modded with Curtis Novak JM-Fat (bridge) & JM-V pickups and locking tuners.
Jamie Dean spends most time on six strings, but above is a 1980s Fender Bullet Bass (with a capo on the 13th fret) for “All Is Violent, All Is Bright” and “Fireflies and Empty Skies.”
An impressive Pedaltrain Terra 42 board in his own right, Jamie Dean has plenty of colors to paint with thanks to a lineup of pedals that includes a Strymon BigSky, Moose Electronics Elk Head (based on a ’70s Violet Ram’s Head Big Muff with additional mids control), Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (instantaneous feedback), Stomp Under Foot Pumpkin Pi, Recovery Effects Bad Comrade, Empress Buffer+, Strymon TimeLine, Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner, three EHX Big Muffs, Friedman BE-OD Deluxe, Meris Hedra, Empress Compressor, Boss DS-1 Distortion (with Keeley mod), Red Panda Particle, and a ChiralityAudio Splinter Drive. He also has a Meris Preset Switch (for the Hedra) and a TC Electronic PolyTune3.
Throughout the Rundown, we were hearing Jamie use a 2000s Orange AD30 into a 2x12 cab that was mic’d with a SM57.
Mainly for monitoring purposes, Jamie Dean also uses pair of Two Notes tone tools—a Torpedo C.A.B. M Speaker Simulator/DI and a Torpedo Captor Loadbox/Attenuator/DI.
Back in 2016, Niels Kinsella visited Nashville with a Fender American Vintage ’63 P Bass, but now he’s aiming for an upper-range low-end tone, so he landed on a short-scale Fender Justin Meldal-Johnsen Mustang Bass that is completely stock. He goes with custom set of Optima Unique Chrome Strings (.115–.080–.060–.045) and is typically tuned D-A-D-G.
Niels Kinsella’s signal flow out of the bass hits the Boss TU-3W Waza Craft Chromatic Tuner, then hitting the Noble Preamp, Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, ChiralityAudio Black Swan Bass Distortion/Fuzz, and the Darkglass Electronics Microtubes X Ultra preamp. Everything calls a Pedaltrain Classic JR home.
Five years ago, he used the Noble Preamp as a DI that went out to FOH, but now Niels Kinsella is going big and bad with the Ampeg Heritage Series SVT-CL 300-watt tube head pumping into a matching Ampeg Heritage Series SVT-410HLF.
Even. More. Pedals.
Are you serious??
The Jazzmaster blaster strips down his gear to play a supporting role on the new album by his Singers, Share the Wealth, focusing on looping, sound making, and harmony on the fly.
Nels Cline has led something of a double life for the past 16 years. While known widely as the virtuosic, guitar-wielding, not-so-secret weapon of beloved alt-country originators Wilco, Cline has simultaneously tended to an extremely prolific career as a genre-busting composer, 6-string innovator, and solo artist, and built a reputation as one of the most vital improvisers of his generation.
His astounding number of extracurricular musical pursuits include a critically acclaimed album of duets with jazz guitar wunderkind Julian Lage (2014's Room) and an ambitious double-disc concept album called Lovers, which not only found Cline a home at the revitalized Blue Note Records, but might be the only album ever to feature covers of songs by both Henry Mancini and Sonic Youth. And let's not forget his imaginative CUP duo project with his wife, Yuka C. Honda of Cibo Matto.
While there have been countless liaisons and contributions to the albums of others throughout it all, Cline's true musical home—even before he joined Wilco—has always been his own cleverly named instrumental outfit, the Nels Cline Singers. With the Singers' latest, Share the Wealth, Cline's chameleonic, cinematic guitarwork and compositional chops have been thrown into exciting new territory again, thanks to an expanded lineup of improvisational sparring partners whose skills may have inadvertently spoiled the guitarist's grand vision for another concept record, but to absolutely wonderful effect.
When Cline first hatched the idea for what would become Share the Wealth, the plan was for the freshly expanded Singers lineup—now a sextet—to record a batch of minimally guided improv sessions, which he would then chop up and reimagine via the wonders of DAW editing into a sort of sonic collage—something with a '60s Brazilian-psychedelia flavor in the vein of Os Mutantes.
Cline also planned to have the squad take a stab at some of his more concrete compositions. Brazilian percussion ace and composer Cyro Baptista (Trey Anastasio, Herbie Hancock), avant-garde tenor sax antagonist Skerik, and keyboard wizard Brian Marsella joined Cline and longtime Singers bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, John Zorn) and drummer Scott Amendola for two days' work at Brooklyn's the Bunker Studio.
Despite the impressive resumes of the Singers' new additions, Cline was unsure if the sessions would yield anything album-worthy, as this lineup had no gigs under its belt, making its chemistry as a unit a major unknown. However, when Cline listened to what the band had captured during those improv sessions, he found something magical. In fact, the guitarist was so impressed with how well the raw material worked in its unedited form that his plans for a chopped-and-screwed sonic collage went out the window altogether. Tchau!
On Share the Wealth, those improv jams now appear—and blend remarkably well—with the Singers' take on some of Cline's originals. And despite the lack of major editing, the album'sfinal formis still a psychedelic-tinged aural adventure in which Cline and company take the listener on a journey through impressively executed and dynamic musical arrival points.
Share the Wealth is not only a fine display of the uncanny playing chemistry and clairvoyance that exists between Cline and his Singers—it's also one of his most approachable releases. The album boasts Brazilian-tinged guitar vamps (“Segunda"), playful backbeat groovers (“The Pleather Patrol"), a pair of somber but beautiful ballads written for a fallen friend (“Passed Down" and “Headdress"), and a stunning, meditative Kubrick-gone-free-jazz odyssey (“A Place on the Moon").
Cline's guitar often plays a supporting role on this album, creating unique textures, dancing around and coalescing with Skerik's wild saxophone outings and Marsella's perpetually morphing keys. While this might leave fans of his formidable linear chops a little flat, the results are extremely musical and mature. Of course, there are still shining moments of guitar mastery that see Cline reaching for exotic harmony on the Tuareg-influenced album closer “Passed Down" and a few blasts of the man's signature off-kilter free-jazz weirdness, but it's applied in a decidedly less confrontational way.
Premier Guitar spoke with Cline by phone as he enjoyed the solitude of his new home in upstate New York, where he reflected on the process of recording the Singers' new release and discussed the relatively simple (for a man with a famously ever-expanding guitar collection) selection of gear he brought in for Share the Wealth'ssessions, the mastery of improvisation, staying sharp as a musician at a time when most of us can't play with others, and his endless love for the abstract nature of sound.
I love your original concept for editing improv sessions into a William S. Burroughs-esque cut-up Brazilian psych album. What made you abandon that?
I honestly didn't even know if we had a record after we finished the sessions. The thing is, we've never even played a gig with this expanded version of the Singers. Listening back to what we did when we were just improvising and messing around, I really loved the chemistry there and what we'd done. I really liked hearing us arrive at these musical places and make these shifts very naturally as a band. A lot of the transitions and shifts on the album sound like edits, but they're just what came out. I didn't set out any specific parameters for the improv during these sessions, other than for the session that became “A Place on the Moon," and I just said to everyone “space" on that one. On all the other songs, the other guys were just given BPMs that I chose randomly as click tracks in headphones, thinking that I would have everything on the grid so I could do these bold, jarring juxtapositions that I was envisioning.
TIDBIT: Ambitious and free-ranging, Cline's new album took just two days to record at Brooklyn's the Bunker Studio, with engineer Eli Crews.
What's the ratio between improvised work and composed stuff on the album?
The record's maybe a third improvised, as far as what I chose to include. Nobody had played any of the written material prior, and we did it all in two days. I had to time compress songs because some improvs were over 30 minutes, but I didn't edit the trajectories of how any of the improv sessions went at all. There are three complete improvs on the record: “The Pleather Patrol," “A Place on the Moon," and “Stump the Panel."
The original improv that became “Stump the Panel" was well over 20 minutes, and Scott Amendola forgot to put the click in his headphones, but it worked really well. I would just randomly say a BPM to our engineer and co-producer, Eli Crews, and he would put the click in our headphones for the areas of free improv.
For “Stump the Panel," Scott started out playing all this wild stuff and we were all looking at each other like, “what is going on here?!" So we just turned the click off and did our thing, because he'd just taken off and all this cool stuff started to happen in that jam. When I listened back to this really long improvised jam, I was like “Wow, I really like this! I like this more than the tunes that I've written!" It was a delightful surprise.
This group moves as a unit in a way that genuinely sounds like you've played together a lot. You do a lot of support playing this time around, too.
I felt the same thing, and I do have a long track record of playing with Scott [Amendola] and Trevor [Dunn], and even Cyro [Baptista] and I have toured together a bit, but how well Brian Marsella and Skerik worked in the mix was really a pleasant surprise. Brian and I had played together and he'd done an expanded lineup gig with the Singers at the Victoriaville Festival a few years ago, and that was where the seeds for this lineup were planted. I had a desire to have musical foils in the treble clef area, to take some attention away from my playing and help me relax a little bit. I was becoming quite daunted and fatigued with being the lead guy in power trios all the time. I really like to play off of somebody.
I didn't really know what the role of the guitar was going to be in this version of this band. Once I got in the studio, I realized I didn't really feel like standing out. My head was in a more supportive role and I was focused on doing a lot of looping and sound making and harmony on-the-fly, rather than the single line blazing or finger wiggling that people expect from guitarists who lead bands. I'm not super comfortable listening to myself do that kind of thing at this point. There's a little bit of that playing on the album. “Headdress" was something where the guitar and the keyboards are really hard to distinguish from one another, because they're meshed into the same sonic realm deliberately. I did overdub the melody that Skerik's playing at the end to add some emphasis. That was my big production touch!
“Strangled cat" and "glassy Jonny Greenwood” are just two attitudes the former Beck and Shins sidewoman engages in her band’s adventurous indie-rock.
Facing a mandatory shelter-in-place ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the 24th video in that format.
Jessica Dobson started her music career early as she was signed to Atlantic at just 19. She recorded two solo albums, but both her and the label did not like the end result, so they were ultimately shelved. Some would see this one-two punch of disappointment a crippling blow, but she took it in stride focusing on her more indie-orientated jams. This led her to a string of supporting guitar roles with Beck, the Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon, and Conor Oberst. Each of these stops gave her the stripes and positive energy to revisit a solo career that was earlier stifled.
In 2009, the hired gun transformed into a bandleader under the Deep Sea Diver moniker and alongside husband Peter Mansen (drums), she released the New Caves EP. Garrett Gue (bass), and Elliot Jackson (guitar/synth) joined them and quartet self-released their full-length debut, History Speaks, in 2012 (while she was still in the Shins). 2014 was the year for DSD’s Always Waiting EP that was succeeded by 2016’s Secrets.
Just ahead of Deep Sea Diver’s third full-length release, Impossible Weight, Dobson virtually welcomed PG’s Chris Kies into her friend’s Seattle-based studio. The Deep Sea Diver captain opens up about aligning her offset guitar choices to indie icons Elvis Costello, Johnny Marr, and Jonny Greenwood, crediting Nels Cline for introducing her to a must-have pedal, and twisting her band’s sound from “strangled cats to glassy Johnny Greenwood” and everywhere in between.