Chris Forsyth | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Guitarist/songwriter Chris Forsyth got his start in Brooklyns experimental circles in the early 2000s and slowly grew into a masterful technical player. As the bandleader of Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, he composed mostly instrumental pieces that channeled both the psychedelic jamming of the Grateful Dead and the precision of art-punk guitar acts like Television. Tireless touring and prolific recorded output made for an ever-evolving sound on both solo albums and Solar Motel standouts like 2014s Intensity Ghost. Forsyth grew up in the New Jersey suburbs, relocating to Brooklyn in the mid-90s and finding a place in New Yorks experimental and improvisational scenes. He also played solo, making connections with improv figures like Derek Bailey and Loren Connors, as well as studying guitar under the tutelage of former Television member Richard Lloyd. After he co-founded the alternative folk act Peeesseye in 2002, he started playing with Phantom Limb & Bison and contributing to the work of experimental artists, often doing improvisational cameos in and around Brooklyn. The long list of artists he has collaborated with includes guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, vocalist Meg Baird, and trumpeter Nate Wooley, among others. After releasing a decades worth of music on Creative Sources, Utech, Archive, Unframed, Pax Recordings, and his own Evolving Ear, 2011s Paranoid Cat was released on Family Vineyard. The guitarist followed it in 2012 with a duet collaboration with sound artist and composer (and half of Mountains) Koen Holtkamp entitled Early Astral for Blackest Rainbow. In 2013, now living in Philadelphia, he released two albums. The first was Kenzo Deluxe for Northern Spy, where, with minimal overdubs, he created a jam band record minus the band -- it was performed completely solo. Solar Motel followed in October on Paradise of Bachelors. Here the guitarist traced the instruments development from Jerry Garcia to Tom Verlaine and back again. This time he collaborated with a full band featuring drummer Mike Pride, keyboardist Shawn Edward Hansen, and electric bassist Peter Kerin. The group situation opened more possibilities for him. Now billed as Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band, they released Solar Live 11.15.13 on Electric Ragtime in April of 2014. The guitarist also cut a limited-edition duet offering with trumpeter Wooley entitled Third. Pride left Solar Motel, and Forsyth, Hansen, and Kerin were joined by new drummer Steven Urgo and second guitarist Paul Sukeena for the studio album Intensity Ghost, which was issued on No Quarter in October. A year later Island was released. Another duet offering between the guitarist and Holtkamp, Island was issued by Trouble in Mind. A new lineup of the Solar Motel Band, featuring drummer Ray Kubian and guitarist Nick Millevoi, recorded the double-album The Rarity of Experience, which was issued by No Quarter in March of 2016. Forsyth and the Solar Motels took the long way, touring the U.S. and Europe for the better part of a year, stopping only long enough to allow the live experience to translate into a new recording. Dreaming in the Non-Dream, issued in the late summer of 2017, showcased a more focused sound, one that allowed for trance-like, nearly Motorik rhythms and riffs to creep in and unfold over time in the form of trance-like neo-psych. Even with two tracks over 11-minutes long, the album still sounded concise. It was issued while the band was still on the road. 2019 brought the epic double album All Time Present, released as a solo outing. Clocking in at over an hour, the eight-song album included vocals on some tracks by Forsyth as well as Philly songwriter Rosali Middleman. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 7 Title: Wires and Wooden Boxes Released: 2001 Tracks: 10 Duration: 49:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 NYC Journal Excerpt (2000) Piano/Guitar (05:23) 2 Metallic Strands... "Acoustic/Electric #14" (05:01) 3 Sound Is Good All the Time (08:49) 4 Straight to It (06:06) 5 Pulled Wires... "Acoustic/Electric #13" (02:39) 6 Passing One Another... "Acoustic/Electric #17" (05:54) 7 Knock on Wood... "Acoustic/Electric #11" (04:11) 8 Cut and Dried... "Acoustic/Electric #2" (03:28) 9 To Place In... "Acoustic/Electric # (12") (02:25) 10 Trace Out Motion (05:21) |
 | Album: 2 of 7 Title: March Released: 2002-12-21 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:05:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 March: Part 1 (03:40) 2 March: Part 2 (03:41) 3 March: Part 3 (02:14) 4 March: Part 4 (02:52) 5 March: Part 5 (12:56) 6 March: Part 6 (03:25) 7 March: Part 7 (02:35) 8 March: Part 8 (01:58) 9 March: Part 9 (01:51) 10 March: Part 10 (01:54) 11 March: Part 11 (02:14) 12 March: Part 12 (07:29) 13 March: Part 13 (19:03) |
 | Album: 3 of 7 Title: Dirty Pool Released: 2009 Tracks: 3 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 I First Saw You (?) 2 Moon, I Aint Waiting (?) 3 Broke Down And Busted (?) |
 | Album: 4 of 7 Title: Early Astral Released: 2012-01 Tracks: 2 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Early Astral 1 (?) 2 Early Astral 2 (?) |
 | Album: 5 of 7 Title: Solar Motel Released: 2013-10-29 Tracks: 4 Duration: 41:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Solar Motel Part I (11:41) 2 Solar Motel Part II (10:07) 3 Solar Motel Part III (12:17) 4 Solar Motel Part IV (07:25) |
 | Album: 6 of 7 Title: The Island Released: 2015-10-16 Tracks: 4 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sun Blind (?) 2 Long Beach Idyll (?) 3 Alternator (?) 4 Cosmic Richard (?) |
| The Island : Allmusic album Review : Island is the second collaborative effort on Trouble in Mind by guitarist Chris Forsyth and Mountains keyboardist Koen Holtkamp. Their first was 2012s fine Early Astral. That record featured a pair of long, spiraling, post kosmiche-esque jams. The four tracks on Island are, by contrast, more focused. This is somewhat ironic. Where the earlier album was prepared during a year of rehearsals, the inspiration for this one occurred while hanging out for a few days on a Jersey Shore beach. Afterwards, each musician brought general ideas to a Philadelphia studio. The set was created layer by layer in 48 hours. Opener "Sun Blind" is mostly a squalling, distorted exercise in free-form electric guitar feedback and Terry-Riley-esque synth minimalism, and is deceptive. The in-your-face dynamics somewhat disguise the serpentine lines that offer a modal melody. "Long Beach Idyll" consists of a two-chord acoustic guitar vamp, droning harmonium-like synths and slow, exploratory melodic electric guitar. It opens wide into a sonic vista that contains a structured harmonic bridge before circling back around to the theme. "Alternator" is the most rockist thing here, with slightly distorted, delayed electric guitar melding a vamp and a riff. The backdrop of synths is panoramic, combing through the chord changes as if it were a bassline. In the undercarriage, another guitar creates its own rhythm à la Krautrock. The nine-plus-minute finale "Cosmic Richard" is worth the price of admission by itself. Its dual chord structure gradually fades in, colored by elliptical leads and the sampled gurgles of continuously running water. It takes on a seeming physical presence as shimmering sheets of synth and echoing guitars are stitched onto its various surfaces; they create labyrinths of depth and textures. The wafting groove is blissed-out -- so much so, one wishes this jam had been the entire album -- and recalls in no small way its obvious influence, Manuel Gottschings classic "E2E4." Island is more subtle than Early Astral to be sure, but its good vibes combined with more sonic detail and nuanced musical ideas make it equally satisfying. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 7 Title: All Time Present Released: 2019-04-12 Tracks: 8 Duration: 1:14:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today (03:54) 2 Mystic Mountain (08:52) 3 The Man Who Knows Too Much (03:13) 4 Dream Song (10:58) 5 The Past Aint Passed (09:00) 6 New Paranoid Cat (08:42) 7 (Livin on) Cubist Time (09:33) 8 Techno Top (19:53) |