Don Bikoff :: Celestial Explosion

bikoffThe Tompkins Square label has been digging deep into the uncharted regions of the Takoma School for more than a decade now, emerging on a regular basis with previously impossible-to-find gems from such obscure guitarists as Harry Taussig, Mark Fosson and Peter Walker. At this late date, you might assume the bottom of the barrel for this particular genre had been reached — but you’d be wrong. Tompkins Square’s latest archival release, Don Bikoff’s Celestial Explosion, is a stunner. While the 1968 LP will inevitably draw comparisons to Basho and Fahey, Bikoff is still his own man. The most distinguishing features aren’t Bikoff’s expert folk-blues fingerpicking and slide work, but rather the adventurous studio effects added to his playing, as healthy doses of wobbly, psychedelic reverb and tinkling chimes give Celestial Explosion a dreamy, cosmic feel. John Fahey in space, perhaps? Whatever you want to call it, the sound is celestial indeed. words/ t wilcox

MP3: Don Bikoff ::   Rindler’s Metamorphosis

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