· TRISTAN KLEIN - Universal Mojo (GYR067) ·
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::T R A C K S::
01. ALLIGATOR
FORMAT: Audio CD / Digipack
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"Universal Mojo", the latest brilliant new studio disc by this phenomenal instrumental guitarist from France, features 11 tracks (60 minutes) of remarkable, superb, world-class, inventive, blues-based heavy guitar riffage that sets new standards for truly outstanding "Total Guitar" music. An incredible bluesy heavy guitar journey featuring Special Guests Greg Koch, Craig Erickson & Jean Michel Kajdan.
Tristan Klein is an amazing, gifted axemaster whose exceptional, sophisticated guitar playing is on par with the best guitarists in the world. Klein dominates the new "Guitar Hero" throne with endless style and class fused with impeccable technique and strong, outstanding compositional skills. The man is an intelligent and talented guitarist who has a lot to say on the instrument and one who is on top of the evolutionary scale for guitar players. Tristan Klein speaks many languages on the guitar and one thing is for certain: his instrumental musical message is world-wide and universal as he communicates through his incredible, dynamic "six-string mojo", hence the title "Universal Mojo". Tune in and learn the true meaning of REAL guitar music that is both timeless and remarkable.
It takes a lot to move us @ the Grooveyard these daze and Tristan Klein is one of the best guitarists we have heard in a long time. Instrumental guitar music has become extremely jaded through the years, however this amazing, young, talented player has taken a fresh, exciting new approach that is light years ahead of the norm. There is a new guitar hero in town and his name is Tristan Klein. Listen to his incredible riffage and you'll become a believer that there still is hope for REAL guitar music. "Universal Mojo" is a well-crafted, focused, supreme instrumental heavy guitar tour de force and definitely Tristan Kein's finest musical hour. As an added bonus, "Universal Mojo" features three awesome "Special Guest" axemasters in the form of Greg Koch, Craig Erickson & Jean Michel Kajdan. All three incredible players and down to earth "good musical brothers" who dig in deep on this amazing riffage and play their asses off with Brother Klein on the "Universal Mojo" six-string boogie train. Also of special note: Ty Tabor (King's X) mastered "Universal Mojo" for a serious "sonic delivery" factor that lends itself to this amazing disc. The year is 2010 and Real instrumental guitar music lives @ the Grooveyard in the form of Tristan Klein and "Universal Mojo". Prepare to the True meaning of "Outstanding Total Guitar Music" and learn that unbelievably killer, tasteful shred ain't dead through Tristan Klein's universal guitar language.
The Tristan Klein: "Universal Mojo" disc is an outstanding display of top-shelf guitar musicality that is Highly recommended to fans of MICHAEL LANDAU, STEVE LUKATHER, SCOTT HENDERSON, JEFF BECK, JOE SATRIANI, GREG KOCH, ERIC JOHNSON, ANDY TIMMONS, RICHIE KOTZEN, ROBBEN FORD, CRAIG ERICKSON, THOMAS BLUG, PLANKTON and all other world-class axemasters who speak the same "Universal Mojo". Serious guitar freaks world-wide need to tune into this essential Grooveyard-approved slice of blues-based heavy guitar perfection.
UPDATE:
Dan McAvinchey of Guitar Nine interviews Tristan Klein about his influences, his gear, the "Universal Mojo" CD and what's in store for Tristan in the future. Check out the entire interview here: Guitar Nine interview with Tristan Klein
Tristan Klein is also working on a special line of effects at BedRod Electro.
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01. ALLIGATOR |
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· TRISTAN KLEIN - "ALLIGATOR" ·
· reviews ·
Tristan Klein's no-nonsense non-vocal CD is full of guitar chops and funky grooves that serve to redefine instrumental music with a bluesy edge. Ironically, the CD is lyrical, too, though no lyrics reverberate in its nearly one hour of breakthrough music. What this means, essentially, is that the CD never gets boring, as many instrumental CDs tend to do. Rather, memorable riffs and virtuoso playing permeate each track, with nuance and meaning that usually characterize vocal CDs and popular songs.
Guest guitarists, such as Greg Koch, Craig Erickson, and J. M. Kajdan, augment several cuts, adding spice to an already tasty morsel. Not that Tristan needs the help. His phenomenal ability finds him equally fluent in jazz, blues, funk, rock, and everything in between. He is clearly a guitarist's guitarist, with a sense of time and taste that would be the envy of the greatest of players. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai move over: Tristan Klein is destined to become the world's leading instrumental guitarist.
Steve Rosen, author (February - 2010)
This French phenom instrumental guitarist is new to us. So when the laser hit the celluloid and the blazing "Alligator" came raging from the speakers with Joe Satriani-like muscle, we had to have more. Unbelievably this young, talented and extremely gifted performer is only now getting universal exposure. Klein has an ear for melody and will take a song - and while giving it a searing-edge, finds room to add elements of jazz, blues and metal all in the same five minutes. Like Eric Johnson, Klein's sophisticated and intelligent playing is what makes the colorful "Dark Side" and "Retro Voodoo Funk Express" (which guests Greg Koch) so much fun to listen to. It's that type of song sculpting that makes instrumental albums successful. Even the temperature of the playing adjusts effortlessly to his mental vision. Check out the swagger of "Mojo" (featuring Craig Erickson) as the lick wraps around the rhythm moving into Lee Ritenour territory. Then there's the absolutely gorgeous, late-night mood of "Shades of Blue" spilling over into the 11-minute "Gratitude" that performs like an exotic dancer with seductive chemistry.
For Universal Mojo, Klein does all the instrumentation including bass, keyboards and drum programming allowing him, with artistic precision, to craft each song like paint on a canvas. Mastered by Ty Tabor (King's X) for sonic density, the elegant "Georgia" made famous by Ray Charles becomes a masterful mood setter complete with gentle highs and lows. Laughter at the beginning of "Green Zone" shows Klein doesn't take himself too seriously as the track rolls out a funky stroll leading into a barrage of blinding scale runs. Adding French Strat-jazz legend Jean-Michel Kajdan for a duet of sorts on "Blues for J.M." increases the magnitude of what the two compose together. They merge a range of compelling styles and tones that feed the eclectic as well as the exotic. Blues-based "Not Dead Yet" and rockin' "Solid Ground" have shades of Richie Kotzen all over. Punctuated aggression and sharp soloing make these our two favorite tracks and worth the cost of the CD alone.
Todd K. Smith (The Cutting Edge) (March 2010)
Universal /adj. /present everywhere, not limited or restricted; Mojo /n. /a person's groove.
If ever there was a title of a record that encapsulated all that is contained within it, Tristan Klein's Universal Mojo is IT. Every sound emanating from this deep foray into the transcendental headspace of what I'll call the "Kleinmind" is deliciously diverse.. spellbinding.. joyful.. saturated with a "take no prisoners" intensity. Mr. Klein proves fluent in every conceivable musical form, effortlessly flowing between and through them with the skill of a surgeon and deadly as a sniper. Slicing up time signatures like a sonic chef, he transitions between emotionally heartfelt, light touch subtlety to fret melting, raw nerve bunker-buster riffs like a trapeze artist, making difficult moves seem effortless.
"Universal Mojo" lays to rest the idea that a guitar instrumental record can't keep it interesting over an album's worth of tuneage. Whether displaying incredibly vocally-inflected and organic wah work in "Alligator" and "Solid Ground" or a heartfelt and restrained interpretation of the classic "Georgia", a total control of the guitar is on display. "Dark Side" goes from a barely audible hyper-articulated deftness to nitro-jaked full auto shredification - all within one solo section! "Not Dead Yet" is an emotionally-charged bluesy "dead stop to faster-than-light velocities within the same breath" gem that is the most intense 2:46 ever committed to the digital domain. You'll be shaking your head and hitting the repeat button to confirm to yourself that you actually DID hear what you thought you heard. Yikes!
"Green Zone" sports a funked up 12-bar with a sing-a-long main riff with brother Klein leaping 12 bars in a single bound - like a sonic superman - in an inside/outside riff romp that mixes reckless abandon with Swiss watch precision. "Shades Of Blue", an artfully restrained blues sporting a fabulously beautiful progression, packs an understated yet devastating emotional wallop.
Vicious grooves like "Solid Ground" and "Retro Voodoo Funk Express" grease the rails of hyper hipness, the later featuring the always gristlicious Greg Koch trading "happyhappyjoyjoy" teeter totter riffs with Tristan. The solo section is so much fun to listen to I made it my ringtone. No kidding. On "Mojo", the great Craig Erickson and Tristan tradeoff in a solo section that is sort of like a musical version of ice dancing - precise, athletic, moving at breakneck speed - both beautiful to behold and dangerous to perform. "Blues For J.M." features fellow fret slinger J.M. Kajdan riding the wire with Tristan in an octified, wahed-up jazzy blues fusion, featuring an Oscar-level arrangement with "mature" chords sprinkled throughout. This one maintains the cool factor squared. An "Extra Special Credit" is due to each of these players - it's rare that the background comp work is as interesting as the breathtaking "Clash of the Titans" solo excursions themselves. Kudos, boys!
"Gratitude" closes the set with a pleading melody, as if to give thanks to the Gods, then rips the roof off with a dazzling display of power-soaked squeezed-out smoking blues shred - by the way, the "Kleinmind" proves that shred ain't dead - if it's done right (and he does).. and just when you think it's over, a bonus hidden bluesy groove comes into play.. with Tristan and his guests pulling out all the stops and joyfully indulging in some pretty manic improvisations. The Art Of The Jam is alive and well.
A wide and transparent mastering job by none other than the great Ty Tabor (King's X, Platypus, Jelly Jam) puts a rich sonic sheen on this pristinely recorded and flawlessly executed musical document.
What direction is Tristan headed in? Well, after multiple listenings, in a much more musical direction than most of today's talented (yet criminally overhyped) players who arent qualified to change Mr. Klein's strings. He embodies a new breed of guitar hero for this millennium, rising from the landscapes created by influential peers into a new musical world of his own making. The harmonic sophistication and virtuosic chops of cats like Michael Landau, Steve Lukather, Scott Henderson and the late great Shawn Lane come to mind, but I mention these players as reference beacons only. Tristan is his own alpha and omega.
Universal Mojo is an awe-inspiring display of compositional adventurism and transcendent improvisation, expanding the musical vocabulary of those greats that came before him.. and in the process taking the genre of instrumental guitar to an entirely new level. This comprehensive musical vision, composed, arranged and all instruments played by the man himself, is an essential guitar document that should be "required listening." Tristan Klein is the whole package, and then some. This CD is absolutely fantastic.
Jimmy Ryan (Truth Squad) (February 2010)
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