Aidan Baker

Is MTV unplugged still going? I haven’t watched MTV in about 15 years... Anyway Aidan Baker has a CD out on Install called ‘Dry’ and the name is a clue to what’s happening on the recording. Basically the man is playing his electric guitar ‘“Dry” i.e zero effects. Okay so his guitar is plugged in but this is kinda like his Unplugged session. What a session it is too as his sound is stripped right back to its basic elements. What this really reveals is his genius guitar playing which can sometimes get a little lost amongst all the effects. Mr. Baker really gets some emotions swirling through the strings and I begin to realize just how nimble his fingers are as he improvises but never noodles, the mood feels free yet controlled by his vision/ emotions. I really dig the spacious sometimes minimal feel. At a couple of points I was reminded of Oren Ambarchi’s classic ambient guitar record ‘Grapes From The Estate’ I’ve yet to hear a release on this label that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed (That Peter Wright 2CD is still doing it for me). I’m inclined to agree with the label here when they say “If you only hear one Baker release in 2009, make it this one”. High quality stuff, limited to 500 copies in eco-wallet.