REICHEL, HANS - Bonobo Beach

"Subtitled some more guitar solos, Bonobo Beach was German guitarist and instrument inventor Hans Reichel's fourth and final record of solo guitar works. After this record, Reichel would turn much of his attention to the bowed wooden-tongued instrument he created called the daxophone. Reichel recorded the six tracks at his home in Wuppertal in April, 1981, and in the process made what might be his masterpiece. These are not just some more guitar solos. Concentrating largely on acoustic guitar with no frets as well as his electric pick-behind-the-bridge guitar, he transforms tones into crystalline formations -- patience with resonances, attention to silence, formation of symmetries around a common sonic point, jetting notes that arc and spread and then hover. One might look for other references to describe what Reichel is up to -- the magic of Terje Rypdal, the aura of early William Ackerman, the eccentric multiple pickups of Fred Frith -- but really this is unique in guitar repertoire.