Category:
World

Try if you like:
Derek Bailey, Henry Flowers, Taku Sugimoto

Goh Lee Kwang is a solo guitar improviser whose work runs the arc of shades from noise to ambient uses of bare-minimum chords and a lot of silence. Punk Guitar is a collection of tracks released on cd-r in 2002 in an ultra-rare edition of 50 or so copies. This version is cleaned up considerably giving more force and warm to the colors created by Kwang and his axe.

An 18 minute track was recorded exclusively for this release, and it is a beast of silence and noise, drawing on all his mastery of pet themes and visions. Truly a mouth-gaping blast of genius.

Goh Lee Kwang has recorded a good portion of his music to accompany experimental dance in a live setting, mostly the Japanese style known as Butoh. That attention to movement, understanding of chance and acoustic enhancement, drives these meditations. “Punk Guitar” is an apt title, despite the more quiet moments; Punk was about freedom and inhibition, a celebration of mistakes and moments that are pointless a minute after noticing them. Kwang’s music may drift away, but while it was here, it was a shock to the system.